High-end bikes are expensive, but they don’t have to be off-limits. The Masi Strada Speciale is a fantastic steel road bike with vintage styling that comes in at about $1300, without sacrificing performance. Steel may be a lot heavier than either aluminum or carbon fiber, but many old-fashioned enthusiast riders still pine for it, seeing it as superior in terms of smoothness and ride quality. They’re especially popular among custom frame builds, and thanks to some new design innovations and improvements, will be around for a long time.
The Strada takes a classic 70’s style and adds some modern features, such as a Masi double butted chromoly tig welded frame, with an integrated seat clamp. It has a chromoly lugged fork, and a compact alloy drop bar.
The crankset is a polished Campagnolo Veloce Power-Torque crankset, 50/34t, paired with Veloce Power Shift 10-speed Ergopower levers and 10-speed front & rear derailleurs. Pair those with some Weinmann SEC-16 rims, Kenda Kontender 700 x 26c tires and Tektro R315 dual pivot brakes, and you have a quick, fast road bike ready to take corners and stop on a dime.
And at $1299 for the whole setup, you can maybe actually afford it – which can’t be said for a lot of new steel-framed bikesYou can also save yourself a couple hundred and go for last year’s model, with its orange paint job that looks just as good.
