There is still life in steel, as this brand new Super Acciaio from London's Condor Cycles demonstrates. Introduced two years ago, the race-ready steel frame has undergone a significant change for 2014, switching to a Columbus Spirit tubeset, dropping the weight for a 55cm frame by 200g. A new Columbus carbon fork has shed a further 75g.

They've tweaked the profile of the main tubes to keep the high stiffness level of the previous frame, with a flat-sided top tube and a bi-ovalised down tube to create a larger interface with the tapered head tube. A new Grammy Slim fork from Columbus saves a further chunk of weight – it's a full monocoque carbon fork with tapered steerer tube and carbon dropouts.

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The bottom bracket is still an oversized BB30 design, but it’s now machined from a single chunk of steel. The previous frame has a separate sleeve welded inside. The chainstays are noticeably curved, dropping down quite a bit in the centre.

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