8bar’s Kronprinz road bike is back with an all-new steel update, pairing modern geometry & standards with classic materials to create a fast, affordable bike that can take on all-day riding on all-roads. The Berlin bike company calls the new Kronprinz Steel v1 a “light and agile” bike that combines the best characteristics of their steel urban bikes with the race-focused origins of the original Kronprinz.
8bar Kronprinz Steel v1 affordable modern disc brake road bike
8bar first debuted their alloy Kronprinz seven years ago as a proper lightweight, affordable road race bike to counterpoint their core of urban fixed gears. At the time their first geared bike, 8bar has since continued to evolve and innovate from city riding to gravel adventures – including their just updated shape-shifting Mitte v3 gravel/all-road bike.
The Kronprinz has since gone through a number of aluminum, then carbon iterations, but this is its first chance to smooth the ride in steel.
Tech details
The new 8bar Kronprinz Steel road bike is welded from a custom double-butted chromoly steel tubeset – for what 8bar says is a mix of a light, comfortable ride without really sacrificing on handling stiffness.
The new steel bike gets 30mm tire clearance for versatility over any road, and quick proven modern road geometry in three stock sizes (S-L).
The frame features modular internal brake routing in the front triangle which continues external on the chainstay, and classic external downtube & under the BB shift routing, or internal for electronic groupsets.
It gets a standard BSA threaded bottom bracket, classic 27.2mm seatpost with external seat collar, a reinforced 44mm straight headtube for use with a 1.5″ tapered headset, and 8bar’s standard tapered steerer, 45mm rake full-carbon road disc fork.
At the rear end, replaceable alloy rear dropout inserts work with a 12mm thru-axle and replaceable derailleur hanger, plus flat mount 104 or 160mm disc brakes.
The steel frame itself has a claimed weight of 2000g, plus another 400g for the carbon fork
8bar Kronprinz Steel v1 – Pricing, options & availability
The new 8bar Kronprinz Steel is available as a frame, frameset, in one of two complete bike builds, or flexible customizable completes. On its own, the Kronprinz Steel frame sells for 600€ in matte silver of black, with custom colors possible for two hundred Euros extra.
It is also available as a frameset including the 8bar Carbon Road fork for 900€ total, with either frame option available for delivery now.
The two standard builds include the affordable Shimano 105 mechanical option for 2200€ with alloy wheels…
…or a premium wireless electronic SRAM Force eTap AXS build for 4100€ complete with 8bar Ultra carbon wheels, both with 28mm Schwalbe One tires and both available within 2-3 weeks.
8bar’s online build customizer also offers plenty more options, but the pre-configured bikes promise “significantly shorter delivery time than fully configurable models.” Get your new steel road bike shipped direct from 8bar or in their showroom in Berlin.
