Good points. It's true. By and large road bike riders aren't very likely to buy steel these days. There are quite a bit of steel bike lovers that will hail steel as the best bike frame material of all time. Apparently quite a few of them like to write essays about how kickass steel is as well. Some of this is likely a reaction to "the peleton" being completely taken over by aluminum then carbon. The steel zealot articles may make it seem like steel is highly rated simply by the hyperbole and waxing philosophically typically contained within.

That said, I'd gladly trade a $1500 carbon fibre bike for a couple of nice mid 80's Italian steel bikes (or even some of the really nice Japanese ones). I wouldn't trade one for a Gunnar unless possibly I had the opportunity to do some touring.