So, I am on the brink of having a custom aluminum or steel road bike made.

It shall be my main road ride, to be used for long and quickish club outings (100 km - 200 km, usually), shorter and quicker solo rides, and the odd race when the urge takes me. It shall carry me along flats often, steep, rolling hills almost as often, and up epic climbs occasionally. It will have longer chainstays and higher bars than is usual in your average crit bike, but will otherwise perform as sportily as the engine allows.

It will be tossed it into the backs of cars and trucks and trains, taken over gravel, etc. I'm 80-85 kg on a good day.

At first, I was set on aluminum, but it's hard to find builders who work with it, and in Japan (where I live) it is much more expensive than steel.

The result is I'm torn between the two options, an American aluminum custom or Japanese steel custom. Any opinions, thoughts that might break the deadlock?