Originally Posted by
spock
Take the same style bike and compare the weight, steel bike is gonna be 3 or 4 pounds heavier, which is in reality is completely negligible. Lighter bike is gonna be like .69 mph faster, but not enough to call it too heavy and too dang slow. The only circumstance where the difference matters is in racing, but in the world of non racing crowd, it's not that important really. Nothing that can't be fixed with .69 % in strength increase. If there was a 15 lb difference, then it would be noticeable.
My Aluminum/Carbon road bike is about 1 mph (give or take .5) faster than my steel drop bar MTB with the same wheels and tires. That's on a fairly flat commute. For a 7 mile ride, it's a negligible difference for most people. For a 20 mile commute? I'd definitely take that extra 1 extra mph. If I had significant hills to worry about, I'd want the lighter bike even for the shorter commute.
For many people, getting a bike that's 3 or 4 lbs. lighter is a heck of lot easier than losing 4 lbs. off their middle and keeping it off. And there's no reason you can't do both. There are other folks that really don't need to lose anything. As for strength, if you're willing to put the work in to increasing your strength, by all means do so. You still benefit from a lighter bike. I'd like to be both stronger AND have a lighter bike.
I've ridden plenty of steel bikes and I'm sorry, I just haven't experienced all the benefits that it's natural springiness supposedly brings in comparison to other frame materials. Honestly, I think "Steel is Real" is more of a religious statement than anything.