Steel is real. My two steel framed bikes are my favorite bikes to ride, even though they're the bikes into which I have the least amount of money sunk. In fact, I'm in the middle of going through my old Panasonic as I've decided I'm going to keep it versus getting a new road bike.

Ride it. Who cares what anyone else thinks. Regardless of which bike I'm riding, half the people who see me commuting to work probably figure I lost my drivers license in a DUI anyway.