A word regarding materials:

The biggest difference between chromoly tubing and high tentile steel is WEIGHT. Chromoly uses engineering to produce alloys that use less material to achieve the same strength. The result is a lighter frame. Butted cromoly just takes that one step further.

At this point its actually cheaper to make frames out of aluminum than out of steel. But the same logistics apply. Inexpensive aluminum frames have thick walled straigh-guage tubing and can actually weigh MORE than a decent cromoly frame. A good aluminum frame achieves its light weight through the use of alloys, heat treatments and varying the tube wall thickness.

All that to say the Via is a decent bike. The IGH model was black and gold last year and well equipped too.