That is a nice looking bike Frank, and it is not that dissimilar in look to a typical steel bike. The typical steel bike used to have thinner tubes than it does today. When aluminum came out it allowed even thicker tubes, and in this day and age, radically reconfigured parts. The reality is that Aluminum is a highly superior material, but these days it is associated with cheap bikes, which was not the case at all when it first came out. That kind of prejudice is 99% of the reason they are looked down on today. Aluminum is the backbone of many other sports, like rock climbing, and archery.
Carbon is certainly an ultimate material, for now. But few people are seriously in that league, and a lot of people don't fit off the rack, fit is where custom tube based bikes shine.