The truth about (me and ) steel:

On the one hand I have owned steel bikes continuously since 1983. That includes two custom built Romics and a Ritchey steel Breakaway. In fact I just recently had the remaining Romic repainted and fully refurbished as many of you know from the pictures I have posted. I love the redone Romic and wouldn't want to part with it under any circumstances despite having carbon and titanium as well. And back in the '80s I also had experience with glued Trek aluminum. The aluminum is gone, but the steel remains.

Sounds simple right. You would think me a steel-is-real guy. Not so fast, because on the other hand, I redid the Romic with modern 10 speed parts, threadless steeerer, and a carbon fork. I only ride it on special occasions and then mostly just to show it off. My go-to rides are the Giant TCR Advanced carbon and, to a lesser extent, the Everti Falcon titanium. As much as I like the Romic, I recognize it doesn't do the job nearly as well at the Giant and the Everti. If it hadn't been mine forever, I probably wouldn't care about it at all. If I hadn't refurbished it as a labor of love and hobby project, I don't think I would have kept it unless there had been nothing else to do with it. Truth is, my love for the Romic is all about nostalgia, the familiarity of long association, shared history, and the pride of having done a good job of refurbishing it. The rest of the steel-is-real stuff just doesn't impress me.

Ride what you like, and like what you ride. Just don't imagine (my opinion, my advice) that any bike on today's market can beat the performance potential of carbon fiber, however you define that. I ride the steel, and I ride the Ti, but I know that "crabon" is king.