The stays and fork are Chromo...it felt smooth on the short ride I took it on. I would normally shy away from an alloy bike as well but I don't have anything like this in my stable. Anyway, for $80 I can ride it at least a season or two and still sell it for double, if not a little more. I'm looking forwrd to experimenting with how wide a tire it can take (I would love to put 28s on, I'll settle for 25s) - I'm not a good visual inspector of such things until I try.