Originally Posted by thetiniestbike

Thanks for the recommendation on wheels--26" isn't something I'd really considered, as it seems to be mostly the domain of mountain bikes, although I did briefly consider building up a vintage mtb for this. Are there any new frames you'd recommend looking into?

I agree that a good bike is a good bike, specs be darned. My bias toward steel is that my favorite rides have been on steel bikes--so far. I'm sure there's an aluminum bike out there that I would want to ride every day, day in and day out, but I haven't found it yet.