Originally Posted by
pbass
Just curious, as I flip through the latest Bicycling magazine round up of "best bikes in every category". With the exception of one $11k road bike, there's not a single steel bike. There's one high end titanium Moots. Otherwise, it's all carbon or aluminum. There's so many great steel rides out there now in different price ranges, especially in the gravel category, I just find it a little baffling. Is it about steel having a bad weight rap? Of course, I know I'm talking Bicycling Mag and not The Radavist or what-have-you, but still, so many folks prefer steel I find it curious.
My take is that advertising drives the bus. The vast majority of carbon fiber bikes are mass produced at relatively low cost in Asia. That is where the sales volume is. The bike mags love to cover the high end stuff and the ads all seem to feature the top models. Most folks seem to be attracted to bikes that look like the pro's bikes. But they can't afford to spend $10K+ on a bike, but they get all wound up by a cheap look alike.
On the other hand steel bikes are mostly handmade in smaller shops that don't have the advertising budget of Giant or Trek. They also don't have as much advertising space on the down tube for the name to be displayed in huge letters.