When they say "steel is real" they always forget the last part of that phrase. "Steel is real heavy" is what it should be. That's a nice 31 lb bike that would be much heavier if it was steel and nothing wrong at all with hydraulic disc brakes. Really no benefit at all to a steel frame and cable actuated disc brakes IMO.

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...rCode=bluedark