Aluminum is definitely the cheapest, lightest and most pragmatic, but since I think very few people intend to races these bikes anywhere other than the local alleycat, I don't think it'd be as popular.

I still think that lugged CroMo would win out over 853, for the type of buyer you're seeing (unless we're talking about a group buy). I'd really love to be wrong about this.

What kind of price are we talking, anyway?