1st of all, the guy doing the talking is a custom builder/painter. He's obviously going to support the whole custom steel idea.

Secondly, how many aluminum Redlines can you buy for just the cost of the frame by the builders he has mentioned? At 5 years tops (which I don't believe for a minute by the way) you'd be able to buy about 5 Redlines for the cost of one of the customs he mentioned.

I am about the biggest proponent of custom steel out here in webdom, but that answer is just plain silly. No one looking to spend a bargain price to start cross racing should be pointed in the direction of custom steel. Or even rack steel, unless it's the same cost as anything else.

Anyone will get tons of years out of any well built aluminum frame.