"...what real professionals really want is something that is going to hold up, something that they can ride with confidence..." - RS
I have to take issue with the use of the word "professional." It was pointed out correctly above that professional racers and most upper level amatures ride carbon frames. So, what exactly did Mr. Schwinn mean by "professional"? He means of course the kind of people who know bikes, know construction and materials, and who are probably old enough to have ridden steel bikes when that about all there was. I'm one of those people, but I'm not able or willing to spend the money on a Waterford frame (or others in that price range). I ride a modern carbon bike "off the rack" because in a few years I'll have two kids to put through college. In regard to materials and aesthetics...de gustabus non desputandem (for those who avoided Latin: in matters of taste, there can be no argument). I can look at a the Nervux lugs of a Chicago Paramount and feel my heart race. I sometimes have visions of my long gone Serotta Nova Special...but I really like the look of modern road bikes, too: graceful, solid, muscular, "futuristic".
In terms of "ride", I'm not so particular. Steel is nice, true, but aluminum never "beats me up" the way I've heard it described by other riders (I ride at 42 between 100-150 miles a week). My carbon frame is very responsive and stable. I like it all. What I think a lot of people refuse to admit is that your wheels and tires play in some cases a larger role in all these "undocumentable" sensations we get from one bike and not another. Decaling aside, most bikes we buy within a certain price point are about the same. Put an excellent set of wheels/tires on your stock frame and I'd bet you feel the difference right away. That's a tangible difference in weight, rolling resistence, stiffness, etc.
There's a market for all of these bikes, steel Waterfords inlcuded, but I'm not sure we're going to see any rollback among "professonals" to steel barring some future disaster in CF manufacturing/longevity.
Last edited by peloton1967; 06-08-09 at 06:44 AM.