Mentioning aluminum and (shudder) carbon fiber in the same breath as Holy Steel? Heretic! Now drop and give us 50 Hail Cinos, do 25 Stations of the Madonna del Ghisallo and pray your lungs out to St. Tullio begging for his intercession on your behalf for the salvation of your C&V soul.

Done? Good. Now go forth and sin no more.

FWIW, it was carbon, but it was lugged carbon!

Dextroamphetamine is pharmaceutical.....................'shrooms are magic. Whole different deal.

CF bikes are the work of Beelzebub, thus might qualify as black magic............not something you want to fool around with.
Unless you're into death metal and Satanism and stuff like that.

In that case, knock off 10 Hail Cinos and five Stations. But let this be a warning to you.

Now where did I put that hair shirt . . . .

Yes, with 'shrooms, it's best to lock the doors and hide the car keys, especially when you start to hear colors. I was a teen in the 70's. However, once I saw the effects of Jimson weed, a.k.a. Baggio Bellflower, I was cured of even the curiosity.

I'm getting one for the missus.

Agree with fit and Columbus steel. If by skill of the builder, you mean geometry, I'd agree with that too.

I've owned 2 bikes (out of over 30) that had "magic". The first one was a Faggin w/TreTubi. The other one is my Ciocc SLX.

Both bikes have a lively, springy feel and tight geometry that just begs for riding fast. Hammer the hills, carve the curves, burn the flats.

I sold the Faggin because it was slightly too small, but the Ciocc fits perfectly. Even after a 106-mile century, I still felt like I could go another 20.

That's a good one to stay away from.

From the bikes I've ridden and the three in my collection, I have to say that my SL framed Basso Gap is as close to magical as I've been on.

For sheer speed, handling and quickness, my aluminum Miyata and Aelle steel Barecci don't come up to the Basso. The Gap always urges me to go faster, to find another gear, and to push hard. In a sprint and out of the saddle, I feel I can really push this frame back and forth and get out over the bars for more speed than the others. Turn-ins are quick and you just want to attack the turns fast. If I don't ride the Basso for awhile, I have to once again get used to it's quick handling characteristics, or I can get in trouble with it. The SL steel of the Basso is light, probably as light as my aluminum Miyata or more-so, and I think that has something to do with it, but I think the bigger part is the geometry. It's built to go fast and race.

My Basso makes feel like Cavendish going for the lead in a sprint finish. Now that is magic!

I can't say that I have had the "magical' ride...I really like my bikes and each does different things well. I might get more input if I ever finish my current build . But I am looking for magic.

I really think it will be a mix of frame, components and little things like seat postion that will add to magic and if one of those is off a little bit magic will go to really good.

OT: I had that experience many years ago with skiing. Got a new pair of Volkl Renntiger's in 210 (a long time ago), new bindings and pair of Dynafit race boots. The combination was magic in skiing ability. The first time I dropped in on an icy slope it was like no ice at all. the problem was i couldn't get the boots to not hure (dynfit=dontfit was the joke). I finally got new boots, which required a slight binding remount...and the magic was gone. They were still really good , but not magic. it could have been millimeters of differenc in the balance point or ??? but the difference was clear....but the boots didn't hurt.

I believe in it.

I've riden alot of brands of bikes from many corners of the globe and some truely have that 'magical' feel. It's one of those things where unless you've experienced it you'll never understand it. Alot of it is knowing what a bad bike rides like and going from there, as a rider do you have the knowledge of ehat makes a handle, accellerate and climb? If you dont you'll never know what 'magical' is.

When I first sat in the Honda S2000 I thought it was 'magical', it was like Honda sculpted the interior around my body, it was perfect in every aspect. I'll hop on a bike and it only takes me a few hundered yards to know...there's just something that speaks to me and says 'this is a great bike'.

Funny, the fist time I felt the magic was in a '69 AMC Javelin. Looks just like a Mustang or a Camaro but feels like being tied to the end of a giant bungy cord. Sure it was comfy and all that but it was the suspension that gave me the lust. Oddly enough, I felt the same thing in a '59 Plymouth. Tried dozens of sports cars trying to find it again and none would do.
Didn't feel it again till I got that Raleigh Super Course.