steel? carbon? or steel/carbon combo?

[admiral finch]

I agree with everything that has been said about steel. Currently, I'm riding an 02 lemond Buenos Aires (her name is Hen) that is all steel. I switched the steel fork for carbon and I've been exceedingly satisfied with the improvement of the handling and, especially on decents. I'm having a new frame built for me--I'm also short and I have weird proportions, like an extra long torso for my height-- and I had the option of getting either a steel or a carbon frame. I chose to go with a Waterford steel frame and I'm really excited to get the bike! Not only will it be built for me, but I'll be able to put what I want on it, and... the best part... it is the color I wanted--a fade from light yellow to vanilla--and I had the carbon fork painted to match. WOO. Yah, I'm girlie right now, I know. I'm stoked on the whole color thing because I didn't want the standard black and gray.
I'll be putting a carbon seat post on, but using an aluminum Ritchey stem and aluminum bars. If I were to crash, those two items would be most likely to need replacing if they were carbon.
Another thing about steel that you'll want to pay attention to is the grade of steel--531, 631, 753, 853, etc... and what tubing is made of what grade.
For instance, I thought the lemond was 753 throughout, but it's really only 753 on the seat tube and is 531 on the rest of the frame. I really don't know too much about what the different grades are, but I did find this site that could be helpful:

https://vault2.secured-url.com/reynolds/steel531.html

So. Those are my two cents. Good luck!

A.F.