It's on the heavy side for steel. Don't forget the Aurora has very sturdy tubes for cyclocross and loaded touring, and the triple and big cassette and interruptor levers etc add weight, too.

Don't worry too much about the weight, just concentrate on the fit and feel.

When I rode it, I certainly didn't feel it was a heavy bike. I'm surprised by the 26.5 lbs you found.

(I test rode a full carbon bike that was probably 10 lbs less than that, and I was miserable. Go by how you and the bike get along, don't worry about weight until you ride it.)