I like old steel bikes, the ones I had when I was a teenager. That's my affinity to steel. It's not the steel, per se, but the crappy componentry and friction shifters, and it's mostly the adjustable stems that I like a lot! I like the look of the narrower steel tubes over wide aluminum or elliptical carbon fiber, too; I like the aesthetic of steel bikes.

If I were racing, I'd go with the lightest, highest-tech bike I could find, though! There is a big difference in riding my steel touring bike with friction bar-end shifters and my aluminum road bike with brifters. The bike I ride for any particular occasion depends on who I'm riding with, mostly. If I will need to keep up, I ride the road bike. For pure pleasure, it's the steel tourer.

Karen