Originally Posted by
livedarklions
Basically, aluminum can be both fairly light and cheap, while steel needs to be pretty expensive to be light.
^^^^^ This.
Light weight metal framed bikes are expensive.
The rise of automated TIG welding made it easier (cheaper) to mass produce aluminum frames.
A cheap aluminum bike will be lighter than a similarly cheap steel bike, and in most cases, a lighter bike would be preferred, that’s why in the modern bike market, the majority of it is various grades of Aluminum bikes, with steel occupying the only the high-end, and the very cheapest.