Originally Posted by
cyccommute
Generally, it is a dig at aluminum. In the minds of the Holy Steel Warriors, aluminum...the metal of the infidel...is soft, weak, and “shatters at the slightest impact” or, in the bicycle vernacular, “it asplodes”. It is not even worthy of the title “metal” in their eyes...even as those self same Holy Steel Warriors take weight off the steel by using aluminum in other critical places.
In a less “religious” context, it was coined back when aluminum bikes started to come on the market to disparage aluminum. It’s meant in the manner as “real bicyclist don’t ride aluminum”. The saying is likely 40 years old by now and is the cry of people who have seen the market share of steel bicycles erode to the point of being a blip in the bicycle market. At this point it is a nostalgia sentiment.
With all that you still have the audacity to write that you do not put down people who ride or are fans of steel bikes. Their arguments do not matter because they're religious zealots? Cool beans.
You use steel spokes though. Why not aluminum? They should be better right?