Originally Posted by Trakhak

I've owned many classic top-of-the-line steel bikes since the mid-1960s. Helyett 531 track bike, Tokyo Olympics Cino Cinelli-designed Raleigh Professional, Atala Record Professional, Bianchi Specialissima, etc.

In my case, though, unlike all but a very few here, I was riding those bikes when they were new or nearly new. I loved them all.

I haven't ridden any of the few of those steel bikes that I still own in many years, though. The aluminum bikes I ride now aren't night-and-day better than those steel bikes were. I just like the way they feel to ride a bit better.

My steel bikes were state of the art back then. My aluminum bikes are (to me) state of the art now. Nothing to get riled up over.

Threads like this are puzzling. The C&V section has become far more vicious than it was only 10 years ago (let alone compared to how it was when I started reading it in the first years after Joe G started BikeForums). Worse than the Road subforum, self-congratulatory claims here to the contrary. Why is that? What happened? They're all just bikes.