It is an aluminum steer tube, the drop outs have fender/rack eyelets, room for 32 mm tires, all reasons for the purchase. It also eliminates the toe overlap the bike had with the previous fork. I am going to be taking another a .5 to full inch off the tube. Also, the crown race is 27 mm, which limits headset availability. I’d like to have it resized to 26.4 to allow the use of a better quality than the cheap one that is now there.