Originally Posted by
aluminummonster
I like steel because you an pick up an older steel frame for pretty cheap, and if it's like a 6 or 7 speed in the rear, you can cold-set the rear triangle with no worries to upgrade to a newer drive train
There is a lot to be said for this. I've got four bikes with high end steel frames (one Columbus SL, one Reynolds 853, and a pair of Reynolds 531). All of them cost me less than a new All City Space Horse 4130 frameset (as a random example). It's not at all unusual to find complete bikes with frames of this quality cheap enough that you could part them out and sell the components for what you paid for the whole bike and end up with an essentially free frame. The biggest trade-offs are that you will need to use a quill stem (not really a negative in my view) and the paint will likely be in rough shape (also kind of a positive for commuting purposes).
My old steel bikes are all lightweight road bikes, but that's just my personal preference. If you want a bomb-proof flat bar bike, a late 80's RockHopper that you can pick up for around $100 is as good or better than most of the new framesets on the market today and it is compatible with most modern components. You just have to budget some money to do something about the hideous 80's Specialized paint jobs.