Searching For The "Magic" Alloy

Image courtesy of State Bicycle Co. 

 Frame materials for bicycles can be a fun discussion amongst bicycle nerds. I have delved into the subject several times here over the years. 

In 2026, I find most people are probably thinking along the lines of the following: Aluminum is "entry level", carbon is "the best", and titanium is for "cork sniffers" in the bicycling scene. 

Steel is .......I'm not going to say it! Steel is perceived by many casual cyclists I've met as being "heavy". Most don't want anything to do with it.  

Apologies if I offended anyone with those gross generalizations, but I used those to prove a point: Most folks have no idea what a frame material really does for them. Sure, they have heard things. You might think carbon fiber is "the lightest" and most prestigious frame material. You may have heard aluminum isn't comfortable to ride. You may have heard titanium is "expensive". As generalizations go, some of their basis is true. Much of the nuance lost will paint a more detailed and truer picture. 

That goes for pretty much anything in life. 

Anyway, this is about an idea I had to help dispel some notions about aluminum gravel bike frames. The thing is, the frames you can buy are priced all over the place and some are more expensive than what I would pay for a carbon fiber frame and fork from China. 

The next thing you'll notice is that many of these frames have odd geometries. In fact, those geometries are all over the place as well. Adding in my proclivities for what a gravel bike geometry should be, and well, it gets darn near impossible to find anything I'd like to try. 

Take for instance the State Bicycle Co. 6061 AllRoad, (shown here). It is sub-$900.00 with a carbon fork. Tire clearance up to a 50mm tire. But the bottom bracket drop is straight out of cyclo cross. Too little of it, that is, so it fails as something I'd want to test. 

Then there is the fine looking Velo Orange Chessie.  I took a deep-dive look at this bike last year. It was almost there like the State offering, but the bottom bracket drop was odd on the bike so I passed on it. Honestly, I was disappointed because I really like everything else about the Chessie. 

So, if any of you dear readers have a suggestion, here are my parameters: The frame/fork must not cost 1K or more. Secondly, the frame must be aluminum, but the fork can be carbon, or whatever. Now, geometry is important. Bottom bracket drop must be 72mm or more. The head tube angle must be 72° or slacker. Tire clearance must be up to a 45mm, and preferably up to 50mm.  I'm open to suggestions on anything else, but I'd really like to stay away from any oddball bottom bracket standards and I prefer threads there, but I can work around this detail.

Got anything for me? Hit me up in the comments.