Aluminium lived a very short life at the pinnacle of race bike design, with Marco Pantani the last man to win the Tour de France on an aluminium frame back in 1998, but the Condor Italia RC proves it’s not all about carbon or steel.
When shopping for a fast, light race bike, carbon fibre rules the roost while steel remains the custom frame-builder’s material of choice – which all leaves aluminium in a state of limbo.
But, for the amateur racer at least, aluminium has plenty of merits. For one, it’s more durable than carbon and it’s also much cheaper. Steel often is too, of course, but aluminium is lighter than steel.