"Steel will never die," Dario Pegoretti once famously declared.The legendary Italian framebuilder was speaking about the materials enduring quality at a time when carbon was rapidly taking over the bike industry. Nearly two decades later, while walking through the MADE bike show, Pegoretti may have been right though not in the way he may have imagined. Steel was everywhere at the Portland handmade bike show, as youd perhaps expect, but what was more surprising was what builders were doing with it.Steel in 2026 looks nothing like the skinny, round-tubed, heavy lugged, rim-brake bikes of old. Modern steel is lighter than ever and paired with 3D-printed titanium and carbon aero foils or custom-drawn to create a no-expense-spared climbing bike, or fully hand-formed into aerodynamic truss structures around 32-inch wheels.At MADE, Big Block, Scarab and Rare Earth each approached steel from a very different direction, but all demonstrated that one of cyclings oldest frame materials still has plenty of unexplored territory left.Big Block 427: framebuilding for the CAD generation(Image credit: Anne-Marije Rook)Raleigh, North Carolina-based builder Dustin Schwell showed a bike made from steel, yes, but also carbon and 3D-printed titanium, using each material where, in his view, its particular qualities served the bike best.Schwell comes to framebuilding from a background in CAD (computer-aided design) rather than traditional fabrication, and his process reflects it: more time behind a computer, less time with a file.Much of his 427 show bike was conceived digitally, including complex junctions that can be 3D printed rather than painstakingly fabricated by hand. That makes it easier to create intricate interfaces, simplifies fixturing and allows Schwell to easily adapt the same underlying design to different rider geometries.The mixed-material approach makes for unique lines, welds where one wouldn't necessarily expect them and stands out in the bike's aerofoil-shaped carbon sleeve.(Image credit: Anne-Marije Rook)Rather than treating one material as inherently superior, the 427 is more of a pick-and-mix: steel where steel makes sense, carbon where carbon does, and printed titanium where conventional fabrication would be unnecessarily complicated.Theres a practical benefit to all that digital work, too. By shifting some of the labour from the workshop into CAD, Schwell can keep the cost of a fully custom bike relatively grounded, which is Schwell's raison d'etre: to "build bikes people can actually afford."In the rarefied world of handmade bicycles, "affordable" is, of course, relative. But at $3,200 for a frameset including custom geometry, custom seatpost mast, and custom paint, Big Block sits well below many of the five-figure dream machines displayed at the show. Schwell even paints the bikes himself.Anne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookScarab Serena: steel, but make it premium(Image credit: Anne-Marije Rook)Where Big Block is rethinking how a steel bike is made, Scarab Cycles decided to tackle how the material is perceived."People sometimes think of steel as cheap," Scarab founder Santiago Toro told me.His show bike, The Serena, is an exercise in proving otherwise. The Serena is the most conventional-looking machine of the three steel bikes featured here with slender tubes, restrained proportions and a classic road silhouette that doesnt immediately scream technological showcase. But beneath those clean lines lies an obsessive effort to create the ultimate steel climber's bike. "Serena asks a question that extends beyond weight and stiffness: how should the ultimate climbing bicycle feel?" the brand's marketing material reads. "The answer is both technical and somehow psychological. A good climbing bike is the result of variables that can be measured, and others that can only be felt."Steel is the base of this project because, for one, it's all Scarab does, but also because of the material's "balance of compliance, spring-like return, precision, and durability."Scarab worked with Columbus to develop an ultralight family of custom-drawn Spirit tubes specifically for the Serena, tuning diameters, wall thicknesses, tapers and shapes around the demands of the bike rather than simply stripping weight from an existing platform. The tubes are paired with a custom-machined two-piece head tube, a T47 bottom bracket, 3D-printed stainless-steel dropouts, fully integrated cable routing and, of course, rider-specific geometry.The complete bike Scarab brought to MADE is Toros own, labelled 0 of the 25 complete builds the brand will offer. Designed as more than a frameset, Scarab developed complete configurations with climbing-oriented partners so that the gearing, wheels, cockpit, saddle, tyres, and contact points all contribute to the same "riding sensation". The build includes a Campagnolo Super Record 13 with Ultra upgrade kit, a Darimo Nexum Drag cockpit and T2 seatpost, a Selle Italia SLR Racing Replica saddle, and Vittoria Corsa Pro 30mm tyres. Wheel choices include the 1,030 g Tune Yokto 3030, Campagnolo Hyperon Ultra, and Lightweight Meilenstein ART (as shown).Estimated complete-bike weights range from approximately 6.95 kg to 7.16 kg, based on the published configurations and a size 56 prototype. The price? $16,167 USD.Even Toro himself admitted to feeling a tad nervous riding something this expensive. But buyers are, apparently, less apprehensive. Toro revealed that Scarab had already sold eight Serenas before the ordering window had even officially opened.(Image credit: Anne-Marije Rook)As a Colombian brand, Scarab Cycles is uniquely positioned for this climbing experiment. There's simply no escaping the mountains there, and the country is known for producing some of the sports finest climbers. "Being a cyclist and a Colombian means one thing: you are constantly exposed to mountains. Climbing here is not optional. It is not something you specifically aim for, nor something you carefully prepare around. It simply becomes part of how life happens here," the brand muses. "Colombians do not live despite the mountains. We live within them, alongside them, adapting naturally to their gradients and conditions."These gradients are replicated in Serena's paint, with silver fading into green, and touches of purple revealing themselves only as you moved around it. Sadly, my camera struggled to capture it. Some bikes are simply better seen in person.Anne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookRare Earth Rare Berd: are those even tubes?(Image credit: Anne-Marije Rook)If the Serena subtly challenges assumptions about steel, Brian Halls Rare Berd takes those assumptions and throws them out the window altogether."Most people look at this bike and say, Thats really cool, Hall told me. Then theres 20% of the people that give me a barf emoji, so yeah.If provoking a reaction is one measure of success at a handmade bike show, Hall can consider the Rare Berd a triumph. The 32-inch-wheeled machine was created in collaboration with Berd to showcase the wheel brand's newly launched Sparrow 50 Gold wheels. With the 32-inch aero wheels, Hall decided to design an aero steel frameset to match, steel fork included. Hall describes it as "an aero drop-bar-shaped mountain bike," noting that the fork offset and trail numbers are more akin to a rigid mountain bike than a conventional gravel machine.The finished bike looks as though it ought to have emerged from a carbon mould or perhaps a 3D printer. Instead, Hall painstakingly formed the entire thing by hand."For me it was an exercise in sort of artistic, sculptural shaping," he said. "The whole bike is American steel, so I hand-formed steel to be aerodynamic.""Its a skeleton with a skin on it, basically. A steel skin."(Image credit: Anne-Marije Rook)Hall built the top tube, chainstays and fork around internal truss structures made from small-diameter steel tubing, then covered portions of those skeletons with thin sheet steel to create their deep aerodynamic shapes. In places, the underlying structure is deliberately left exposed.The down tube and seat tube required a different bit of invention. Hall formed round steel tubing into aero profiles, even shaping the seat tube around a Specialized Tarmac SL8 seatpost.It is an elaborate way to build a bicycle. And, for being fully made of steel, surpringly light: 22 pounds, ready to ride. Thats just under 10kg, complete with enormous 32 x 2.4in tyres.Whether the Rare Berd ultimately performs as boldly as it looks remains an open question. Hall had finished it only about a week and a half before MADE and had limited his riding mostly to trips around town, in part because he wanted to keep the show bike "pristine".But the 32-inch wheels themselves are anything but a novelty to him. He said he's already built several mountain and bikepacking bikes around the larger wheel size. And he is emphatic about the result."I love it. I absolutely love it," he said. "I pretty much quit riding 29ers at this point."Anne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookAnne-Marije RookBoth Rare Earth and Scrab Cycles received Builder's Choice awards at the show.