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@JS-187
The Pegoretti Marcelo with reynolds ouzo fork was the closest to modern bike performance in steel that I have ridden. He is said to have made the pro team frames in the 90s which were resprayed with sponsor paint jobs. I guess it was back in the days when tubeshapes and frame detailing was less recognisable by internet geekery.
I really like nice steel bikes but can not see why you would buy a lugged steel frame for propper road use these days. The price of a decent tube-set puts you in to the realm of a really well developed modern frame that can tune comfort and stiffness to the riders needs (fibre orientation/ tube flaring) The marcelo was a great bike to try (in 2006 or 2007) but even then you could get much stiffer (power transmission) and more comfortable frames for less.
I am slightly hypocritical as I have recently bought a new track frame from mercian but its still hard to reconcile the cost with the performance. I love it for its craft and simplicity but even next to a stock alu OTP it will flex like a noodle. In summary if its your only road bike go for something that will let you go for another 50 miles with less effort. For the same price as a new custom steel road frame you could respray one of the hundreds of beautifully crafted second hand frames and finish it in your choice. Then with the rest you can build up a really good modern road bike for anything other than pootling about.