it's interesting how the bids are flowing in or this "special" frame. Like other members of the List, I can't quite see that Alfredo really knocked out a frame in S/S I know that Crescent gave it there best shot, as did either Bridgestone or Panasonic some years ago.. and I seem to remember that even Eduoardo B quire recently marketed a frame with stainless steel rear triangle.
But stainless steel just isn't the correct material for a responsive bike frame.. It's relatively heavy for a start due to the considerable amounts of chromium and nickel that are alloyed in to make the stuff stainless in the first place. And even stainless doesn't remain stainless ie free from corrosion (for that read "rust") when heated up to between 500 and 800 C - temperatures that are in the range of silver soldering and bronze-welding and brazing, due to a breakdown in the molecular structure at grain boundaries at these temperatures. Fusion welding at higher temperatures also creates corrosion near the weld boundaries but this can be eliminated bya sophisticated heat treatment procedure, but my guess is that that would prove too costly for mere bike frames.
Of the three types of S/S - pearlitic, austenitic, and ferritic, only the first would have a carbon content equivalent to that of a good quality manganesemoly steel such as 531 or 753, ingredients that add so much of the "life" and "response" to those tubes.. In any case pearlitic is used essentially for cutlery because it can be hardened. The other two types are used almost exclusively for containers and pipes in the food industry and things like domestic tableware, jugs, dishes, kitchen sinks etc.
In the "olden days"we used to say that riding a lifeless eg tired frame was like riding the "kitchen sink". Odd that really because in those days most of our sinks were made of either ceramics or enamelled mild steel. Well perhaps I do see the similarity.
Norrsi Lockley.. sizing up his 18/8 quality S/S sink with a view to making a new monocoque tourer..