It's funny, isn't it ?? When ALAN bikes first came out they were derided as beer cans, probably because the aesthetics didn't match those of a colnago or a MASI. The fat lugs are just not as sleek as the ones on steel bikes. However, on the other hand, I love the engraved wreaths on the head tubes of my ALAN. The lugs can be polished up like chrome very quickly. The anodized finish is much more durable than paint and looks like a premium lacquer-over-chrome paint job that lasts for decades without wear. In fact, ALAN (imho) was the pinnacle of aesthetics for bonded (and welded) aluminum framesets.
These framesets are gone now. Discontinued in 2003.
Today, I find that original ALAN framesets are the most beautiful of all aluminum framesets, bar none. The welded framesets that came after ALAN bonded frames just got uglier and uglier ... as the whole spectrum of production bikes got more and more ugly ...
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA