What about aluminium?
There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
21–30 of 102 posts
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#22steel is real! honestly my favorite bikes have been made of steel. they absorb a lot more of the roughness in the road and don't transmit it into your body as much.
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#23What about aluminium?
Yeah, that's kind of the flaw in this argument. The main conclusion is basically correct, but steel rusts and aluminum doesn't. Plus aluminum is light enough to warrant upgrading over steel, and it barely costs anything more.
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#24By the same reasoning, there's no good reason to buy jewelry, a watch that costs more than $50, nice clothes, sports cars, nice silverware, and lots more things.
Some people who are into cycling have a lot of disposable income, and they want to buy themselves something nice. Then they feel happy for a while.
The author claims that there are only "pro racers" and "everyone else", but that's not true - there are also amateur racers, who benefit from carbon bikes except they're not doing it to earn a living.
Finally, the argument that carbon bikes are ugly and steel bikes are beautiful is completely subjective. I feel that the exact opposite is true, but it's irrelevant because it's a subjective opinion.
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#25No good reason? Aerodynamics, period, end of story. I spend all my training hours on a titanium road bike. Why? It's durable. On race day, though, I'm on a top of the line aero road bike. Why? Because it's fast, noticeably. You simply cannot make round tubes aerodynamic and when you're racing at 25+ MPH it does make a real difference.
Everything you've said lines up with exactly what the author said. Carbon fiber bikes are made for and good for racing. If you're not actually racing you probably want to be on something more durable. It's almost like you just read the (intentionally sensationalised) headline..
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#26No good reason? Aerodynamics, period, end of story. I spend all my training hours on a titanium road bike. Why? It's durable. On race day, though, I'm on a top of the line aero road bike. Why? Because it's fast, noticeably. You simply cannot make round tubes aerodynamic and when you're racing at 25+ MPH it does make a real difference.
Did you read the article? Because he mentions athletes right there in the beginning of the article saying that most of the times they get the bikes for free. His article is about the average Joe.
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#27No good reason? Aerodynamics, period, end of story. I spend all my training hours on a titanium road bike. Why? It's durable. On race day, though, I'm on a top of the line aero road bike. Why? Because it's fast, noticeably. You simply cannot make round tubes aerodynamic and when you're racing at 25+ MPH it does make a real difference.
The author is explicitly talking about non-racers/people who aren't racing at the level where it (explicitly does) matters.
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#28steel is real! honestly my favorite bikes have been made of steel. they absorb a lot more of the roughness in the road and don't transmit it into your body as much.
Are other materials (e.g. aluminum, titanium, carbon) not real, or not as real as steel? Can you explain in what sense are they less real?
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#29Man, I spend the money on a carbon fibre bike with an aero wheel cutout because I like the aesthetics. Obviously spending thousands of dollars to save a few grams when I'm going to promptly just gain a few kilograms by eating poorly is not a financially rational decision if the sheer performance is my target. And it's really nice that it's so light. Nice on a single finger.
Dentist bike!
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#30It’s not necessarily about “elite racing performance” for a lot of people. Carbon fiber frames dampen road vibrations a lot better than aluminum and are noticeably less “harsh” to ride. For road bikes which typically don’t have any shock absorbers, a decent quality carbon frame is simply much more comfortable to ride on than the equivalent aluminum frame from the same manufacturer. This can make a huge difference on…
they dampen vibrations better than steel and titanium too tbh. I've never understood the "ride feel" thing about metal frames. Metal tubes are very resonant. that ride feel is just the same vibrations that make on 23m tires _feel_ faster compared to 30m but the science is clear that high frequency vibrations are bad.