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There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike

outsideonline.com

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Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike

#41

Post by FridgeSeal »

There’s plenty of reasons people (me included) buy carbon bikes.

- they’re lighter

- the aesthetics: I like a good steel/titanium bike, but the flowing lines and zero-joins of a carbon frame are awesome

- manufacturers can control and alter the layup to control the degree and direction of flex in different regions of the frame. Plus dampening properties are helpful.

Weight savings alone are a “Good Reason”.

Edit: Wow this article is insufferable. “You’re not good enough to have a carbon bike” and “you’re too peasant to work on it properly”. If the author wants to have an inferiority complex over what I’m guessing is a failed racing career and an inability to learn basic mechanics skills, then that’s on them. I’ve owned carbon mountain and road bikes, put thousands of K’s on them, maintained and upgraded them with zero issues.

Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike

#42

Post by justsomehnguy »

303uru wrote: post #18

No 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.

By that logic Lambo Countach is the best car. Even if all you need is to drive to Walmart to buy a gigant^W American size amount of groceries.

Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike

#43

Post by BozeWolf »

jack_riminton wrote: post #21

What about aluminium?

Aluminium generally is stiff, quite uncomfortable for longer rides (100km). I own one, had a lot of fun with it.

Now I have a carbon road bike, don’t care about the weight, did care about comfort. Comfortable, flexible, but still has stiffness in the right direction (torsion is way less). Longer rides are much more pleasant.

There are also nice titanium bikes and steel bikes. From what I heard titanium and steel frames tend to be a bit more flexible, no idea why.

Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike

#44

Post by system2 »

I am mountain biking very often. The day I changed my rims to carbon fiber ones was the day I could go another 5+ miles. I replaced my entire frame with a carbon fiber one. Now I am nearly doubling my distance which is 20-30 miles with it. I can hop over things easily, climbing hills is a breeze.

Sure, it is not as strong as heavy metal ones, but I do not know if any mountain biker would return to non-carbon fiber alloys. At least for mountain bikes, the carbon fiber anything is a win. Rim or frame, any upgrade is a net upgrade.

It feels like this article was written by a person who never rode a bike. I doubt it is the fact because it comes from a reputable website.

Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike

#45

Post by mikae1 »

chihuahua wrote: post #24

By 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 a…

> 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.

If that’s the case you contact a frame builder that will make you a bespoke lugged steel frame tailored to your measurements. The off-the-shelf carbon frame is the collectible sneaker of the bike world. The custom steel frame is the pair of bespoke Italian leather shoes.

The Marosticana[1] perhaps?

[1] https://officinabattaglin.com/products/custom-steel-bikes/ma...

Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike

#46

Post by jackmott42 »

Carbon fiber bikes have two main properties that can affect performance:

1. they are a little lighter. This doesn't matter nearly as much as most cyclists think, but it does matter a bit. If you race competitively in the mountains, you might care.

2. There is more design freedom for shaping them aerodynamically. This makes a bit more difference than weight, and if you are competing you definitely want it.

Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike

#47

Post by Damogran6 »

Only reason I have a Carbon bike is that was what was available over COVID. Paid $350 for a Museew frame that used to go for a LOT more ($3500?)

I have no illusions of grandeur. When I'm in better than normal shape, I can barely see a fraction of it's potential...it just transferrs SO much speed in a sprint...which I can't do for very long.

Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike

#48

Post by jackmott42 »

danielovichdk wrote: post #34
303uru wrote: post #18

No 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.

I too ride titanium and have ridden my share of both time trial and racing bikes made of carbon. There is no speed benefit for a non professional on a carbon frame, but wheels and positioning are a totally different story. I ride titanium only these days because it looks good and its a tiny bit more soft than carbon, so for longer rides its more comfortable. Bit I ride 40mm corima wheels or 60mm dt Swiss when I need…

"There is no speed benefit for a non professional on a carbon frame"

Yes there is, I and many people have directly measured it.

Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike

#49

Post by timeon »

jackmott42 wrote: post #46

Carbon fiber bikes have two main properties that can affect performance: 1. they are a little lighter. This doesn't matter nearly as much as most cyclists think, but it does matter a bit. If you race competitively in the mountains, you might care. 2. There is more design freedom for shaping them aerodynamically. This makes a bit more difference than weight, and if you are competing you definitely want it.

> doesn't matter nearly as much as most cyclists think

Weight matters also off-bike. For example if you need to carry it upstairs daily. So it can matter even for people that do not race.

Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike

#50

Post by plorkyeran »

rokkitmensch wrote: post #32

People who ride carbon mountain bikes absolutely baffle me. The thing is going to get seriously chewed up if you're having fun and pushing your limits, why make it a glass canon to boot?!

Perhaps you should take the popularity of carbon mountain bikes to be a hint that your preconceptions of carbon durability are inaccurate.
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