Yeah, well that's just like, your opinion, man.
Yes that's why he's a paid editorial columnist.
Hot-takes, rage-bait, click-baits - it brings attention.
There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
51–60 of 102 posts
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#52There’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…
> Weight savings alone are a “Good Reason”.
They're not always lighter either :)
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#53No 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.
The author makes it look like only pro racers are fast enough to benefit from carbon bikes. I guess he's never met good amateur racers, they are very fast, the big difference between an amateur racer and a pro is in how long they can sustain a given power, and the ability to sustain it after a very long race. But most amateur races are done at speeds above 40km/h on the flat, where aero matters a lot.
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#54Wow, not a single mention of fatigue limits in the article and in the comments here, I MUST POST.
Titanium and steel have a property called a fatigue limit[0], aluminum and carbon do not. There's a stress threshold below which steel and titanium accumulate zero wear, making their cycle life effectively infinite. Every bump Al and CF take puts them on setp closer to failure, and that failure tends to be catastrophic. I will never ride bikes made out of the latter two materials, I need to rely on this machine for my life, I don't want it's cycle life nagging me in the back of my mind.
If you want to save weight, take the brakes and gears off. :P
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#55Carbon 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.
Even just loading a bike onto a car rack is a pretty big difference. I don't think I'd pay for carbon if the only benefit was it being easier to carry, but it is a pretty big benefit.
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#56Man, 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!
For dentists with taste: https://officinabattaglin.com/products/custom-steel-bikes/ma... :)
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#57Man, 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.
Do you like the haptics tho? For me, carbon fiber frames usually feel like they're made of reed or something. I know it's tough, but it absolutely doesn't feel like it. I get irrational trust issues.
I crave the certainty of steel.
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#58It’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…
I don't think it's a joke, Outside's writing has taken a hit since the acquisition in 2021. It's a headline for people to click on and the writing is an afterthought. I rolled my eyes with the steel frame thing at the end too. Steel bikes are cool, going fast on a steel bike is even cooler, but the Insufferable Steel Bike Guy is definitely on the rise.
This is the bikesnobNYC guy trolling in norm-core-article form.
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#59There’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…
> Weight savings alone are a “Good Reason”. They're not always lighter either :)
The frames, at the high-end? Yeah they are always lighter.
Putting Tiagra on a 700 gram carbon frame and comparing it to Dura-Ace on a 1700 gram ti frame isn't the comparison we are looking for here exactly.
Re: There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
#60No 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…
Frame material doesn't affect comfort. The extremely stable diamond shape of the frame makes all material differences go away. Where material matters is the seat post (I think carbon has the most flex though and should be most comfortable). My racing bike is steel by the way. Not because of comfort, but because it's pretty beautiful handcrafted in Italy with cromo velato.