Quote Originally Posted by zoom-zoom View Post
My carbon road bike is in the shop getting a new bottom bracket bearing, so today I rode my nearly new aluminum cyclocross bike (with road tires) 70 miles with friends.

Last night I was dreading this ride. I knew a fair amount would be on rough chipseal. My previous bike was an aluminum road frame (2010 Cannondale Synapse 5) with carbon fork, just like my CX frame.

So, imagine my surprise when I found this frame to dampen vibration nearly as well as my road bike. Huh? Color me surprised!

I told DH that if my first bike had been a Redline Conquest that I may not have even felt the need to upgrade right away. It's ~4#s heavier than my road bike, but it was still a pleasure to ride, even up some pretty steep hills (that's when the added weight and loss of wider-range road gearing would have been nice).
That's awesome. And 70 miles...meep! (Read in a sort of Beaker-type voice)
Entry-level aluminum frames seem to be pretty crappy--DBF said the difference between his old OCR3 and his Cannondale was dramatic, and his Cannondale is at least six years old at this point. Or is it just that relaxed-geometry aluminum frames tend to have crappy ride qualities? I seem to remember DBF saying that at the time he had his OCR, Giant used the same frame through the entire aluminum line. (Does Redline do the same thing?) I'd love to hear someone knowledgeable on the subject's input.

(So I'm not crazy for considering aluminum for my next bike, right? )