Carbon v Aluminum

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I don't have a full carbon bike, but I do have two road bikes with carbon components. The carbon fork on both bikes has never had an issue. My road riding bike saw some BAD chip and seal back in IN when I was doing group rides in a place where they were too cheap to re-asphalt the road. And no problems whatsoever. I have always lived in the Chicago area, so that is where my first carbon got a lot of work on chip and seal and rough roads. Roads back home are awful because of all the freezing and thawing that they go through.

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I'm on aluminum, but am thisclose to upgrading to a more aggressive, carbon frame. The vast majority of our roads are chip-seal and I am tired of returning from rides with numb hands, feet, and butt from the vibration. Hubby is a big guy on carbon and hasn't had major issues. Specialized did replace his frame (under lifetime warranty against manufacturer defect) when it developed an odd crack where the top tube meets the seat tube. He'd ridden 12-13k miles before noticing that spot.

So his bike really took a beating on our roads...plus a 250# beast on the saddle. From the sound of it carbon manufacturing has improved over the last few years, so I don't think most women have much to worry about, even on bad roads.