Carbon v Aluminum

[SheFly]

I agree with others - the carbon chainstay issue on the chip seal sounds more like a defect than anything else.

I started out road riding and MTB riding on aluminum. I have tried Ti as well. But I LOVE my carbon bikes. I now have two carbon road bikes and two carbon 'cross bikes as well as a carbon TT bike. The ride of the carbon is awesome, and if I can race 'cross and not damage the frame, that says something! (FWIW, my MTB is still aluminum - hmm...).

I have hit potholes and ridden some really rough roads on the road bikes - not an issue on the frames. Have even ridden off the rollers in the basement (unintentionally, of course!) with no adverse effect on the bike.

I HAVE had a carbon handlebar fail catastrophically (it was used and previously crashed, I found out later). Despite that incident (which resulted in 3 months of PT), I still have made a big shift in my frames to carbon.

I'll never go back now, sadly...

SheFly

[arielmoon]

I have ridden both aluminum and carbon and the difference was amazing. Carbon was so much smoother!

I ride over some pretty crappy roads and have never had a problem.

[kacie tri-ing]

Love my carbon! SO smooth and lovely.