Carbon v Aluminum

[Selkie]

There's also titanium

Word! While I love my steel bikes, I prefer my titanium ones.

[Catrin]

Word! While I love my steel bikes, I prefer my titanium ones.

Out of curiosity, how do you compare the ride between steel and TI frames? I love how my LHT rides, though she is far from light.

[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.

[indysteel]

Out of curiosity, how do you compare the ride between steel and TI frames? I love how my LHT rides, though she is far from light.

Honestly, I think it depends on the bike and its geometry. My Moots Ti frame rides very harshly, but I'm not sure if that's the geometry, the material or both. Of course, that wasn't my intent. That bike just didn't work out for me. At all.

Ti done right should be pretty plush....but it's also pretty expensive. I'd also note that my Moots isn't all that much lighter than my steel Bianchi. If you want decent bang for your buck, stick with steel IMO. If you go custom and use the right tubing, it will be plenty light for you.

[Norse]

I have had my all-carbon Trek 6+ seasons now and I still love it. I have ridden it over and through just about everything including nasty potholes, gravel ... and bumps that jarred the bike so bad that my red blinkie light flew off. No cracks. What I love best is though is how the carbon makes ME feel going over all this stuff - it is such a plush, smooth ride compared to aluminum (I have an aluminum hybrid I still use for trail riding).

[GLC1968]

Honestly, I think it depends on the bike and its geometry. My Moots Ti frame rides very harshly, but I'm not sure if that's the geometry, the material or both. Of course, that wasn't my intent. That bike just didn't work out for me. At all.

Ti done right should be pretty plush....but it's also pretty expensive. I'd also note that my Moots isn't all that much lighter than my steel Bianchi. If you want decent bang for your buck, stick with steel IMO. If you go custom and use the right tubing, it will be plenty light for you.

I'd have to say the same thing. My steel bike and my Ti bike are very similiar in geometry, have identical wheels, tires and saddles and they give me about the same ride quality. My Ti bike is significantly lighter and has nicer components, so I opt for it over the steel one (it's way prettier too!), but I really do get a similiar ride from both. Oh...and yeah, the Ti one cost me 5 times what the steel one did!

[Triskeliongirl]

I just bought my first carbon bike the other day, but I haven't been able to ride it yet.

That said, aluminum is quite stiff, so if the AL frame didn't break, it's likely a good carbon one wouldn't either. Carbon breaks when it is forced in a direction opposite to 'normal'. So it's easier to crack a top tube with a bike rack than it is to break a frame by just riding on a rough road.

But my heart belongs to Ti for both excellent road feel and durability.

What did you get?? I thought you loved your ti isis???? I do love my cervelo RS even more than my isis, but i think its cuz I screwed up the size when I bought my Isis and mine is too small for me.

For the original poster, I have had steel, ti and carbon. My carbon is my favorite, but it may not be just about the frame material, its about the fit and other aspects of the design, although it is also my lightest bike and light is good if you like to climb or do fast group rides. But aluminum is equally light although I personally don't have any experience with aluminum.

[GLC1968]

What did you get?? I thought you lived your ti isis???? I do love my cervelo RS even more than my isis, but i think its cuz I screwed up the size when I bought my Isis and mine is too small for me.

The carbon bike is my new TT/Tri bike. A Quintana Roo Seduza. I do still love my Isis and she'll still likely get most of my ride time. If our house burned down and I could only save one non-living thing, I'd save my Isis.

I just realized that I have 4 bikes made of 4 different materials. My MTB is aluminum, my road bike is Ti, my commuter is steel and my tri bike is carbon! Funny! Maybe I need a bamboo bike next?

[Triskeliongirl]

Oh, I just found your new bike thread. ENJOY!! See the note on chain rings I posted there. I am not sure you need a new crankset at all, just different chain rings.

The carbon bike is my new TT/Tri bike. A Quintana Roo Seduza. I do still love my Isis and she'll still likely get most of my ride time. If our house burned down and I could only save one non-living thing, I'd save my Isis.

I just realized that I have 4 bikes made of 4 different materials. My MTB is aluminum, my road bike is Ti, my commuter is steel and my tri bike is carbon! Funny! Maybe I need a bamboo bike next?

[Cataboo]

Out of curiosity, how do you compare the ride between steel and TI frames? I love how my LHT rides, though she is far from light.

I far prefer my titanium bike to my surly - but my ti is lighter and fits better and I run smaller tires on it. So with that caveat, my surly feels like a very comfortable tank when I'm on it - it does have fatter tires than anything I run on the road bikes and is a flat bar. I have had some pretty big impacts on it (dropping down into a parallel grate) that did hurt my wrists, so apparently steel can't cushion everything The ti bike climbs much better, and is just a lively ride - I can feel the road, but it's not a jarring or annoying feel - even with chip seal. I swear chip seal sucks the life out of me though.

I've got a carbon road bike as well, the ti is a little lighter - and they are both fairly similar geometry wise, I do prefer the compact double on the ti... But the carbon doesn't quite feel as lively,I don't feel the road really - which was the point when I decided to switch from aluminum, my wrists couldn't take it. The lack of the road feel from carbon does mean that I probably don't notice the road quite as much - so when I do hit a pothole or something, I'm a bit less prepared for it than I am on a different bike.

[pll]

That was a very interesting comparison, Cataboo.

I just pulled the trigger last night and ordered a nice carbon bike, a huge upgrade from my all aluminum bike. I'm hoping to ride more smoothly instead of jumping off the saddle in anticipation of every bump in the road. Sometimes my hands are sore for days... I'm really hoping that will change.

[Cataboo]

That was a very interesting comparison, Cataboo.

I just pulled the trigger last night and ordered a nice carbon bike, a huge upgrade from my all aluminum bike. I'm hoping to ride more smoothly instead of jumping off the saddle in anticipation of every bump in the road. Sometimes my hands are sore for days... I'm really hoping that will change.

A lot of people will tell you it depends on the geometry of the carbon or ti bikes- so my comparisons may really only apply to my bikes There is 6/4 titanium which should be stiffer than 3/2

There are lots of threads on here on what to do to help your wrists - I have annoying wrist issues, so even on the carbon or ti bike, I have to have everything perfect. I like carbon handlebars that have the flat wing shape with gel underneath the handlebar tape, I have to rip the padding out of my gloves, and I keep my hands neutral, elbows bent - and if I get all of that right, I can pretty much ride without any hand pain. (okay, eventually the glove works its way up my thumb webbing and its irritating. ) And lots of ibuprofen

I hope you love your new bike

[Rebecca19804]

[hijack!]

I like carbon handlebars that have the flat wing shape with gel underneath the handlebar tape...

Very quick digression here if I may... Cataboo, what handlebars do you have? I'm looking for ones with a flattish platform on the top but not having much luck with Google - maybe I'm not using the right words to describe it to bring up meaningful search results. Any suggestions?

[/hijack]
Thanks for your patience. I'll return you all to your normal service now.