Your opinion Please!

[tulip]

What are you riding now? Does it meet your needs? I would suggest sticking with what you have for a while. That's alot of money to spend if you don't really need a new bike.

(I may have mentioned that I'm reveling in my new frugality, and it's very powerful in the rest of my life. If I can pass some of my success on, I am happy to do it).

[kmehrzad]

I am not a fan of aluminum bikes. As Cataboo stated, the rides can often be very harsh, even with carbon forks and dampening inserts.

I own a 2007 Specialized Ruby Comp, Shimano 105 components, and absolutely love the bike. I paid $1,900 brand new so I think $1,500 is high for a used 2007 Roubaix.

[limewave]

I was hoping to talk him down to $1300, but I think I'll show him the comparisons from Cataboo and see if I can get it down to $1000. At this point I would not purchase it unless he conceded on the price.

My bike needs a lot of work. I'm having some serious issues with it and after checking it over, we figured it needs about $600 in parts, possibly more. I thought we'd try and sell it for $500 and put that towards a newer bike.

[oz rider]

Go for the one that fits, with the right geometry for you - the one that feels right. However I don't think I would buy a secondhand carbon bike. Most manufacturer warranties apply only to the original owner, so to assure yourself the carbon one hasn't been abused I'd be looking for scuffs etc that might hint at a bingle. A new bike will at least give you some free servicing (usually) and a warranty.

I did buy a used alloy bike on ebay years ago because I couldn't find one my size to try; even had my bike shop check it over as fine. But discovered later it had a split head tube and could only salvage parts.

Good luck!

[zoom-zoom]

If the price and fit are right I'd be hard-pressed to pick the aluminum over the carbon. I rode some pretty miserable miles in my first year on my aluminum frame. You ride a lot of the same roads I do. First 20 mile ride on carbon and I will never go back. At least not as long as I live in the land of chip-seal. I might reconsider if I lived somewhere with nothing but buttery asphalt, but that's not here.

[bonnypriest]

I personally tried out the Tarmac & Roubaix (in the same day) riding on some of those crappy chip seal roads. The Roubaix soaked up a lot of the vibration, BUT....the Tarmac was FAAAAAST! I assume you can guess what I purchased. See below.

My suggestion is to just go try them both out for yourself. You might love one or none, but at least you'll know. Good luck on your quest!

[Miranda]

Yep, alum is like riding with a tuning fork vibrating going thru your body. Carbon sucks the road up. Personally I'm considering alum only as a back up bike for shorter rides with the fm, not any major riding (just for something cheap). Yes, the shop can check for carbon damage. Fwiw, I crashed my carbon which 360 flipped over on top of me (my body didn't fair so well) and my frame fine. The alum spokes needed trued, and alum bars bent, but all carbon a-ok, stronger than you might think. Good luck.