Carbon v Aluminum

[tangentgirl]

Anyone have problems with carbon frames cracking or breaking?

I'm starting to look at getting a new bike. I love my old Cannondale R500, and the aluminum frame suits me just fine, but after a decade, I'd like an upgrade.

I had an incident recently where I hit some potholes at full speed on a century ride. No avoiding them, bikes to the left and right, and I hit so hard my handlebars pivoted down! I was really scared that I had damaged the frame, but she held up like a champ.

In chatting with folks, they say that kind of hit would have cracked up a carbon frame, which honestly scares me. Is this really a valid fear, or is the chance of that happening unlikely?

[Cataboo]

I've hit pot holes on a carbon bike full speed without any problems.

Carbon is also a lot less jarring and dampens vibrations.

[ny biker]

Carbon is also a lot less jarring and dampens vibrations.

I haven't hit any big bumps or potholes since I got my carbon bike a couple of months ago. But damn it sure does ride better than the old aluminum one.

[tulip]

I don't have a carbon bike. I never have. I've had two aluminum bikes (Centurion Facet and Vitus). I have three steel bikes and they are wonderful. Don't discount steel, particularly if you are worried about carbon.

[lauraelmore1033]

I don't have a full carbon bike, but I recently had the opportunity to see something on a two day, double century ride that made me never want to have one: Much of the ride was on the most brutal chip-seal and there was a woman there with a nearly new, full carbon Ruby that had a catastrophic failure of the chain stay which she attributed to the vigorous bumping and banging from the road. Dh's seat post bolt snapped around the same place on the course for (he speculates) the same reason, so it seems a pretty reasonable assumption that the road was reeeealy rough...

[kermit]

Take a look at where you are riding and want you want to accomplish. I have a carbon bike after having an aluminum bike. The carbon is going to be lighter and absorb a lot. My ride in Georgia has some tough country roads. It takes it just fine. Steel is also amazing. There are some beautiful steel bikes that are just as light. I have seem some bad wrecks with carbon bikes and they can take a hit. They really are not that fragile. Carbon will be more expensive.

[tangentgirl]

Thanks, this is all good to hear. I haven't discounted steel, either. Just getting this started.

[Cataboo]

Thanks, this is all good to hear. I haven't discounted steel, either. Just getting this started.

There's also titanium

[GLC1968]

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.

[Eden]

A suddenly cracked chainstay on a carbon bike sounds like a flaw the construction or some previous damage. Vibration from a chip seal road is highly unlikely to have caused it. Remember they build airplanes from the stuff - its not fine china. Alu isn't really any more durable - it cracks (my husband has cracked a chainstay on an alu bike) and if it gets dented or bent it is finished.

[colorisnt]

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.

[zoom-zoom]

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.

[tangentgirl]

There's also titanium

So many choices. Is there an alcarteeltanium alloy out there?

[marni]

my 5 year old trek has been through three major accidents-two off road incidents and one brush with a trailer holding lawn equipment and although I haven't held up, the bike has.

Here in Texas , where the stuff was invented, they have chip seal to beat the chip seal anywhere else and it's a killer to ride. The bike has held up well. Let's not not to mention the number of speed bumps, potholes, rumble strips and tire consuming road snakes I have run over- not to mention the road kill and or gravel, hailstones, and miscellaneous , smaller than a bread box but only just, crap I have accidentally hit or run over.

Of course I have never had any other bike than the steel hybrid I had when I first started riding. There is a lot to be said for light weight, especially in distance and hill riding.

[TxDoc]

A suddenly cracked chainstay on a carbon bike sounds like a flaw the construction or some previous damage.

+1.
People ride the Paris-Roubaix on carbon frames...