Weight Carbon vs Alloy

Chrissb
Chrissb Posts: 7
edited March 2008 in MTB buying advice
Hi, first post......i'm looking at a new bike and am fairly new to mountain biking. I'm looking at a few frames and have noticed that the new carbon Whyte E-120 is only 0.2lbs lighter than the Ellsworth Epiphany at 5.7lbs. This can't be right can it? and which one is the better bike? :)

Thanks

Comments

  • The Big Cheese
    The Big Cheese Posts: 8,651
    Hey mate, welcome to the forum! :D

    Don't be misled on carbon as a material, Firstly it's not always 'super light' and the answer to a lightweight rig, and there are different weaves and compounds and sometimes as you noticed there's not an awful lot of difference in weight between that and alluminium... but...

    Frames differ in size, amount of material used etc so you can't compare frames like A vs B as there are many variants.

    Carbon no doubt is light but there are plenty of light Allu frames out there, Scandium frames, Ti frames that weigh up low.

    Also there's different grades of each frame material used; Allu and Ti, steel ...... magnesium et al

    Carbon however has great damping qualities that can't be found elsewhere - it absorbs small bumps and vibration and some people swear by it.

    I have not ever owned a carbon frame but would defo not rule it out, in fact I was considering one, but they are pricey ....

    Hope that [kind of] helped you out a bit - if not check out wikipedia on carbon....

    again welcome! :wink:
  • Spud Son
    Spud Son Posts: 48
    another ali-carbon thought is to buy carbon contact points - bars and seat post ! this will help reduce some of the trail buzz, but will not cost a fortune, relative to a full carbon frame.

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