Finally got a CARBON!!
I rcently purchased my first carbon. Its a Specialized Tarmac Comp. After riding it for a couple of months I can honestly say that it its an absolutely cracking ride. A few turns of the cranks and I'm happily at warp speed with Mr. Scott sorting out the dilithium crystals to keep me going. Accelerates like a sports car, climbs like a demon. Overall, PERFECT! Interesed to hear any opinions if anyone else has one or just any opinions in general. Cheers Tony.
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I've got a Focus Cayo.
Pulls away nicely and climbs effortlessly, but I'm terrified of scratching it, crashing it or leaving it anywhere. The ride is unforgiving and dead. Carbon is for racing only in my opinion.0 -
Fred Steele wrote:I've got a Focus Cayo.
Pulls away nicely and climbs effortlessly, but I'm terrified of scratching it, crashing it or leaving it anywhere. The ride is unforgiving and dead. Carbon is for racing only in my opinion.
Yeah i'm in same frame of mind when it comes to damaging it or leaving it anywhere. As for leaving them for racing I'd have to disagree. People who own 4x4's don't take them off road do they. I just love blasting everywhere on it.0 -
I fancied the Cayo, but I am glad I got the Planet-X, the ride is smooth and fairly compliant and comfy, but it climbs like a demon! I am no more anxious about scratching it than my other bikes, really (steel and Ti), I am just anxious about all of them! :oops: Well, I just take good care, especially when "parking".Fred Steele wrote:I've got a Focus Cayo.
Pulls away nicely and climbs effortlessly, but I'm terrified of scratching it, crashing it or leaving it anywhere. The ride is unforgiving and dead. Carbon is for racing only in my opinion.0 -
Fred Steele wrote:I've got a Focus Cayo.
Pulls away nicely and climbs effortlessly, but I'm terrified of scratching it, crashing it or leaving it anywhere. The ride is unforgiving and dead. Carbon is for racing only in my opinion.
I thought the same about my Cayo Expert. I was quite disappointed initially. But them swapped the Fulcrum 5 wheels for some Easton EA90's and I'm much happier now. The whole bike feels a lot more alive.Weather info: http://www.staydry.me.uk0 -
Fred Steele wrote:I've got a Focus Cayo.
Pulls away nicely and climbs effortlessly, but I'm terrified of scratching it, crashing it or leaving it anywhere. The ride is unforgiving and dead. Carbon is for racing only in my opinion.
You cant write all carbon frames off on the basis of one example.
My Giant TCR carbon gives a very smooth and forgiving ride - it floats over manholes and grids - so different from my previous steel/ CF forked bike.
And surely you are more likely to crash a bike in a race anyway ?0 -
I've got steel, Alu, and carbon frames. Apart from the weight and geometry I can't tell the difference between any of them.0
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I'd hate to haver a cracking ride on a carbon bike... get it... cracking ride...
Sorry I'm not too good are jokes
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I cant see how any bike without suspension would float over pot holes.0 -
Willhub - who mentioned pot holes ? The carbon really takes the buzz out of the road compared to the same sized steel frame. Same wheels and gruppo too.
Whether its the material or geometry is hard to say, its probably a bit of both.0 -
You said manholes and grids, grids give as much hammer to me as pot holes imo.0
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Tonymufc wrote:I rcently purchased my first carbon.
What type of carbon was it you bought? There's Eight allotropes of carbon: a) Diamond, b) Graphite, c) Lonsdaleite, d) C60 (Buckminsterfullerene or buckyball), e) C540, f) C70, g) Amorphous carbon, and h) single-walled carbon nanotube or buckytube.
:?: :?: :?: :?:0 -
redddraggon wrote:Tonymufc wrote:I rcently purchased my first carbon.
What type of carbon was it you bought? There's Eight allotropes of carbon: a) Diamond, b) Graphite, c) Lonsdaleite, d) C60 (Buckminsterfullerene or buckyball), e) C540, f) C70, g) Amorphous carbon, and h) single-walled carbon nanotube or buckytube.
:?: :?: :?: :?:
Specialized FACT 6r carbon, triple monocoque construction. If that fits any of the above, I'm not too sure. Whatever type it is its a damn fine bike too look at, and an even better one to ride. 0 -
Tonymufc wrote:redddraggon wrote:Tonymufc wrote:I rcently purchased my first carbon.
What type of carbon was it you bought? There's Eight allotropes of carbon: a) Diamond, b) Graphite, c) Lonsdaleite, d) C60 (Buckminsterfullerene or buckyball), e) C540, f) C70, g) Amorphous carbon, and h) single-walled carbon nanotube or buckytube.
:?: :?: :?: :?:
Specialized FACT 6r carbon, triple monocoque construction. If that fits any of the above, I'm not too sure. Whatever type it is its a damn fine bike too look at, and an even better one to ride.
Dude your bike is made from Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer/Epoxy
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Oh well.0
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I bought my Trek Madone 4.5 in the summer. Brilliant. And that's the cheapest grade carbon they do, made in Taiwan. It still accelerates, climbs and rides brilliantly - so smooth. Much nicer than my (nice) steel Pinarello. Would have poss gone for Cayo if I could find a dealer for a test ride.
Test rode Spec Roubaix on Shimano wheels - really harsh and buzzy. What wheels is your Tarmac on?
Carbon is great, tho I too am scared of scratching it. Crashing is ok, but not a silly scratch against a wall. Eh? :?Why not? My bikes.
Summer & dry days
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp47 ... /Trek1.jpg
Wet winter days & going the shops runaround
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp47 ... rello1.jpg0 -
pbracing wrote:I bought my Trek Madone 4.5 in the summer. Brilliant. And that's the cheapest grade carbon they do, made in Taiwan. It still accelerates, climbs and rides brilliantly - so smooth. Much nicer than my (nice) steel Pinarello. Would have poss gone for Cayo if I could find a dealer for a test ride.
Test rode Spec Roubaix on Shimano wheels - really harsh and buzzy. What wheels is your Tarmac on?
Carbon is great, tho I too am scared of scratching it. Crashing is ok, but not a silly scratch against a wall. Eh? :?
Shimano RS-10s not the best in the world I know but the idea is to upgrade some of the components as soon as the funds are avaliable. (Xmas, Summer holiday, etc, etc,etc.) It does ride so nice though.0 -
Said whilst holding head in hands.redddraggon wrote:Tonymufc wrote:redddraggon wrote:Tonymufc wrote:I rcently purchased my first carbon.
What type of carbon was it you bought? There's Eight allotropes of carbon: a) Diamond, b) Graphite, c) Lonsdaleite, d) C60 (Buckminsterfullerene or buckyball), e) C540, f) C70, g) Amorphous carbon, and h) single-walled carbon nanotube or buckytube.
:?: :?: :?: :?:
Specialized FACT 6r carbon, triple monocoque construction. If that fits any of the above, I'm not too sure. Whatever type it is its a damn fine bike too look at, and an even better one to ride.
Dude your bike is made from Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer/Epoxy
just read your posted thread in the cake stop. That little lot above make sense now. 0 -
Tonymufc wrote:just read your posted thread in the cake stop. That little lot above make sense now.
That wasn't aimed at you. It just makes me cringe when I hear of carbon bikes and frames.........and it annoys me even more that I've started to say it because I hear it so much :oops:
Anyway, you can't beat a good metal bike 0 -
I wouldn't worry too much about it mate I think its just a loosely used term now, and far easier than the alternative. What material is your bike made from? Oh its made from carbon fibre reinforced epoxy/polymer. I think carbon is a much more simpler way. Never mind it'll soon be Christmas.0
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composite 'what'..?? 0
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simple its just made from supercarbon fibre reinforced epoxy/polymercalifragilisticexpialidocious ..... 0
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I've got the 08 Tarmac Comp (second one since the insurance replacement) and agree it has a very smooth ride, it really evens out the bumps. It's much smoother than my Alu Kinesis KIC2 which really lets me know about the smallest surface irregularities.
Replaced the RS-10s quite early on as I found they had quite a lot of flex rubbing the brake pads so put them on my commuter. Also upgraded the groupset to Ultegra SL and put the 105 on the Kinesis as I thought the frame deserved it. Gone off the paint job a bit, I think it's too garish now, but other than that can't wait to take it to the races next year.
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Been lusting after a new bike for a while now, but doing the sums I can't convince myself that is anything more than an object of desire as opposed to anything that will actually make a huge difference... My bike (a 2003 Specialized Allez E5 comp) weighs 9.5 kg's with aero bars and other bits of guff bolted to it. A wheelset will lower it's weight by 480 grammes for £620, and perhaps another 300 grammes for a £200 crank. So for about a grand I could lower the weight by about a kilo I guess. The wheels I have planned very shortly.
So I'll have a bike that weighs about 8 and a bit kilos. To get a carbon superbike that tips the scales on the UCI limit of 6.7 would cost me, what, another £2-3000? Meanwhile my weight has dropped from 90kgs to 79 kg's in the last year, and what's more it varies from day to day by more than a kilo depending on what I have drunk, eaten, how much sleep I have had, and other things I won't mention at lunch time...
So when people talk about how fast their superbike is, is it not mostly the extra motivation they get out of riding it? The extra zest they put into it as they love riding their object of desire so much? (Insert coarse double entendre here...) I mean, come on, how much faster does 2 kg's feel like for Christ's sake? I would love someone to write an honest review in Cycling Plus saying something like "As I powered up Alp Duez I felt the massive acceleration that came from having taken a particularly large dump after breakfast..."
That said, don't get me wrong, I'm all for it. Nothing wrong at all with spending a few grand on a bike and enjoying every minute of ownership, riding. In fact, in response to some of the snobbery you sometimes hear from people saying that a person is just a 'kit merchant' for spending a fortune on high spec bikes and parts if they don't race, well Thank God they do! But for them the whole bike industry would be in a poor state with far fewer carbon exotic bikes to choose from...0 -
Shmo wrote:I've got the 08 Tarmac Comp (second one since the insurance replacement) and agree it has a very smooth ride, it really evens out the bumps. It's much smoother than my Alu Kinesis KIC2 which really lets me know about the smallest surface irregularities.
Replaced the RS-10s quite early on as I found they had quite a lot of flex rubbing the brake pads so put them on my commuter. Also upgraded the groupset to Ultegra SL and put the 105 on the Kinesis as I thought the frame deserved it. Gone off the paint job a bit, I think it's too garish now, but other than that can't wait to take it to the races next year.
What did you replace the RS-10s with.0 -
derekwatts wrote:
That said, don't get me wrong, I'm all for it. Nothing wrong at all with spending a few grand on a bike and enjoying every minute of ownership, riding. In fact, in response to some of the snobbery you sometimes hear from people saying that a person is just a 'kit merchant' for spending a fortune on high spec bikes and parts if they don't race, well Thank God they do! But for them the whole bike industry would be in a poor state with far fewer carbon exotic bikes to choose from...
Hi Derek.
I agree.
The only reservation I have is when people start recommending kit to others based on the marketing blurb without admitting the real reason why they bought a 1300g wheelset to go with their compact chainset and white bar tape...
Cheers, Andy0 -
ps My carbon-fibre, DA equipped, aero-wheeled, super-bike weighed 8kg complete with pedals and bottle cage on the bike shop scales.
There - I admitted it!
Would I be any faster if it weighed 6.8kg?0 -
andrewgturnbull wrote:to go with their compact chainset and white bar tape..
What wrong with compact chainsets and white bar tape?
White bar tape and a compact chainset was good enough for Carlos Sastre to win the Tour 0 -
redddraggon wrote:andrewgturnbull wrote:to go with their compact chainset and white bar tape..
What wrong with compact chainsets and white bar tape?
White bar tape and a compact chainset was good enough for Carlos Sastre to win the Tour
Merry Xmas Red!
Cheers, Andy0 -
Yeah I should really try other carbon frames to justify my opinion, but I just think that many people consider lightness as the be-all and end-all of bikes. If you take a quality cro-mo bike and a carbon bike, and add the riders; the weight difference between the frames alone could be less than 1% of the total. That is significant at racing level, and the the last Tour win on steel was back in '93, but my personal preference is for cro-mo, being a material that is nice to work with, can be repaired easily, gives a nice small-diameter tube aesthetic, goes "ding" when you flick it, and, if it fails, usually fails slowly and predictably.
Vive la difference.0
