Are carbon bikes better?

247inheaven

Good morrow fellow riders,

a thought wandered into my busy mind the other day and has been bugging me hidiously. Is carbon really worth it? Granted DH and FR this wouldnt apply so much. But for single track and xc/plodding along can i justify the saved weigfht for as strong strength, or is it stronger?

Please guy and girls help me out!

The Northern Monkey

Carbon isn't always lighter... but can be made very strong if the quality and weave are good.

Thing with carbon is that is has shock absorbing capabilities too, so can offer a more enjoyable ride.

gcwebbyuk

I have noticed the shock absorbing with my carbon ritchey bar - it seems to flex a little too if you are pulling on it - not massively but its noticable

JxL

Are carbon bars safe enough for trail riding (without massive drop offs)? I would really like a carbon bar and stem (some going on merlin), but not sure whether they are strong enough.

e.g.

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=produ ... egoryId=74

The Northern Monkey

something I herd that put me off carbon bars on my trail bike..

Metal bars will bend if put under too much strain and pressure when riding, carbon bars don't bend.... they just snap

Wether its true is another matter, however I saved my hard earned just incase!

.blitz

The carbon parts on my Proflex are at least five years old and the bars/bar-ends in particular have survived several diggers. USE have told me that cf MTB parts are massively over-engineered and when used appropriately they are more than strong enough.

mountainroadie

my trek elite 9.9 is nearly all carbon and the shock absortion is nothing short of outstanding . speaking of the strength of the carbon i use my bike to work then thrash it at the weekends it gets used all year round all weathers no problems . as for carbon snapping have you heard of anyone snapping parts or a frame i havent ..... go for it i can reccomend the magic carpet ride .

doublehands

if it means going very fast in an accurate manner carbon is the best.

its all about the stiffness.

plus you can have your cake and eat it - my yeti asr-c weighs less than a lot of hardtails.

the perceived risk of fracture with carbon is overstated, and plenty of metal compoments fracture.

M6TTF

A colleague's husband has the carbon fuel ex (07) and the frame fractured near the bottom bracket. No big scary snap though., and he got a new upgraded frame under warranty.

jamieh5463

Carbon is a funny thing in some ways it is stronger (a lot) than aluminium, steel etc but if the pressure (from jumps and stuff) is applied in the wrong way to the frame it is really brittle, also you can not always tell if the carbon has a problem, but if a carbon frame breaks it will be replaced by the manufacturer unless you were using the bike inappropriately. But carbon is generally better, as in it is lighter and stiffer.

rbonegio

I've just bought a new carbon hard-tail, and while its a super bike - extremely lite, fast etc - the ride is noticeably harsher than my old alu bike. I think this is because the frame is a lot stiffer, which is great for getting your power to the trail, but has its drawbacks too. I'd say go for carbon if you race, or spend a lot of time riding up-hill and want an easier time of it, otherwise alu is probably more comfortable for longer rides? If you've got a fair amount to spend (prob £2.5K plus), you could go for a carbon full-susser, which at least in theory should provide the best of both worlds. I think the earliest carbon bikes had some reliability issues, but as far as I'm aware, this is a thing of the past. I'd perhaps suggest however going with a brand that has a proven history with carbon frames, rather than one that's just moved into it and might still have teething issues. Hope that helps!

mountainroadie

eh ?????? what carbon hardtail have you got . carbon frames are vibration damping along the lines of titanium even if its a hardtail carbon it shouldnt be harsher than your alu bike :?

rbonegio

Its a Scott Scale 20 - a lovely bike, I'm very pleased with, but the ride is definitely more harsh than the Marin and Gary Fisher alu bikes that I still have. I specifically bought the Scott for racing, and it kicks butt in terms of lightness and stiffness of the frame, though if I'm heading out for an all day cruise with mates, I might just prefer one of the others...

mountainroadie

what sort of fork have you got on it my mates bike has a fox f 100 rl on his and wouldnt dream of going back to an aluminium hardtail . hes got a xtr"d orbea team

rbonegio

Thanks mountainroadie. The fork is the same one, and works great, though its the other end of the bike where I'm suffering! Seem to feel every bump in the road/trail. I must admit I have some 1.5 commuting tyres on at the moment, and the 2.25s that came with the bike will no doubt make a difference when I refit them shortly to start racing. Do you think its fair to say though, that a bike like this is really built for speed over comfort? As I mentioned above, its a great bike that I enjoy riding, but I have been quite surprised at just how hard the back end feels in comparison with the alu bikes.

mountainroadie

what about trying a suspension seatpost , wider tyres as you mentioned or tubeless and lower pressure . by the way i mentioned this to a guy at work who has a scale and he says his is the same .... i have got a trek elite 9.9 with a carbon seat and feel it very comfy but i am hardened to it i suppose as i cycle all year ,every weather .do you wear a seat pad in your shorts ? this or a combonation of all of the above might help

supersonic

As with the other frame materials, steel, alu, titanium, magnesium, the feel of the frame is more to do with how it is built.

Carbon is more unique in that it can be constructed in a multitude of ways - we are starting to see now what can really be done with the material.

mountainroadie

just had a look at the spec on your bike ...very nice not too sure about that own brand seatpost though maybe its worth trying a susser seatpost just too take the sting out USE do a nice carbon one .after all these were invented for this very reason .

rbonegio

Thanks very much for the help everyone - I'll most certainly try these suggestions.

Blundell

Hey I just about prefer my carbon hardtail over my Titanium one... just about. Both leave my aluminium ones way behind!

BurnesideWheelers

I have also recently perchased a Carbon frame, Carbon Rush Team jobby. The bike is awsome and has increased all aspects of my riding with the exception of being able to go flat out downhill (head angkle to steep). The frame is amazingly stiff and with the RPL shock with propedal, the harshness is taken out of the ride while keeping traction. I've found that I can "over ride" the bike (especially on the DH). I really have to real it back in now and again, while remembering that if I come off really big and damage the frame, its a whole lot of money to replace it - this is my ONLY concern with a carbon frame and one that anyone seriously thinking about owning one should take time to think it through. I love the Carbon but it is big fanancial lay out if you get it wrong one time too many.

All that being said, I could be talking rubbish and need to improve my riding skills!!!!

Rob.

http://fatman10.pinkbike.com/album/New-and-old/

carbonfiend

carbon is an outstanding material to build bikes with for lots of reason already mentioned. I have 3 carbon bikes and 1 aliamnd the ali is not in the same league. what I will say about CF off road though is you do have to be carfull, there is no flex in the frame at all and if you hit it very hard the force has nowhere to go thus it can crack or break. The upshot of this is it improves your skills IMHO as you defo ride with less wreckless abandon and focus more on your technique. If you do buy a carbon frame I would suggest buying one from a large manufactuer as the quality in CF bikes is in the technology used to build CF is not like steel or ti etc with different qualities. Its about how it is layed up and also the epoxy used between the fibres - its the epoxy that breaks not the CF. Think of it like spaghetti with the sauce and the stronger the sauce between the spaghetti the stronger the frame.

mountainroadie

carbonfiend wrote:

carbon is an outstanding material to build bikes with for lots of reason already mentioned. I have 3 carbon bikes and 1 aliamnd the ali is not in the same league. what I will say about CF off road though is you do have to be carfull, there is no flex in the frame at all and if you hit it very hard the force has nowhere to go thus it can crack or break. The upshot of this is it improves your skills IMHO as you defo ride with less wreckless abandon and focus more on your technique. If you do buy a carbon frame I would suggest buying one from a large manufactuer as the quality in CF bikes is in the technology used to build CF is not like steel or ti etc with different qualities. Its about how it is layed up and also the epoxy used between the fibres - its the epoxy that breaks not the CF. Think of it like spaghetti with the sauce and the stronger the sauce between the spaghetti the stronger the frame.

carbon fiend you like italian food
your three carbon bikes what are they ? howz about some pics.

carbonfiend

sorry about late reply, my bikes are 2000 Trek OCLV road, 2009 S Works HT, and 2008 Kuota Kross also got an On One Scandal. Will try to add pics soon especially the S Works.

55NF

I've had a Stumpjumper Carbon HT for a few weeks. 150 miles later I prefer it to my M5 Alu S Works. Defintly very stiff and responsive. I run the tyres a little softer and have gone tubeless, stuck some Easton low rise bars on which seems to have toned teh harshness down a little.

I spend a lot of time going uphill and it feels better for that than my S Works. Flying downhill on the rough stuff is skittish as it;s so light.
Great bike though & still getting used to it

mountainroadie

PICS PICS PICS :?

djvagabon

It depends what you use it for. Carbon isnt always best, but I do love my Specialised Stumpy Carbon. I prefer my Ti Merlin though.

compositepro

have done for many years including bikes

More recently i was asked to do some bikes for On One and it is only recently the people are ready to forgot old wives tails that have been propagated over the years from early frames..they are becoming accepted and people are learning how to look after them

also of not is its rare to find a company who is actually pushing carbon properly remember a certain amount of failures a year is acceptable to a companies sales guy from an engineers point of view i know you can get a zero failure rate

testing is relatively new this year and im not sure if many of you know but the average weight of a steel bike that passes the new CEN test is 5lbs plus aluminium ones pass the test but fail in other ways not relating to being loaded as they are on the test rig

i have prototypes here which are weighing less and believe me they far tougher even than any metallic frame in impact which is was a major concern that can pass the test

in fact i may even go as far as to say i like them more than the titanium ones

i suppose there will be some kind of demonstration but get ready to see the carbon bike come of age pretty soon!!

320DMsport

I have a Trek elite 9.8, love the bike love the carbon, raced it for 10 months here and there and got dreaded chain suck on a muddy gritty course and now the chainstay is wrecked, prob wouldn't of happened on a alloy frame and i was dissapointed.

But hopefully i'll get a new frame and i will be happy again, i'll just take more care with chain suck so beware.

Burneside wheelers, i'm from your nek of the woods, is that a local club??

MTB or road? or both?

Cheers.

elPedro666

Blundell wrote:

Hey I just about prefer my carbon hardtail over my Titanium one... just about. Both leave my aluminium ones way behind!

I wouldn't leave that Attitude too far behind else I'll have it away...
Looks lovely! 8)

Dirtydog11

Metal bars will bend if put under too much strain and pressure when riding, carbon bars don't bend.... they just snap

So does aluminium