Carbon bikes

Mickyg88

I am new to cycling, having purchased a hybrid bike earlier this year, I now want to step up to a new road bike, and have narrowed my choice down to either a Ribble Sportif Bianco or a Scott CR1 Comp.
I've been advised that Ribble have a poor after sales service, which doesn't really bother me as I'm near enough to call in person if there are any problems, I'm looking more for advice regarding the pros and cons of carbon frames, ie are they as reliable as an aluminium frame, as I'm told frame warranties are only for 2 years as against 10 years for a Cannondale aluminium frame for instance.
Any advice would be gratefully received regarding the above, and would like to hear from owners of either of the above bikes, which both seem to come out well in reviews in the cycling press.

navrig

They are plenty strong enough for cycling otherwise they wouldn't sell in their thousands.

Allegedly they might be a bit less strong when subjected to non cycling loads - such as standing on the forks when the front wheel is off the bike and the bike is lying on the ground. Then again woukd you want to do that to an alloy or steel frame/forks?

FSR_XC

I went from alloy (Specialized Alez) to carbon (Ribble Sportive) and won't be going back to alloy.

I also have a carbon mtb, so have no worries about strength etc.

Btw, the Ribble is brilliant (in my opinion)

Wacky Racer

To put this into perspective, as well as having a carbon road bike, I also have a carbon XC MTB which takes a real caning. I take this bike up to Follow the Dog at Cannock and it gets absolutely hammered and seems to be as robust as any alu frame I have used previously. Unless I was very overweight then I would have no hesitation in buying carbon over Alu, better flex and lighter weight far outweigh any advantages of alu in my opinion.

DrLex

Mickyg88 wrote:

[...] I'm told frame warranties are only for 2 years as against 10 years for a Cannondale aluminium frame for instance.
Any advice would be gratefully received regarding the above [...]

Although not one of the two brands that you are considering, Specialized offer the initial purchaser a limited lifetime warranty on all frames & forks. Such featured in my decision to buy a carbon Roubaix this year.

FWIW, I'd choose Ribble over Cannondale any day of the week (& twice on Sundays).

Simonhi

My Enigma Ti frame has a lifetime warranty, so does my Lynskey yet Ti will never be as light as carbon, I can live with that, some can't.

I have purposely avoided carbon due to two things, one is that I am a big lumox (15 stone but dropping from 17), the second and more important is that I was riding in a group a few years ago and one of said group has a lump of flint flickr up into the down tube, frame was toast, on a £5k bike.

I know that is unlikely to happen on a road bike but then have you seen how those things fold up in a crash ?

MrChuck

Simonhi wrote:

My Enigma Ti frame has a lifetime warranty, so does my Lynskey yet Ti will never be as light as carbon, I can live with that, some can't.

I have purposely avoided carbon due to two things, one is that I am a big lumox (15 stone but dropping from 17), the second and more important is that I was riding in a group a few years ago and one of said group has a lump of flint flickr up into the down tube, frame was toast, on a £5k bike.

I know that is unlikely to happen on a road bike but then have you seen how those things fold up in a crash ?

The tubes on aluminium frames are like coke cans. Plenty of those break too.

EarlyGo

I'm a big fan of Ti. Nearly all Ti manufacturers offer lifetime guarantees on their frames and Van Nicholas will even replace your frame for half price if you trash it in an accident. How good is that?!

Although if your worried about the lifespan of carbon, just get a Specialized as they offer a limited lifetime warranty.

Regards, EarlyGo

RoadyForever

I brought a Scott CR1 Team a couple of weeks ago (from westbrook cycles £500 off) and I do really like. I tried the CR1 (amongst quite a few others) and that was by far my favourite.

The only thing that I feel is a bit of a let down is the warranty, only 5 years if you get it serviced annually by a Scott dealer (or 3 years if you don't). A 10 year warranty would have been more suitable and shown some faith in their products!

Simonhi

MrChuck wrote:

Simonhi wrote:

My Enigma Ti frame has a lifetime warranty, so does my Lynskey yet Ti will never be as light as carbon, I can live with that, some can't.

I have purposely avoided carbon due to two things, one is that I am a big lumox (15 stone but dropping from 17), the second and more important is that I was riding in a group a few years ago and one of said group has a lump of flint flickr up into the down tube, frame was toast, on a £5k bike.

I know that is unlikely to happen on a road bike but then have you seen how those things fold up in a crash ?

The tubes on aluminium frames are like coke cans. Plenty of those break too.

I agree, my GT Zaskar LE was knocked over in a bike shop, top tube denied, couldn't be fixed, well gutted, bought the Lynskey after that, then the Singular and now waiting for the last few bits to build my first road bike.