Alloy or Carbon

derbygrimpeur
derbygrimpeur Posts: 822
edited October 2011 in Road buying advice
Am looking at buying a racing bike for next year and unfortunately I'm having to shop at the "budget" end of the spectrum. So I'm wondering whether it's better (if it's possible to define) to go for a good alloy frame, or a entry level carbon? What would the differences between alloy & carbon be?

Comments

  • STEFANOS4784
    STEFANOS4784 Posts: 4,109
    CAAD10 with 105 has a good offer on at wheelies and is always well regarded as a race machine.........That aside i would have thought you'd have been on here long enough to be able to make an informed choice by now :wink: ................

    See here

    http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... oy++carbon

    Also what's your budget?
    winter beast: http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr34 ... uff016.jpg
    Summer beast; http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr34 ... uff015.jpg
  • derbygrimpeur
    derbygrimpeur Posts: 822
    Budget is kind of undecided really. It's probably £1.5K, maybe a bit more if I fall in love with a particular bike ;) Or if my redundancy comes through (which is likely at some point next year, but probably not before racing starts) then the budget will be upwards of £2.5k

    I'm more concerned about the groupset to be honest. I prefer Campag and would *like* Athena Carbon as minimum (Chorus/Record would be lovely though). Not sure I could bring myself to ride Shimano.

    So I guess the bit I was possibly missing from my question was, if my budget is more weighted to the groupset, how much of a difference will the frame really make. Or have I got my priorities wrong and should I go for a better frame with Veloce groupset? The engine surely makes the biggest difference, so as I'll be starting off Cat 4, am I really likely to notice much difference between Alloy/Carbon.
  • letap73
    letap73 Posts: 1,608
    How about this beauty:

    http://www.evanscycles.com/products/edd ... e-ec029760
  • derbygrimpeur
    derbygrimpeur Posts: 822
    Nice, but I can get a Ribble Stealth with Athena Carbon for slightly less cash. So is the difference between Merckx and Ribble worth the difference between Athena Carbon & Veloce.

    I must admit, the more I look at stuff, the more undecided I become.

    To throw something else into the mix, I'll soon be able to select whether to make use of the bike 2 work scheme through work with a £1000 limit. This would be a great option from a tax perspective as I'd save 51% of the value of the bike. But then you can't get a carbon bike for less than £1000, even with a cheapo groupset? Plus Ribble/P-X are not available on my bike to work scheme, have to go through Halfords (who can apparently source most UK bikes)
  • Evil Laugh
    Evil Laugh Posts: 1,412
    A nice frame that fits you well is going to be far more beneficial than which level of Campag groupset you have IMO. Same goes for nice wheels and tyres. You experience the frame, wheels and tyres 100% of your riding time, gear changes are momentary. Which groupset, within the preferred brand, would be bottom of my list of priorities when building/choosing the bike, within reason obviously.

    I'd much sooner ride a C59 with veloce than a Trek1.5 with super record if you get the extreme example.
  • wayneabs
    wayneabs Posts: 63
    You can pick up the Cube Agree GTC Pro for £1100 which is full carbon frame and mostly Ultegra groupset. Lovely looking bike as well.
  • STEFANOS4784
    STEFANOS4784 Posts: 4,109
    Reading not your strong point wayneabs

    derbygrimpeur wrote:
    I'm more concerned about the groupset to be honest. I prefer Campag and would *like* Athena Carbon as minimum (Chorus/Record would be lovely though). Not sure I could bring myself to ride Shimano.

    wayneabs wrote:
    mostly Ultegra groupset


    :wink:
    winter beast: http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr34 ... uff016.jpg
    Summer beast; http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr34 ... uff015.jpg
  • derbygrimpeur
    derbygrimpeur Posts: 822
    cheers for all the comments.

    Reckon I will probably see about getting something with a decentish frame with thoughts of upgrading the groupset at a later date. Frame & wheels makes sense to take priority.
  • aspender
    aspender Posts: 96
    Check the details of your Bike to work scheme. The £1000 maximum may not limit you to bikes at or under that price, you should be able to pay the balance above £1000 yourself.
  • solboy
    solboy Posts: 368
    For £1.5k go Ti. Van Nic Mistral from fatbirds built to your spec for that money. No brainer!
  • derbygrimpeur
    derbygrimpeur Posts: 822
    aspender > I'm pretty sure I've read I can't top up :( But I will check

    Have realised though that I have a Campag Veloce chainset/derraileurs/cassette so I could just buy a bike with any groupset and swap to the Campag stuff I have. Would only need to get some ebay Ergo levers then.

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