Steel vrs Carbon frames

Green Lantern

I rode my bike with Reynolds 531 and then my Trek carbon bike. I found the biggest difference between them was the wheel set and not the frames. Is there much difference between the steel and carbon frames with weight and stiffness? I know some of the newer technology can also be used with steel frames as well.

sungod

depends on the design and materials, a good frame can be made in either, so can a bad one

for a given stiffness and strength, a cf frame can be made lighter than a steel one

but a good steel frame can be stiff and still light enough to get below uci weight limit - if the other components are light - my (big) frame is xcr and very stiff, the bars and wheels are not light but the bike is still only 7.7kg, if i put on cf tubs it'd be below 7kg

steels like 953 and xcr are very strong and have excellent stiffness/weight ratio*, the penalty is price, a cf frame can match the steel one at lower cost

also, steel mostly comes in standard tubesets, whereas it's much easier to create complex forms in cf, allowing aerodynamics to be improved


*see http://reynoldstechnology.biz/assets/pd ... xtract.pdf