alu v carbon question

KonaMike

As stated by others in this thread,you can get a £2000 bike for less than £1500 at this time of year which brings quality carbon bikes into your price range !

rando

KonaMike wrote:

As stated by others in this thread,you can get a £2000 bike for less than £1500 at this time of year which brings quality carbon bikes into your price range !

What would you class as quality carbon bikes then ?

Neale1978

Pretty much any carbon bike thats normally around £2k is worth going for if its reduced to around £1500. All you have to do is upgrade the parts as you ride it

MartinB2444

In truth, if you are relatively new to cycling and have £1500 to spend, you should end up with a bike which more than meets your needs. You can argue for hours over frame materials and specs (which is fun) but really the differences are pretty minor. The most important thing is to find a bike that fits you well and has the best geometry to suit your style of riding.

elderone

Camtheman wrote:

elderone wrote:

hi,im looking at a new bike upto £1.5k and have a post on this but what i,d like advice on is the aluminium v carbon bike at this price.doing some research ive read that a good alu bike is proberly better than a carbon at same price point.From what i,ve read this seems to be at the £1000 mark.
As an example would the defy1(1k) be as good as the defy composite 2(1.5k).Also the defy1 against a carbon ribble bike at same price.
All very confusing. :?

A simple answer to your question is to suggest you think about it like this;

If you did go for the alloy option, would you spend the next two years thinking "awe, I wish I'd bought a carbon"? If so, all the logic in the world won't make you feel like you did the right thing. Plenty of folks, me included, like the idea of having a carbon frame and this was, in the end, what made me buy one. If you are objective enough not to have nagging doubts, you'd probably go for aluminium.

The question now, for me, is whether I wish I'd bought an alloy frame. Not a chance. My old Allez has an alloy frame and, much as I like it, the bike looks and feels a bit old hat. Not an objective way to look at things, but who the hell says you're not allowed to just enjoy what you got?

The fact is, modern technology means you are extremely unlikely to be able to buy a dog of a bike at the price point you are looking. It just depends what makes you feel you did the right thing in the end. I'd be interested to see how many owners of carbon frames go back to alloy. Thousands are buying carbon.

The carbon bike I bought is a Ribble Evo Pro and I have absolutely no complaints about it all all. Full Centaur groupset and Khamsin wheels for under a grand is excellent value, the bike is comfortable and light. I have not exerienced any frame flex despite what a couple fo mag reviews claim. It looks great and I can only say I'm glad I bought it instead of an alloy frame.

I tink your right,if i get alu then i would wish i got carbon,so thats what im ordering.
tks for all replies and info.

simon_masterson

elderone wrote:

,if i get alu then i would wish i got carbon

And if you get carbon you'll wish you got steel.

tonye_n

LegendLust wrote:

TakeTurns wrote:

I don't agree with the comment that you should only buy a carbon bike if you intend to compete. Carbon has many advantages over alu, it's not only about being lighter.

Aluminum frames posses the shortest fatigue life. Some alloy frames only have warranties up to 10 years. Carbon frames have lifetime warranties. An alloy frame may be slightly stiffer than carbon, however a carbon frame would be considerably more comfortable by dampening road vibrations. Whereas an alu would transfer road vibrations directly to the rider.

Could you give some examples of these lifetime warranties?

My Specialized Roubaix (carbon bike) comes with a lifetime manufacturers guarantee for the frame.
My previous bike, Specialized Sirrus (aluminium) came with 5 years guarantee for the frame.
My Genesis Equilibrium (steel) bike comes with a lifetime manufacturers guarantee for the frame

diy

http://cdn.specialized.com/OA_MEDIA/pdf ... 7%2009.pdf

Not worth much to be honest.
Warranty is limited to original defects only, original owner and you pick up the labour cost of repair. I'm guessing that the material costs associated with a carbon frame are pretty small compared to the time and effort building/repairing one.

You have much stronger rights under UK consumer law, hence my comment that lifetime warranties are often of very low value.

stickman

Unless you have a specific number of years in writing don't rely on a lifetime warranty. A company may say x number of years counts a reasonable lifetime and anything past that will not be covered.

Joeblack

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Gabbo wrote:

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Gabbo wrote:

Unless you're looking to compete at a decent level or have intentions to, buy the alu bike. For example, a top end alu bike is equipped with shimano 105 groupset but a top end carbon would be equipped with dura ace. Yes, the carbon will be lighter but the best way to improve performance is not to purchase a marginally lighter bike, but to lose the weight off your body. Ok, Armstrong was a disgraceful cheat but he won his tours on metal framed bikes.

Worst advice ever.

Buy the best bike you can afford.. by your reasoning we'd all be riding carrera TdFs and eating 200 calories a day.

Oh really?

Well by your reasoning we'd all be, umm, I'm not actually sure. You've failed to give a reason as to why my advice is bad and you've also failed to reason as to why you should purchase the best affordable bike.

And no, I'm not suggesting we should all be riding carrera tdf's and eating 200 calories a day. I own a £1500 carbon road bike and looking back, I would have just purchased a £700 Allez and waited until I could afford a higher end carbon road bike. The difference isn't huge. Also the advantage of owning a fairly decent alu bike is that you can use it as a winter bike once you've purchased a new carbon road bike.

Just out of interest which £1500 carbon road bike did you buy?

and yes if you take your argument to its logical extreme we would all be riding TdFs and eating 200 calories a day because that's what you've said right?

Loosing body weight has a much bigger impact than the marginal gains from more expensive bikes? isn't that true?

What if you don't want to lose any body weight? Iv never cycled to lose weight, actually the opposite, to build size and strength in my legs :?

So should I go out and buy a super light tricked out carbon bad boy?

Sprool

FFS I don't think the OP's reasoning had anything to do with fitness or weight loss. If carbon's what you want I say go for it.

elderone

thanks lads but my minds made up,im getting a 2013 giant defy composite 2 from my lbs.
been interesting reading all the opinions of people but the above bike has ticked all my boxes.

Camtheman

elderone wrote:

thanks lads but my minds made up,im getting a 2013 giant defy composite 2 from my lbs.
been interesting reading all the opinions of people but the above bike has ticked all my boxes.

..it would be interesting to see how you feel in a month's time having done so. I bet you a pound you won't be wishing you'd bought alu (or steel). Just be careful when you ride under overhead power lines

simon_masterson

If you look at professional cyclists, they generally do not have treetrunk legs any more than they have huge biceps.

But the weight loss point is perfectly valid; you cannot blame the bike. Apart from anything else, once it's the bike's fault it could also be the wife/boss/customer/colleague/van driver/child/distant relative's fault that you aren't performing as well as you should be.

Joeblack

Simon Masterson wrote:

If you look at professional cyclists, they generally do not have treetrunk legs any more than they have huge biceps.

But the weight loss point is perfectly valid; you cannot blame the bike. Apart from anything else, once it's the bike's fault it could also be the wife/boss/customer/colleague/van driver/child/distant relative's fault that you aren't performing as well as you should be.

Haha noted, I on the other hand am not doing hundred of miles per week and combining the cycling i am doing with my gym work has built my legs up considerably, as with most things it's personal.

turbo1191

I had a similar dilemma as i posted before and i went for a 2012 defy comp 1. So glad i went for that in the end over a alu defy 1.. it is a great bike and loving it!