carbon or titanium?

dalb said:

I`m looking for a top end road frame and forks. I can`t decide between carbon and titanium. Any advice?
Would my weight (170 lbs) dictate one or the other? Should I keep away from sub-1 kg frames? Dave B 🙂

Don't worry about your weight, every Frame will be ok for you.
Almost everybody you ask will have a different opinion about CF or Titanium. There is no real advantage in either material. Get the Frame you like best.

As Fixit said, there are many options from which you can choose. Try to test ride as many as you can. Include 6/4 and 3/2.5 Ti. Standard and Compact geometry. CF varies greatly too. Personally, I favor 6/4, compact Ti ... but that's me. I also like Easton EC90 forks. But you won't go wrong with Reynolds or Look either.

Make sure the frame you decide on ... fits you and the type of riding you want to do. That's the top priority.

Best.

How about titanium with carbon rear stays. Airborne's Manhatten Project is pretty sweet. www.airborne.net

I went with an aluminum carbon mix for my training road bike, Ultegra comps and modest overall cost ( cytek frame ) truly a nice frame for the money. Looking to go up market for a TT bike, and I want to combine stiffness, aerodynamics with comfort and weight considerations. A lot of conflicting qualities !

The feeling I get is that titanium is going to give a more durable bike, one that will last forever. Performance alone, I think ( and we're talking splitting very fine hairs here ) carbon has the edge in the RIGHT frame. I've seen carbon frames break and they don't fare to well in a mishap.

I guess eventually we'll all have to own 3 bikes !

😕

edd said:

I went with an aluminum carbon mix for my training road bike, Ultegra comps and modest overall cost ( cytek frame ) truly a nice frame for the money. Looking to go up market for a TT bike, and I want to combine stiffness, aerodynamics with comfort and weight considerations. A lot of conflicting qualities !

The feeling I get is that titanium is going to give a more durable bike, one that will last forever. Performance alone, I think ( and we're talking splitting very fine hairs here ) carbon has the edge in the RIGHT frame. I've seen carbon frames break and they don't fare to well in a mishap.

I guess eventually we'll all have to own 3 bikes !

😕

...or take up knitting and save the brain cwlls, from these monumental decisions.

boudreaux said:

...or take up knitting and save the brain cwlls, from these monumental decisions.

..... and the knitting needles ? they titanium of carbon ?

edd said:

I went with an aluminum carbon mix for my training road bike, Ultegra comps and modest overall cost ( cytek frame ) truly a nice frame for the money. Looking to go up market for a TT bike, and I want to combine stiffness, aerodynamics with comfort and weight considerations. A lot of conflicting qualities !

The feeling I get is that titanium is going to give a more durable bike, one that will last forever. Performance alone, I think ( and we're talking splitting very fine hairs here ) carbon has the edge in the RIGHT frame. I've seen carbon frames break and they don't fare to well in a mishap.

I guess eventually we'll all have to own 3 bikes !

😕

Lasting forever is fine if you ride it forever.

Test ride many different bikes made of the different materials to see what you like. Both carbon fiber and titanium have good but different characteristics when it comes to bicycle frames. I know people who have wanted a good steel or ti frame and then test rode the Orbea Orca and after one ride were convinced that the Orca was the bike they were looking for. The point being you may initially want a bike made of one type of material but after test riding a bike you may realize you like something else more. In terms of price, I am not sure about carbon fiber frame prices, but there are some very good builders of ti frames such as Habanero. If price is not an issue then you will have a lot to choose from.

The most important thing is that you like the bike - the way it rides, the way it fits, how much it cost, the way it looks. Not necessarily in that order, though the way it fits should be very important. Just remember that all the replies you get from other people are their opinions and while it can be comforting to know others feel the same way as you about something, such as a bike, they are not the one who will be riding your bike.

For what it is worth, I just bought a Moots Vamoots ti frame built up with Chorus and after riding a $500 Specialized steel framed bike for 14 years I love the way the Moots rides. I was very patient and looked and saved for a long time. I know other people would not think the Vamoots is stiff enough but it is stiff enough for me. I did ride other bikes, such as the Orca, and while I liked the Orca also, I did not like it as much as the way the ti bikes ride in general. I did ride a Litespeed Solano (with Ultegra) and a Merlin Cyrene (with Chorus) and I thought the Cyrene has a much more stable and stiffer ride, but it also cost more. But, both bikes rode very nicely and I would probably have been happy with either one. There are a lot of options but keep inquiring, narrow your choices, and good luck.

http://www.lemondbikes.com/2005_bikes/tete_de_course.shtml

if I lived in the US, I'd test ride one of these !

edd said:

http://www.lemondbikes.com/2005_bikes/tete_de_course.shtml

if I lived in the US, I'd test ride one of these !

I tested a Lemond ti bike last year and I really liked it but was not ready to buy yet. They were going to give me a good deal too because there were two different Lemond ti bikes that US dealers were selling and the only difference was one had Dura-Ace and the other had Ultegra. They were complete bikes with the same frame but different Shimano component groups, thus the different name. Well, this one was supposed to have Dura-Ace but had Ultegra so they were selling it for a few hundred less than its value. Still did not have the cash at the time so I was SOL. Got something different recently so it all worked out in the end.

Never tried one of the Lemond's with half carbon fiber and half titanium. Looks nice though I tend to be old-school and prefer a frame made of all one material. Would love to give it a ride just out of curiosity. I wonder how long it will be before somebody comes out with a bike completely spec'd/made of carbon fiber.

Thanks guys,have ''narrowed it down'' to Scott C1 team,Litespeed Vortex(or Ghisallo) and Merlin Magia.Visiting LBS this week tho' I'm sure no test rides available.

dalb said:

Thanks guys,have ''narrowed it down'' to Scott C1 team,Litespeed Vortex(or Ghisallo) and Merlin Magia.Visiting LBS this week tho' I'm sure no test rides available.

Dalb: Unless your local LBS has a Scott on hand, look at the review on Pezcycling.com. They said it was a very good bike, but finicky to assemble since the carbon was very thin in spots (that's the price you pay for sub-1k frames). It sounds like a very different bike from the Vortex, which is pretty bomb-proof. My Spectrum is a custom version of the older Merlin Road, also pretty tolerant of abuse; I'm not familiar with the Magia. When I say "abuse" I mean racing crashes. If you don't race, or stay away from criteriums, you should chose by what fits you and how you like the ride. If, however, you plan on racing crits, with the inevitable crashes, remember that carbon is more sensitive to nicks (which cut the fiber strands) than ti. Also, lugged carbon frames (for example, Treks) can be repaired by replacing a carbon tube; as far as I'm aware, monocoque carbon cannot be fixed, and I don't remember how the Scotts are made.

After riding a Klein Performance for twelve years, I too researched the "new" technology. WOW, what a difference a decade makes. Going to a Moots Vamoots was all 🙂. Can't imagine what another decade will have in store for the bicycle.

dalb said:

Thanks guys,have ''narrowed it down'' to Scott C1 team,Litespeed Vortex(or Ghisallo) and Merlin Magia.

As a Ghisallo owner, I'm partial to "Lady G" as my friends refer to it. I have ~10K on it and love the ride. Might I throw one more into the mix:

kestrel-usa.comevokesl.phpOpen ↗

I've seen the Kestrel Evoke at Supergo, not this Evoke SL. The Evoke is one mean looking frame.

Best.

CycleFreakLS said:

As a Ghisallo owner, I'm partial to "Lady G" as my friends refer to it. I have ~10K on it and love the ride. Might I throw one more into the mix:

kestrel-usa.comevokesl.phpOpen ↗

I've seen the Kestrel Evoke at Supergo, not this Evoke SL. The Evoke is one mean looking frame.

Best.

Have you seen the Red Tarmac Pro at SG in Fountain Valley,its a winner.

shokhead said:

Have you seen the Red Tarmac Pro at SG in Fountain Valley,its a winner.

Yes I think so; I've seen a lot of Specialized frames there. I'm not a big fan of Specialized although the all CF Tarmac does have some appeal. As you can tell, I'm partial to the ride of Ti, but if I did buy CF, the ones on the top of my list are the Kuota Khan and, Kestrel Evoke SL.

Best.

Wicked Funny🙂

edd said:

..... and the knitting needles ? they titanium of carbon ?