Any suggestions for carbon frame?

I would suggest that if you want a bare frame/fork you ONLY go to Nashbar. That way an American company is taking on the liability. Believe me, as someone that is permanently disabled from the failure of a carbon fork I strongly suggest against buying these low end frames/forks. My carbon frames are Colnago C40 and Dream HP and I wouldn't buy lower grade.

[ATTACH=full]1513[/ATTACH] Colnago! I bought my frame from Sammy's bike shop in Springfield Illinois as an Ebay buy. I highly recommend them. They don't bs around and they know their stuff. I bought the owners C50, which had been hanging on the wall of about three years. It is a kick butt frame.

[ATTACH]1514[/ATTACH] Heading up to the top of Loveland pass 12k feet on the Colorado Triple Bypass July 2015 with the built up C50. 45mph plus descents down the other side!

The C50 is a spectacular bike. My Dream HP is an aluminum main triangle with the C50 fork and rear triangle. The ride is MUCH better than the C40.

You could get a C40 frame and fork for about what a Nashbar carbon frame and fork costs if you watch Ebay religiously.

cyclintom said:

I would suggest that if you want a bare frame/fork you ONLY go to Nashbar. That way an American company is taking on the liability. Believe me, as someone that is permanently disabled from the failure of a carbon fork I strongly suggest against buying these low end frames/forks. My carbon frames are Colnago C40 and Dream HP and I wouldn't buy lower grade.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've been considering the Nashbar frame for several months, the only problem for me is that the QC seems to be lacking. The majority of reviews I've read have issues with some part of the frame. In the end they buyers tend to be pleased with the bike but the consistency in quality seems to be lacking.

I was also thinking about weight

Al Montgomery said:

[ATTACH=full]1513[/ATTACH] Colnago! I bought my frame from Sammy's bike shop in Springfield Illinois as an Ebay buy. I highly recommend them. They don't bs around and they know their stuff. I bought the owners C50, which had been hanging on the wall of about three years. It is a kick butt frame.

[ATTACH]1514[/ATTACH] Heading up to the top of Loveland pass 12k feet on the Colorado Triple Bypass July 2015 with the built up C50. 45mph plus descents down the other side!

Thanks Al. I checked their ebay store but all they have are complete bikes. I already have wheels an the groupset for the bike, thats why I was looking just for a frame.

Sounds like you got a great bike, congratulations!

Weight should be the last of your worries. You could get extremely high level steel Eddy Merckx or Colnagos on Ebay with Campy Record and high level wheelsets that weigh a lb or two more than your built up carbon frame.

Especially if you are a beginner I would stress that weight is WAY down on the list of things to worry about unless you're comparing an Eddy Merckx carbon (these are built by Trek) with a sports equipment store touring bike.

If you don't even know the proper size bike for your size ordering anything on-line is out of line.

Thanks for the additional input. I didn't give a lot of detail initially so I'll add a bit more here.
In the year and a half I've been riding I've completed just under 5K miles, 80% of that being in the last 13 months. My current bike is a 57cm Kestrel Talon which I upgraded to the Ultegra 6800 groupset with a 52/36 crank.
I routinely ride between 18 and 30 mile rides 3-4 times/week with longer 50-60mi rides on Sunday's. My avg cadence is around 92 or 93rpm.
My total bike weight now is just a hair over 18lbs with my wheels being about 1600g of that weight.
The Talon has a very heavy alloy steerer tube/fork combo (775+grams) and the geometry is a little too aggressive for my lower back on longer rides. The geometry is the reason for a new frame and the lower weight desire is not unrealistic for the amount of time I spend on the bike.
As far as knowing the size I need, I had a professional fitting done back in July and a refit a few months later after dropping some weight and becoming a bit more limber. Fortunately I used a few good measurement tools online, after a ton of research, and purchased the correct size Talon last year. The only thing the fitter changed was the length and angle of my stem.

The Nashbar frame is extremely tempting and I've almost pulled the trigger on it several times. It's still a consideration.

cyoung315 said:

Thanks for the additional input. I didn't give a lot of detail initially so I'll add a bit more here.
In the year and a half I've been riding I've completed just under 5K miles, 80% of that being in the last 13 months. My current bike is a 57cm Kestrel Talon which I upgraded to the Ultegra 6800 groupset with a 52/36 crank.
I routinely ride between 18 and 30 mile rides 3-4 times/week with longer 50-60mi rides on Sunday's. My avg cadence is around 92 or 93rpm.
My total bike weight now is just a hair over 18lbs with my wheels being about 1600g of that weight.
The Talon has a very heavy alloy steerer tube/fork combo (775+grams) and the geometry is a little too aggressive for my lower back on longer rides. The geometry is the reason for a new frame and the lower weight desire is not unrealistic for the amount of time I spend on the bike.
As far as knowing the size I need, I had a professional fitting done back in July and a refit a few months later after dropping some weight and becoming a bit more limber. Fortunately I used a few good measurement tools online, after a ton of research, and purchased the correct size Talon last year. The only thing the fitter changed was the length and angle of my stem.

The Nashbar frame is extremely tempting and I've almost pulled the trigger on it several times. It's still a consideration.

Well, at least you have an idea of the size you need. Carbon bikes are now using a sloped top tube so that instead of being made in sizes they can use small medium and large. That should give you some idea of what is the most important component of the bike - the profit,

At the distances you ride you are not going to wear yourself out without a light bike. You still have some way to go.

Last year's season opener a group of four of us did a century but knocked off 20 miles since it was an out and back loop. We still did 4,000 ft of climbing. For the last 10 miles we picked up a tailwind and AVERAGED 28 mph. I only do 6,000 to 7,000 miles a year now though I used to do 10,000 mile years. Me and another of the century riders are 70 years old.

I rode the C40 and it weighs 21 lbs. without two water bottles, the flat repair kit and a small pump JIC. I'm 6'4" and 186 lbs.

cyclintom said:

Well, at least you have an idea of the size you need. Carbon bikes are now using a sloped top tube so that instead of being made in sizes they can use small medium and large. That should give you some idea of what is the most important component of the bike - the profit,

At the distances you ride you are not going to wear yourself out without a light bike. You still have some way to go.

Last year's season opener a group of four of us did a century but knocked off 20 miles since it was an out and back loop. We still did 4,000 ft of climbing. For the last 10 miles we picked up a tailwind and AVERAGED 28 mph. I only do 6,000 to 7,000 miles a year now though I used to do 10,000 mile years. Me and another of the century riders are 70 years old.

I rode the C40 and it weighs 21 lbs. without two water bottles, the flat repair kit and a small pump JIC. I'm 6'4" and 186 lbs.

Wow, aren't tailwinds nice?
Going back to weight, if I did get the Nashbar frame, used my Ultegra 6800 groupset and temporarily used one of my current wheelsets, the complete build would probably be around 16.5 or 17lbs. That estimate is based on reviews where others built up the bike with the same groupset but didn't mention their wheels specs or brand.
I do this totally for enjoyment and very pleased with the progress I've made in a short amount of time. That said, I have been learning about power to weight transfer and have seen the effects firsthand as I dropped 20lbs last year and improved my pedal stroke, riding position etc. Since I'm in the market for a frame I definitely want to keep weight as a consideration, but don't see it as the deciding factor.

Have you seen any posts where someone suggests who manufacturers the Nashbar frame? I've not seen one myself. I've seen tons of the '4 carbon frame factories in China produce most of the major brand frames...' posts but noting specific to the Nashbar carbon road frame. It would be interesting to see which frame it most resembles in design and build quality.

As always, thanks for the great discussion.

At one time I used to be a real weight weenie.

Reluctantly I will tell you something. I had a carbon fiber fork explode while I was riding about 7 mph through a perfectly smooth parking lot. This dropped me straight face first into the asphalt. My Bell helmet smashed flat and I was knocked unconscious for over 5 minutes. The ambulance took me 25 miles away to an emergency hospital near my home for some reason. Since I was walking and talking at the time they simply released me.

Well I wasn't OK. I have a serious concussion and no short term memory at all. With no short term memory there is nothing to go into long term memory.

I couldn't even remember to eat and start losing weight.

I was also having seizures connected with the concussion of a sort that leave no memory of they having happened. So when I had a seizure behind the wheel I would have a wreck and couldn't report to the police what happened. Luckily there was only one minor injury but the price of my insurance per year was about a third of the cost of a new car. Because of the collisions I was selling my entire bike collection to pay the bills. I threw away all of my large collection of team jerseys and all the other paraphernalia since there was no use for it.

Finally my best friend, a now retired NCIS agent, took matters into his own hands and forced my doctor to refer me to the Palo Alto cancer center since none of the local neurologists could find anything wrong with me and I had lost 42% of my body weight and my GP said that it had to be some sort of cancer they couldn't identify.

The cancer center went over me and said that I was as healthy as a horse except for my weight. The lead on the case suggested a Professor of Neurology at Stanford.

He did ONE simple memory test that took two minutes and with my history pronounced all of the symptoms I was having was because of a concussion. It took him about six months to balance the medications properly and I came awake - two and a half years after my fall.

The moral of this is - most doctors are incompetent except on everyday parts of their practices. Neurologist end up treating mostly aging diseases and cannot identify a BMW from a Ford after a year of that. A large percentage of GP's are simply incompetent period.

It has taken me three years to come back as much as possible but I will never know what happened in those two and a half years and the seizures were accompanied by the destruction of large blocks of, personal and not professional, memory

I now have to take two different medications, that make me feel dizzy, for the rest of my life.

If you believe that 5 lbs of bicycle weight is worth risking that then by all means go for it. And while you're at it keep your flat repair kit in the back pocket of your jersey and keep only one water bottle and that empty so that you can have your friends swoon when they pick up the bike.

cyclintom said:

At one time I used to be a real weight weenie.

Reluctantly I will tell you something. I had a carbon fiber fork explode while I was riding about 7 mph through a perfectly smooth parking lot. This dropped me straight face first into the asphalt. My Bell helmet smashed flat and I was knocked unconscious for over 5 minutes. The ambulance took me 25 miles away to an emergency hospital near my home for some reason. Since I was walking and talking at the time they simply released me.

Well I wasn't OK. I have a serious concussion and no short term memory at all. With no short term memory there is nothing to go into long term memory.

I couldn't even remember to eat and start losing weight.

I was also having seizures connected with the concussion of a sort that leave no memory of they having happened. So when I had a seizure behind the wheel I would have a wreck and couldn't report to the police what happened. Luckily there was only one minor injury but the price of my insurance per year was about a third of the cost of a new car. Because of the collisions I was selling my entire bike collection to pay the bills. I threw away all of my large collection of team jerseys and all the other paraphernalia since there was no use for it.

Finally my best friend, a now retired NCIS agent, took matters into his own hands and forced my doctor to refer me to the Palo Alto cancer center since none of the local neurologists could find anything wrong with me and I had lost 42% of my body weight and my GP said that it had to be some sort of cancer they couldn't identify.

The cancer center went over me and said that I was as healthy as a horse except for my weight. The lead on the case suggested a Professor of Neurology at Stanford.

He did ONE simple memory test that took two minutes and with my history pronounced all of the symptoms I was having was because of a concussion. It took him about six months to balance the medications properly and I came awake - two and a half years after my fall.

The moral of this is - most doctors are incompetent except on everyday parts of their practices. Neurologist end up treating mostly aging diseases and cannot identify a BMW from a Ford after a year of that. A large percentage of GP's are simply incompetent period.

It has taken me three years to come back as much as possible but I will never know what happened in those two and a half years and the seizures were accompanied by the destruction of large blocks of, personal and not professional, memory

I now have to take two different medications, that make me feel dizzy, for the rest of my life.

If you believe that 5 lbs of bicycle weight is worth risking that then by all means go for it. And while you're at it keep your flat repair kit in the back pocket of your jersey and keep only one water bottle and that empty so that you can have your friends swoon when they pick up the bike.

Sorry to hear about your fall but I'm glad you've made strides toward a full recovery. You have a great friend there.

The latter part of your post is off base and exaggerated but hey, that's what happens when people feel passionately about things on the internet, no worries.

Be safe as you crank out those miles!

My question is, why carbon? Unless you are racing and trying to shave every last gram of weight, I see no common sense reason to ride carbon. There are steel frames out there that are only slightly heavier but still very stiff, that handle great and give better ride quality than carbon. If you're riding any distances, comfort is everything. Just food for thought.

doctorold said:

My question is, why carbon? Unless you are racing and trying to shave every last gram of weight, I see no common sense reason to ride carbon. There are steel frames out there that are only slightly heavier but still very stiff, that handle great and give better ride quality than carbon. If you're riding any distances, comfort is everything. Just food for thought.

That's what I'm trying to tell him. But he has ridden enough to be effected by magazine articles and not long enough to learn that weight is relatively minor. I weigh 185 lbs. With full clothing flat repair stuff and water I probably come in around 200 lbs. Now the weight of a bike can vary between 15 lbs and 22.5 lbs for good bikes. The lower end bikes are dangerous and the upper end are steel which flexes a little under high forces but in a way that is predictable.

So the riding weight is between 215 and 222.5 for a difference of 3.5%. This is detectable but not very helpful.

doctorold said:

My question is, why carbon? Unless you are racing and trying to shave every last gram of weight, I see no common sense reason to ride carbon. There are steel frames out there that are only slightly heavier but still very stiff, that handle great and give better ride quality than carbon. If you're riding any distances, comfort is everything. Just food for thought.

Thanks Doctorold. I have a few non-carbon frames in the selection list. Like your very specific question, my initial question was as well. I simply wanted to know if anyone had a personal good experience with an off-brand carbon seller.

I have an old Schwinn World Sport, all original components, that I take out from time to time. I've kept that thing in pristine condition for a very long time, it makes for a fun nostalgic ride.

Thanks again and have a great day!

cyclintom said:

I would suggest that if you want a bare frame/fork you ONLY go to Nashbar. That way an American company is taking on the liability. Believe me, as someone that is permanently disabled from the failure of a carbon fork I strongly suggest against buying these low end frames/forks. My carbon frames are Colnago C40 and Dream HP and I wouldn't buy lower grade.

Wow, good advice, I'll also keep that in mind