high end alu frame recomendations

I've heard Pinarello makes pretty high end alu frames, but I've never ridden any of them.

Klein
Principia
Boreas

I'm currently building up a Cannondale CAAD8 as a crit specific racer. Very high quality all AL frame. +1 with Diablo on the Kleins also.

I have no idea if the soloist is considered 'high end' or if it will compare to your scott, but it is extremely stiff and comfortable. Not exactly featherwieght at 2.8 lbs, but the overall bike could easily be built up to be so. Give one a test ride.

ebola said:

Hi,

When I bought my carbon bike a while back (scott cr1) I went for some testrides and the salesperson was trying to explain that high end alu bikes are actually 'sharper'. I dont think i could really distinguish that at the the time, and was just seeing the difference between my existing entry-level alu bike & the higher end stuff. I was simply convinced after those rides that i did infact need a high end bike 🙂

Now i'm curious about high end alu again, anyone got any recomendations for alu frames that they recon would provide the same sort of performance as something like the scott cr1 frameset ... ?

I may be selling the cr1 frameset to go down a size.

This is not intended to start a carbon vs alu debate 🙂

Eddy Merckx makes some nice frames.

I also second the Cannondale and (third, I guess) the Klein suggestions.

Cannondale Six13

Not all aluminum like the CAAD8 but a damn fine ride. One of the best rides in any price range in my opinion. If not, the CAAD8 is cheaper and a great ride as well.

Another C'dale guy

ebola said:

the salesperson was trying to explain that high end alu bikes are actually 'sharper'

Is the salesperson trying to say that the bike had better lateral stiffness, so there was less flex when you pedaled, which resulted in more energy reaching the ground?

I think the aluminum Cervelo Soloist Team is the fastest aluminum bike because it has the best aerodynamics. I ride one and of all my 5 road bikes I got my highest top speed on it (32.9 mph flats no wind).

It used to cost $1499 a frameset, now it's $1200.

i read somewhere that the Bianchi Liquigas bike frames used in this years TDF is one of the few bikes that are actually 100% alloy.

Bianchi make high end carbon frames also, why they choose alu for thier tour bikes is a bit of a mystery since alomst every other teams uses carbon...

MountainPro said:

i read somewhere that the Bianchi Liquigas bike frames used in this years TDF is one of the few bikes that are actually 100% alloy.

Bianchi make high end carbon frames also, why they choose alu for thier tour bikes is a bit of a mystery since alomst every other teams uses carbon...

Liquigas use the Bianchi FG Lite alloy frame tubeset by Deccadai.

MountainPro said:

i read somewhere that the Bianchi Liquigas bike frames used in this years TDF is one of the few bikes that are actually 100% alloy.

Bianchi make high end carbon frames also, why they choose alu for thier tour bikes is a bit of a mystery since alomst every other teams uses carbon...

Was going to mention that... I have heard some positive things about that bike.

Its not meant to the be the stiffest bike out there, but as the name suggests, it is lite. I've heard that if you are a big guy, this frame will not be stiff enough, or durable enough.

mikesbytes said:

Is the salesperson trying to say that the bike had better lateral stiffness, so there was less flex when you pedaled, which resulted in more energy reaching the ground?

I dont think he was refering to performance, rather he was talking in terms of handling & feel, with carbon being 'softer' (that whole vibration-damping thing).

On the performance front.. what are the quantitative measures of the energy sapping effect. Are there any accepted benchmarks for frame stiffness?