I understand, yet don't fully agree with the safety concerns of a carbon fork. If something jams in your wheel, you're likely going down regardless and your fork is likely going to be toast regardless.
For the record, I have a Cervelo R3 (full carbon), Giant TCX (Aluminum/Carbon), did have a Bridgestone road frame (steel, more to come on that), Ti SSCX with carbon fork, and a surly steamroller. Oh, and I have just bought a used Atlantis... :) The Cervelo R3 was made with a more upright, 'classics' geo a year or two back when I got it. I've ridden it on a few 100 mile rides, going hard and have been amazingly comfortable the entire time, and that's on 25mm tires! Maybe it's the spaghetti-sized seat stays that soak up the vibrations, but it is truly a dreamy ride quality. I used to have a wonderful Bridgestone steel road frame, with Suntour Cyclone 2 drivetrain and Sugino Mighty Competition. I never found out the model. I actually found the complete bike in a pile of garbage at a construction site. It looked brand new, hah! Then something got caught in my front wheel while riding at maybe 15-20km/h. I immediately flipped over the bars and woke up in the hospital a few hours later. Thank god I had a helmet on (which at that time was not normal for me). The steel fork was totally destroyed. I doubt having a carbon fork would have made things worse or better. I've had a lot of nasty head-on crashes with my CX bikes, both with carbon forks, and no issues. They are a lot stronger than one might think. In the end, I agree - I've felt great on aluminum, carbon, steel, and ti. Rider position, tires, saddle, and wheels make way more of a difference than frame material. On Saturday, April 19, 2014 12:31:22 AM UTC-5, Michael wrote: > > > I'm talking ride quality only, not function. > Don't blow a gasket until you read this post in full. > > Steel, carbon, Alu, Ti, Rando-lite frames, etc. > > I just saw a RAAM documentary. Actually I have watched three of them. > Those guys are mostly carbon, skinny tires, with bars waaay low, yet they > do hundreds of miles a day, culminating in a 3,000 mile race finish in less > than 10 days. You gotta be comfy on your bike to a certain degree to > survive a 3,000 mile ride in 10 days or less. You can't really argue with > that. Yeah, they are athletes,and suffer, but read on... > > I'm starting to think that no frame material is better than another when > at the higher quality levels and craftsmanship. And I think RAAM blows it > all outta the water. RAAM has been ridden on just about everything I would > think. I don't think these people are dummies, and I am sure they have done > their homework to find what suits their needs. I think it's just preference > at that point. I don't know that Jure Robic (5-time RAAM winner) would have > done any better, or felt any better, on a Herse, Scott, Lightspeed, or > Roadeo. Someone once asked him how his behind felt during RAAM, and he > stuck his fingers in his mouth imitating a gun. I don't think that would > have changed no matter what he was riding (and it looked like a studded > leather saddle in the documentary I saw). > > Now function is another thing altogether. You want braze-ons and wide > tires and clearance, approach a steel frame builder for sure. > > I needed to ride through mud and gravel to continue on my way today and I > was glad I was on my fender-ed Rivbike with 42 mm tires and not on a 25mm > tire-ed race bike. > > I'm not going to touch safety and lifetime issues of materials. The battle > rages. > > Anyway, since I got my head out of carbon, and have been reading a lot > about steel, I have been wondering. Because everyone seems to love their > quality bikes, no matter what the material is. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
