Is carbon in a frame worth it?

daymobrew

Thinking about investing in a road bike, in the e1000-1800 range.
I would mainly use it for the duathlons in the Phoenix Park (yeah, I know, only one left this year) and might aim to do the Wicklow 100/200 next year. Wouldn't mind commuting to work with it but would fear pothole damage that my mtn bike has suffered a few times.

I see some of the bikes in that range have carbon forks (Trek 1400, Specialized Allez Elite etc) but I saw a discounted LaPierre full carbon model ('04 model, 105 groupset) at Cycle Superstore for e1750.

Would it be better to go for the full carbon model or are there disadvantages?
And what is the performance/usability difference between normal and sloping geometry frames?

uberwolf

I went from a low range aluminium frame (£150) to top end carbon frame (£1000). I couldn't believe the difference. Just how stiff the frame was and the resulting responsiveness.

However the requirements for road racing are prob different so maybe responsiveness isn't a top priority

tdo

Just bought a trek 1200...€1100...Aluminium carbon forks and seat pillar. Defo takes the sting out of the bumps...a good comprimise (imho) between the expense and benefits of a full carbon bike.

Other alternative is a second hand job?

However, whats the primary purpose? A commuting bike it ain't.

daymobrew

A few weeks ago I bought a full carbon bike - LaPierre Carbon Comp from Cycle SuperStore.
Knocked almost 10% off my bike time in the final duathlon at the start of the month.
I'm going to look into partaking in the Wicklow 200 (the 100km part).

For my commute I will be sticking with my mtn bike.

tdo

Well done
I was out with Cycle Superstore last week...cannot recommend them enuff. The last shop that sold my bike set it up as if I was going shopping...high nelly...knee injury...these guys put me right...big up...

daymobrew

tdo wrote:

Well done
I was out with Cycle Superstore last week...cannot recommend them enuff. The last shop that sold my bike set it up as if I was going shopping...high nelly...knee injury...these guys put me right...big up...

I got the Loyalty card too - saved about 5% on the bike which covered the basic aero bars I bought.

Their new website is infinitely better than the old version. If you find any typos just email them - the maintainer, who works in the shop, fixes stuff really quickly.

air

daymobrew wrote:

A few weeks ago I bought a full carbon bike - LaPierre Carbon Comp from Cycle SuperStore.
Knocked almost 10% off my bike time in the final duathlon at the start of the month.

Looks a sweet machine indeed.
Do you mind me asking your bike time / distance on it?

Might be time to start saving

daymobrew

air wrote:

Looks a sweet machine indeed.
Do you mind me asking your bike time / distance on it?

Might be time to start saving

Thanks, it is nice.
The duathlon bike portion is only 8.5 miles. Normally takes me 25mins (leaders around 21) on my mtn bike with slick tyres. The one I did on the new bike took 23mins (hopefully improve with more training on it).

I just gotta improve my run times now.

air

Sounds like you're not far off the pace, keep up the good work.

daymobrew wrote:

Normally takes me 25mins (leaders around 21) on my mtn bike with slick tyres. The one I did on the new bike took 23mins (hopefully improve with more training on it).

That's very interesting, I'm using an mtb with road tires as well at the moment.
It looks like the change of bike brought about an 8% reduction in your time.
I was (wishfully by the looks of it) hoping for a bigger reduction if / when I shell out for a roadie bike.
Maybe you're not fully used to it yet after only a few weeks or ..(insert any semi-convincing argument here to help me justify buying one)

How good was your mtb?
My own is 10 yrs old & has a buckled wheel & softish tires so I'm hoping for a 10-13% increase in speed. Will hold out on a purchase until I can consistenly average over 20mph for 20miles on the mtb though!

daymobrew

air wrote:

It looks like the change of bike brought about an 8% reduction in your time.
I was (wishfully by the looks of it) hoping for a bigger reduction if / when I shell out for a roadie bike.
Maybe you're not fully used to it yet after only a few weeks or ..(insert any semi-convincing argument here to help me justify buying one)

How good was your mtb?

I was averaging just under 20mph[1] on the mtn bike (2000 Specialized Rockhopper). Got almost 22mph[1] on the road bike.
I only had it a week and only cycled it 3 times before the final duathlon. Yes, I would hope to improve in the future. I blame the wind too

A wheel buckle should be easily fixed. No excuse for soft tyres - pump 'em rock hard!
And take the bike lock off if doing the duathlon (unlike one entrant!)

[1] Both figures for during the duathlon. More like 15.5mph when commuting, because of lights etc.

air

daymobrew wrote:

A wheel buckle should be easily fixed.

I actually have 2 snapped spokes, strange given that i had the wheel rebuilt onto a new rim about 2 months ago & have used it exclusively on road.
I'll drop it in for repair tomorrow.

daymobrew wrote:

More like 15.5mph when commuting, because of lights etc.

I have a sweet commute, 34km each way and only 3 sets of lights & one pedestrian crossing the whole way.
I average about 27-29km/h (in calm conditions) at the moment, but I think I need to slow it down a good bit most days to get in some LSD volume.

daymobrew wrote:

Thinking about investing in a road bike, in the e1000-1800 range.

Nice to see you restrained yourself

daymobrew

air wrote:

I average about 27-29km/h (in calm conditions) at the moment

Note to self: cancel plans to enter in early season Limerick duathlons.
It's okay for me on a mtn bike to beat road bikes but not the other way around.

Ah, metric - I read this as 27-29 mph. I still work with mph on the speedometer. Still a good average. And a very healthy commute (I'm only 13km each way).

air

LOL, you only need to average about 24mph for 40K to be at olympic tri winning pace!
I changed the bike speedo over to kmph from the start, trying hard to get them miles out of my head altogether!

See this results page where Hamish Carter posted 1:06:47 for the bike.
Thats 22mph ish.
I think he did it very close to the hour in athens.