different grades of carbon

[alecstilleyedye]

i was asking a lbs about £1000ish carbon bikes, and he more or less pooh-poohed them as crap. they can get merida ones for about £2000 (full ultegra mind) which look good, but are beyond my predicted budget.

is he right, and if so, what are the grades of carbon to avoid and which to go for?

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Ask yourself how many reputable manufacturers of carbon bikes are prepared to risk their reputation by producing garbage. All the top producers supply bikes with differing characteristics, but I've never heard of one who produces cr*p.

The answer is as always: ride as many as ou can and select according to your perception and experiences.

 

[TheDoctor]

Setting up to make stuff in carbon is so expensive you just wouldn't do it to make crap.
My carbon frame and forks cost £350. They're perfect, and probably as good as I'll ever need. I was utterly confident at 50+ mph down Ventoux.

 

[MajorMantra]

i was asking a lbs about £1000ish carbon bikes, and he more or less pooh-poohed them as crap. they can get merida ones for about £2000 (full ultegra mind) which look good, but are beyond my predicted budget.

is he right, and if so, what are the grades of carbon to avoid and which to go for?

LBSs don't like £1k carbon bikes because they generally can't compete with them. A reputable local shop told me my Ribble was probably crap because the spec was impossibly good for the money. The same shop rebrands carbon frames that very likely come from the same factory in Taiwan, only they charge a heck of a lot more than Ribble do for them.

Matthew

 

[bad boy]

LBSs don't like £1k carbon bikes because they generally can't compete with them. A reputable local shop told me my Ribble was probably crap because the spec was impossibly good for the money. The same shop rebrands carbon frames that very likely come from the same factory in Taiwan, only they charge a heck of a lot more than Ribble do for them.

Matthew

This is true my lbs done the same thing and in the end it put me off buying a carbon bike at this bracket to be honest. They kept telling me that carbon frames at this price point are packed full of resin and are no lighter then some of the top end alu frames.

I gave up in the end couldn't make heads or tales of it all.

 

[2Loose]

Even a top end carbon frame is not much lighter than a top end Ali frame, but the benefits are in the feelcomfortresponse.

Don't put off a carbon frame because it 'weighs as much as an alu frame', you can choose plenty of other reasons imho.