Young Un said:
I can't be bothered to argue, and no, you haven't won, it's christmas so not in the spirit to keep proving myself correct. Merry christmas Yenners, I hope your steel bike fails
How many early cadex's are still around/ridden today
BTW Giant made them!
Happy chrimbo to you too...but seriously - think twice YoungUn. ! If you've money to throw away feel free to buy if not
DON'T !
I hope your frame doesnt snap !
Seriously
http://www.carboncyclerepairs.co.uk/index.php
http://sheldonbrown.com/frame-materials.html
Carbon Fiber
Carbon fiber is an increasingly popular frame material, but it is fundamentally different from metal tubing as a way to construct frames. Because of the fibrous nature of this material, it has a much more pronounced "grain" than metal does. A well-designed carbon fiber frame can have the fabric aligned in such a way as to provide maximum strength in the directions of maximum stress.
Unfortunately, in bicycle applications, carbon fiber is not a fully mature technology, as tubular-construction metal frames are. Bicycles are subjected to a very wide range of different stresses from many different directions. Even with computer modeling, the loads can't be entirely predicted. Carbon fiber has great potential, but contemporary carbon fiber frames have not demonstrated the level of reliability and durability that are desired for heavy-duty touring use. In particular, a weak point tends to be the areas where metal fitments, such as fork ends, bottom bracket shells, headsets, etc connect to the carbon frame. These areas can be weakened by corrosion over time, and lead to failure.
In geometry, there's nothing as strong as a triangle. Diamond-frame bikes consist basically of two triangles. The elegance and simplicity of this design is very hard to improve upon. Billions of diamond-frame bikes have been made from tubing for over a century, and during that time, hundreds of thousands of very smart people have spent billions of hours riding along and thinking about ways to fine-tune the performance of their bikes. The tubular diamond frame has been fine tuned by an evolutionary process to the point where it is very close to perfection, given the basic design and materials. I often commute on a Mead Ranger frame built in 1916. It's a tad heavier than a more modern frame, but its general riding qualities are as nice as any bike I own.
If there is to be any major improvement in frame design, it must come either from a completely different type of construction process, such as carbon fiber, or cast magnesium; or a completely different type of design, such as a recumbent.