What is the difference between a $5000 CF bike, and a $15,000 bike

[rydabent]

Inquiring minds would like to know. That is a $15,000 CF bike

 

[I like Skol]

Obviously, about 10k....

 

[Beebo]

Ive never ridden one, but i suspect the law of diminishing returns kicks in, and you get very little additional benefit for each additional grand.

 

[Ian H]

It depends what level you're racing at.

 

[FishFright]

The difference between a podium and an also ran ?

 

[Paulus]

I would of thought the groupset and the wheels would be of a higher quality on the $15,000 one, but you might have to be a top pro to appreciate the difference.

 

[Jameshow]

Ultegra Vs Durace.

1500 vs 1200gms wheels I reckon

Carbon Vs alloy finishing kit,

Not much else if the frame is a high mod frame.

Otherwise they are chalk and cheese.....

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

As a factory trained tech who builds these things I can say that the ”cheap” carbon bikes weight more and are a lot stiffer than their more expensive counterparts. The carbon is of a lower quality and is laid up in a less precise fashion. To make up for the quality difference in both material and assembly, more material is used to assure adequate strength is achieved. The cheaper carbon bikes are not as good as the better aluminum bikes. I know I have a high end “R” model to build when I pick the box up to take it to my shop and it pretty much feels empty. Handling the high end stuff I can feel the lighter build in that I can distort the top frame tube just by squeezing it with my hand. We’ve seen such bikes come back damaged because somebody has been careless securing the bike in a car rack or work stand and has crushed or snapped the frame.

While they are wonderful and fast machines I really wonder if they have a place in the real world, especially as they cannot be recycled when their possibly short lives are over. If the material were banned from competition the world would be a better place for it and since nobody had the advantage of that super light frame, it would be no great loss.

odd… Rene Herse made a complete steel roadbike that weighed in at 6800 grams 50 years ago, so do we really need carbon now?

 

[Drago]

The cheaper carbon bikes are not as good as the better aluminum bikes.

A view long held by myself having owned a cheap carbon frame and a nigh quality alu framed bike simultaneously, yet strangely poo-poo'd by some of the cheap plastic bike fans on this forum.

 

[Punkawallah]

Marginal gains? The nice boys at GCN once summed it up nicely. Apparently the Watts saved by using a lighter inner tube would have made the difference between third place and first place in a TdF stage, assuming the other riders did not have such. The cost of multiple marginal gains in your case would be about $10,000. Which means that unless the competitors ’keep up with the Joneses’, they have a built in disadvantage in races.
The question is, are you competing at a level that would require you to spend that much? If not, the difference between a 15,000 bike and a 5,000 bike would be vanity? Nothing wrong with that, particularly, especially if you have that sort of money as disposable.

 

[Smokin Joe]

odd… Rene Herse made a complete steel roadbike that weighed in at 6800 grams 50 years ago, so do we really need carbon now?

So how come nobody else followed suit?

 

[rogerzilla]

Usually Di2.

 

[Drago]

So how come nobody else followed suit?

Probably the expense at the time.

 

[fossyant]

Di2 has made the price jump stupid now - you don't get the choice of mechanical high end, it just has to be electronic.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Probably the expense at the time.

But if a bike of fifty years ago could be made to weigh the same as the lightest carbon bikes are now the pro peloton would have been be screaming for them - and if they were too expensive for overall team budgets at the time the top contenders would certainly have been given them.

I also fail to see how a steel frame can be made that light and also safe and reliable. Perhaps that is why this was a one off. Steel frames made for competition had wall thicknesses that were already as thin as they dared make them.