Question for you bicyclists

Carbon is wonderful if you are willing to spend the money, but aluminum makes a perfectly fine material for a bike frame.

Carbon is great and all, but aluminum is just as good in my opinion. There are some great websites online where you can purchase awesome bikes- as long as you're willing to accept a little mystery in your purchase. My bike is a "Dawes" and is made in the same factory as Trek bikes and I can only assume it fell off the back of a truck somewhere. I wasn't sure what versions of the braking and shifting components would be included. It's been a great bike for me with a few minor tweaks- and the legit trek components don't hurt! Certainly didn't hurt that it was half the price of the equivalent Trek bike!

Your old saddle may still work! Just check on the padding. Good luck! It's great to be out on the road!

If you have a friend who knows what they are looking at in terms of potential cracks etc. then get second hand carbon. Find your local facebook bike buy/swap/sell and keep an eye on it. Serious Racers bikes with no visible damage about 1-2 years old can often be had pretty cheap or people who buy qand never use them.

Otherwise, mid-upper range aluminium with shimano 105 equivalent components or better (Shimano 105/ Ultegra/Dura-Ace, Sram Rival/Force/Red, avoid campagnolo on a budget as spares/replacements/fixes tend to be expensive.) is a good start but if you get really serious (100km+/week) expect to upgrade to carbon within 2 years.

Decide if you are racing or just riding, go for enduro geometry unless you are thinking of serious racing, its a lot easier on the back.

Ride everything you can get your hands on and work out what you like riding before you buy, but keep it to your price point.

Find an LBS that treat you well for servicing/advice.

For big brands Giant are generally pretty good and you can usually get some sharp pricing, but really any good bike is pretty good these days regardless of brand. Specialized and Trek tend to have a slightly higher price, but see the last point as saving a little bit and never riding is a bigger waste of money. Every brand has pluses and minus's but any of he companies with a pro team are a pretty good bet.

Make sure the bike you buy gets you excited to ride and you want to go out all the time. Regardless of what people say the paintjob matters, an ugly bike won't get ridden as much.

Why not buy second hand
Carbon bike on ebay may be

Go visit a good bike shop and let them help you decide. I've also heard not to buy used. Frame could have small cracks which means bad news.

I'm getting ready to buy a set of carbon fiber wheels.

I'm going to disagree with most people who've posted here. Every aluminum bike I've had has been uncomfortable to ride over long distances. Aluminum can vibrate like a tuning fork and that can be fatiguing to ride. Carbon fiber is the opposite, it "dampens" vibrations. Photographers prize carbon tripods not just for their weight but for their stability, and that can make a well designed carbon bike more comfortable to ride. That's been my experience with the CF bikes I've had and with replacing alu handlebars with CF ones then riding the same bike over the same roads. The difference isn't huge but when you ride 50 miles at a time you feel it.

That said, if you have a fine steel bike, you should probably hold on to your money.

columbus2015 wrote: »

My ride is aluminum frame with carbon fork/seatpost.. the carbon takes the road vibrations out, the aluminum helps keep it affordable. Shimano 105 components are the sweet spot of price/performance it seems. My bike is all 105 and it is quite nice

This. Mine was a Trek 1500slr, which is no longer made. A good, solid ride. Your budget says aluminum.

Don't ask me how much i've spent on upgrades to things like seat and wheel sets. I've more than doubled the original purchase price.

BrianSharpe wrote: »

andrwclem wrote: »

Why not buy second hand
Carbon bike on ebay may be

I would never buy a used carbon frame that I couldn't thoroughly inspect first.....seriously bad advice.

OP there's nothing wrong with an aluminum bike (I'd even consider a steel frame if I could find an older Italian or Japanese bike for the right price). Unless you're riding in very hilly areas the absolute weight of the bike is probably less important than rolling resistance - investing in lighter rims and better tires will pay you more dividends than worrying about aluminum vs fibre (a decent carbon bike is considerably more expensive)

As to your groupset.....Shimano 105 is as good as 90% of riders will ever need, You pay a lot more for Ultegra or Dura-Ace to save a few grams and you may find that the stock saddle that comes with the bike is ok - I rode the one that came with my bike for 5 years (and thousands of kms) and am just replacing it this year (I'm going retro with a Brooks leather saddle - they mould perfectly to your contours over time)

Have fun!

Agree with all of this. I have both a carbon road bike and an aluminum CX bike...I enjoy them both. My road bike has 105 components and they are excellent. I do some road racing and some time trial stuff which is why I invested in carbon...but nothing particularly serious, I do it more for fun so I don't worry about being super light. I'm partial to Specialized and ride a Roubaix Elite. My wife rides a Specialized Dolce Elite which is aluminum and was a fraction of the cost of my carbon bike...and she loves it, it's a really nice ride.