There is no reason to buy a carbon bike

[reuben]

I know I'm reading Paceline when one unresolvable or contentious topic derails into another one.

[Baron Blubba]

Originally Posted by reuben

I know I'm reading Paceline when one unresolvable or contentious topic derails into another one.

You should see my conversations in real life --this Paceline stuff is child's play!

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by aaronffs

so easy to tell who the author would be before even clicking; editors must love the kind of clickbait headlines they can work out of him

I'm not even clicking the article, but my guess would be... Russ from Path Less Pedal'd?

[vespasianus]

Mark's picture are great and I think this thread needs some pictures!

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by Baron Blubba

My shop used to sell Raleigh. I actually really liked their road bikes circa 2011 - 2015ish (Revenio for endurance, Militis for race), thought they road well and just worked great. But of course, no one wants to ride a Raleigh road bike, everyone wants a Trek or Cannondale or Spesh. My main selling point on the bikes was, "There's nothing more satisfying than dropping the S-works crew while riding a Raleigh."

I imagine the same is true of Claris, Sora, Tiagra.

One of my kids trained for an Ironman during the spring and summer of '22 and she did one in Sept '22 a few weeks after she turned 18.
She rocked an aluminum Trek Domane with 2x8 Claris R2000 drivetrain and rim brakes...and was the only one with Claris(or Sora) that anyone could see.
It became a bit of a running joke, it was so obvious.

[Baron Blubba]

Originally Posted by mstateglfr

One of my kids trained for an Ironman during the spring and summer of '22 and she did one in Sept '22 a few weeks after she turned 18.
She rocked an aluminum Trek Domane with 2x8 Claris R2000 drivetrain and rim brakes...and was the only one with Claris(or Sora) that anyone could see.
It became a bit of a running joke, it was so obvious.

That's very cool that your daughter did that so young, but now what's she going to do to avert a midlife crisis?

Seriously, that stuff works great. I wouldn't be caught dead on it, but it works great.

[benb]

I'm curious how you end up with Claris 2x8 on a Domane.. I'm skeptical Trek ever shipped a Domane with Claris and all models would have been 2x10 or 2x11 by the time the Domane first shipped.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by benb

I'm curious how you end up with Claris 2x8 on a Domane.. I'm skeptical Trek ever shipped a Domane with Claris and all models would have been 2x10 or 2x11 by the time the Domane first shipped.

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...2-rim/p/33037/

[reuben]

Originally Posted by Baron Blubba

You should

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by benb

I'm curious how you end up with Claris 2x8 on a Domane.. I'm skeptical Trek ever shipped a Domane with Claris and all models would have been 2x10 or 2x11 by the time the Domane first shipped.

It's a stock bike. 2019 model, I think. Square taper crank even.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by benb

I'm curious how you end up with Claris 2x8 on a Domane.. I'm skeptical Trek ever shipped a Domane with Claris and all models would have been 2x10 or 2x11 by the time the Domane first shipped.

So not true

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by mstateglfr

It's a stock bike. 2019 model, I think. Square taper crank even.

... and still available in 2024.

[capt_velo]

The author added a follow up blog post to elaborate more. I think all this points are valid and reasonable.

Therefore, I conclude, based on my own experience:

Steel is extremely reliable and a great value, just wipe it down once in awhile if you ride on salty roads. Otherwise it performs well for all types of riding, it can be had dirt cheap, and you can totally experiment with it and treat it like crap.
Aluminum is reliable and a great value, it can also be had dirt cheap, just avoid the superlights (probably true for any material). I also wouldn’t go messing with the rear spacing or anything like that, though admittedly that’s based on what I read, not from personal experience. And while steel can rust, aluminum can also bubble under the paint and do other weird things–especially if you’re a heavy sweater like me, trust me.
Clearly you can get lots of good use out of a carbon bike, but I got nothing out of mine that I didn’t get out of my steel and aluminum bikes, which are generally much cheaper. Like drugs in college, if you’re a racer of course you’re going to try carbon at some point, but like drugs in adulthood I don’t really see the point. However, it’s also worth noting that I’ve had carbon forks on lots of different bikes, and [knock on wood] I’ve never had a problem there, the video above notwithstanding. Seems to me if you want light weight and bang for your buck in a pure race bike you get an aluminum bike with a carbon fork, and if you want bang for your bike for riding of all types you get a steel bike and that’s that. There are all sorts of engineering arguments for and against carbon, but ultimately it just strike me as not a very good value. But that’s just me. 
I love my titanium bike. But like carbon it just seems like a bad value compared to steel and aluminum. (Unless you’re the Classic Cycle Old Crap Test Pilot and have the opportunity to trade a creaky wooden bike for a pristine titanium one.) If it’s really as durable as they say then it is a better value than carbon, but people say a lot of things, don’t they? Also, I still want a titanium Jones with carbon parts. Because bikes are a disease.
No reason to mess around with weirdo materials or strange combinations thereof, for the reasons above. (Oh, I just remembered I also had a magnesium bike for awhile, but not long enough to draw any conclusions about longevity.)

https://bikesnobnyc.com/2024/01/30/material-differences-2/

[fourflys]

BSNY.. still meh..

[krooj]

Originally Posted by capt_velo

The author added a follow up blog post to elaborate more. I think all this points are valid and reasonable.

Nah.

OT, but the number of grammatical errors in that post - yikes.