Originally Posted by rpenmanparker

I don't feel like you are leading OP astray with your comments, but you are not IMO being entirely fair to inexpensive carbon. Carbon is so far along the development curve that five-year old trickled down technology is still fantastic stuff. Carbon keeps getting stiffer without losing comfort at the top end sure, but it has never been a source of serious complaint regarding comfort at the mid and lower ranges. With Al you risk getting an older design that is just plain unpleasant to ride. Just sayin' with Al you have to be more careful about what you buy if you hope to avoid wholesale teeth loosening. Not so with carbon. And not that it is hard to find fairly comfortable Al frames these days. It just isn't automatic like with carbon.