Originally Posted by
Route 66
You bring up some excellent points that I hadn't considered until now. Whatever the reason(s), I am indeed going faster on my new carbon bike, than I was on my old aluminum bike.
You should - you're more experienced, so you'll have bought a bike that fits better and that's the biggest factor in comfort and hence performance over distance.
CF bikes can be excellent, but when they are that's mostly because they're well-designed bikes and the owner has made sure they've bought the right fit with the right components. Tyres, which people usually ignore, are critical. Inner tubes can have an effect too. A lot of the old marketing claims - eg that CF frames go faster because of losses in pedaling energy in metal ones - have been proven to be untrue. (That one quickly vanished under powertap testing!)