what bugs me about carbon bikes is tha people related it to avaition industry and F1 type applications and therefore claim it too be stronger than steel and Titanium.
However a bicycle frame is essentially a tubular structure with lugs carrying the load. The bond area of the tube lug (whether they be carbon, aluminum or titanium) is the determining fatcor ofn the strength of the structure. How well were those components glued together?? You don't realy know.
Aerospce industy construction methods are not transferable to bike frame. Inmy view the best carbon frame is one that is monomoulded not one joined together by lugs.
In a monomoulded structure the stress is distributed throughout the structure, as in aircraft wings or an F1 car's chassis.
in bike frma al the forces have to controlled so that they put the glue joints in shear. Any other force will break the glue joint very easily.
Carbon frame manufacturers can talk about stresses and strains ad nausium, but until they actaully admit that a 1mm thick by 10mm wide ring of Araldite is what holds your head tube tot he down tube I'm not interested intheir marketing.
A carbon frame is only as strong as the glue joint holding it together. Titanium and steel can recover all it's strength at the weld zone making in effect a mono tube structure and therefore stronger than any carbon frame.
Mono mould it and I''l be a happy man.