Road Cycling - Carbon Frame

I am presently riding a small Team Giant TCR with an all carbon fork and wants to upgrade to a Carbon frame. I'm eyeing for the Bianchi XL Carbon, anyone with a comment or suggestion is much appreciated. :beer:

Just don't scratch it. It might crack.

The XL Carbon is a nice frame. HOwever as a Bianchi Dealer, I would recomend going with like a Kestrel for the best carbon. Bianchi's carbon and Ti is nice, but their Boron XL is the nicest. It may not be as light as a Ti bike, but the ride quality is impeccable to a steel frame. They are relativley light also, about 20.5 lbs for a 59 cm with Campy Centaur. I would recomend looking at the Boron XL or perhaps a Litespeed Arenberg Ti Frame. Carbon is more known to fatigue faster than Titanium

I rode the Bianchi carbon as well as the Trek 5700 and Giant Carbon...ended up getting the Kuota Khsano...it rode much like the Giant which I liked a lot yet I really like the style and having something a little differn't. I rode a Kestrel 200sci for the 6 previous years and it held up great.

wow that's a funky lookin bike ...

You might also want to consider Aegis (http://www.aegisbicycles.com/) or Calfee (http://www.calfeedesign.com/).

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/2003STP-2/PICT0025.jpg

Originally posted by B1105
The XL Carbon is a nice frame. HOwever as a Bianchi Dealer, I would recomend going with like a Kestrel for the best carbon. Bianchi's carbon and Ti is nice, but their Boron XL is the nicest. It may not be as light as a Ti bike, but the ride quality is impeccable to a steel frame. They are relativley light also, about 20.5 lbs for a 59 cm with Campy Centaur. I would recomend looking at the Boron XL or perhaps a Litespeed Arenberg Ti Frame. Carbon is more known to fatigue faster than Titanium

Calfee gives you a 25 year warranty on their Tetra and D'Fly frames...10 years on the Luna

I am lovin' my Luna...Craig Calfee has a lot of experience in builing carbon frames:
www.calfeedesign.com

Good luck...I've also seen some really beautiful carbon frames from Parlee and Look.

Thank you guys for the replies now i'm messed up, cannot decide which to pick. :confused:

The pix made it harder , keep it coming I need all the info I can get.:thumbup:

I'll add my vote for the AEGIS. Have been riding one for years with never any problems. I have a friend who got a kestrel at the same time...he's sent his back three times because of a cracked frame.

Only way to really decide is to take them for a test ride, pictures show off the beauty of these bikes. But without riding them, you can not tell the suddle differences in how they handle and ride.

I can put my vote in for carbon. I ride a Specialized carbon Epic, and love it. But I have ridden some carbon frames the feel dead. So I would strongly agree with Kev, you need to ride the one you are going to buy.

Thanks Kev and DWatson, I sure hope we have those kind of shops that can let us try these bikes before buying but we don't have it here. How i envy you guys. Thanks.:beer:

TREK = Lifetime warranty.

If you are spending that kind of money and they say you can't ride the bike, instantly walk out!!! THey dont' deserver your money.

Originally posted by odontek
Thanks Kev and DWatson, I sure hope we have those kind of shops that can let us try these bikes before buying but we don't have it here. How i envy you guys. Thanks.:beer:

I think it has more to do with what's available for riding...?

I'll suggest the Trek 5200 or 5500. I wound up buying the 5200 and after a couple hundred miles the only concern is "why did I wait so long to buy this bike?!?!?!?!". I absolutely love the thing, thinking of kicking the wife out of bed so it has a place to sleep......maybe not :-)

Allan

Originally posted by mac is speed
TREK = Lifetime warranty.

They're not the only ones though.

If I had to go and buy a CF frame and spend a bunch of money, it would probably be a Trek.

-Dan the Man-

i posted a bunch of my pro-carbon drivel on the "Trek 5900 of Merlin Extralight" thread, so i won't repeat it all here. But calfee and parlee and the other carbon mavens acknowledge trek makes a damn nice frame. AND they have a lifetime warranty, which a lot of the "small batch" carbon guys don't (like calfee). in my opinion, the only reason NOT to get a trek if you're buying carbon is the fact that there are loads of treks on the road. in fact, this weekend i had a guy who sells bianchi, giant, colnago and specialized (it's a GREAT shop, btw) tell me trek made a great frame. so get you a trek, project-one it to make it your own, and enjoy the ride.

Originally posted by pgreene
AND they have a lifetime warranty, which a lot of the "small batch" carbon guys don't (like calfee).

Calfee has a 25 yr. warranty on their Tetra and D'Fly frames and 10 on their Luna...seems good enough for me. Also their personal customer service is just awesome.

Craig Calfee has been making carbon frames for over a decade and they were good enough for Greg LeMond in the Tour.

I love my Luna, did my 2nd century yesterday with over 10,000 ft of climbing...very comfortable.

Originally posted by mikemets5
Calfee has a 25 yr. warranty on their Tetra and D'Fly frames and 10 on their Luna...seems good enough for me. Also their personal customer service is just awesome.

Craig Calfee has been making carbon frames for over a decade and they were good enough for Greg LeMond in the Tour.

I love my Luna, did my 2nd century yesterday with over 10,000 ft of climbing...very comfortable.


So you're saying that Calfee made LeMonds' TVT for the 90 Tour or the Bottechia in 89...?

calfee made lemond's carbon frame, i believe under the name "carbonframes." check his website.

oh, and i'm not saying 25 years isn't a great warranty, and in some ways, probably more realistic than saying "lifetime." and please don't think i'm knocking parlee or calfee. they're both beautiful wonderful frames. BUT, i'm just saying i think trek's got it dialed in, and for the money, that's what i would buy if i was set on carbon.

The only bike anyone should ever buy is a Trek. Period. End of discussion. Don't give me any of this Colnago &*@#, Cannondale *&@# or Huffy *&%#.

Trek. Period. Carbon. Do youself a favor. It's good for you, and dogone it... It's good for America.

Trekaholic.
Biased for a reason.

Originally posted by pgreene
calfee made lemond's carbon frame, i believe under the name "carbonframes." check his website.

oh, and i'm not saying 25 years isn't a great warranty, and in some ways, probably more realistic than saying "lifetime." and please don't think i'm knocking parlee or calfee. they're both beautiful wonderful frames. BUT, i'm just saying i think trek's got it dialed in, and for the money, that's what i would buy if i was set on carbon.


Ok I understand now. The carbon 'LeMond fraem that Geg rode from 1991 onwards was built and designed by Calfee. I did'nt know who built those bikes and was always curious.

I know the Bottechia that Greg rode in 89 and the TVT 92 he rode in 90 were made by Techno Vitesse Tubi (TVT) in France. Those frames provided the template for the frames we knw today as TIME VX Special Pro.

Calfee's 25 yr warranty is more realistic than Trek's 'lifeTime' warranty.
A friend of mine had a LeMond (the same as the 5200's 120 Frame) crack and fail at a glue joint at the BB/Chainstay junction.
Trek did not warrany the frame. They said it was a fatigue failure. I reckon it was a bum glue joint from the factory but they would'nt admit it. They offered him an Alpha aluminium 2300 as a 'goodwill' replacement. He sold it and now rides a Colnago C-40. He for one will not be purchasing another Trek.

Still great bikes though. Shoddy all sales service though (which I received first hand experience of with Rolf Wheels they marketed)

I haven't rode any other carbon frames, but I am 100% happy with my Trek 5200 (2002 year). Rides like a dream and priced right. Lifetime warranty unless you sell the bike--apparently it is not transferrable.

I agree with the Project one if you want something special. You can also put top line components on it for the price of some of the other bikes. That would make it stand out if you so wish.

I am still just looking, and not testing yet. I will look at all of the bikes in the price range, including aluminum/carbon/titanium. Everyone at the bike shops say that carbon is the way to go, and here on the forum, I read that don't scratch it, and so on.

LBS's tell me that the older carbon frames had problems, but all of the older frames of any alloy aren't what they are today. Another problem that I had, was how some manufacturers ave lifetime/25/5yrs & etc. What a LBS pointed out was that if you read the fine print, the manufacturer has a lot of outs. If you got in one race, and later cracked your carbon frame, that would be enough to let the manufacturer out of the warranty. Its all food for thought.

Originally posted by Castanza
Another problem that I had, was how some manufacturers ave lifetime/25/5yrs & etc. What a LBS pointed out was that if you read the fine print, the manufacturer has a lot of outs. If you got in one race, and later cracked your carbon frame, that would be enough to let the manufacturer out of the warranty. Its all food for thought.

Yes, you really do need to read the fine print. I would suggest that if frame warranty is important to you (and it should be especially for CF frames) then you need to really contact the manufacturer directly and ask them some very poignant questions. Some manufacturers really do stand behind their product and do not have such stipulations regarding racing and such. Many manufacturers indicate that their warranty does not cover "misuse, abuse or negligence". You need to have them define that more specifically so that you know the full terms and conditions of the warranty.

Originally posted by Trekaholic
The only bike anyone should ever buy is a Trek. Period. End of discussion. Don't give me any of this Colnago &*@#, Cannondale *&@# or Huffy *&%#.

Trek. Period. Carbon. Do youself a favor. It's good for you, and dogone it... It's good for America.

Trekaholic.
Biased for a reason.
Oh Please.

Originally posted by Trekaholic
The only bike anyone should ever buy is a Trek. Period. End of discussion. Don't give me any of this Colnago &*@#, Cannondale *&@# or Huffy *&%#.

Trek. Period. Carbon. Do youself a favor. It's good for you, and dogone it... It's good for America.

Trekaholic.
Biased for a reason.

:crash: :crash:

Originally posted by Trekaholic
The only bike anyone should ever buy is a Trek. Period. End of discussion. Don't give me any of this Colnago &*@#, Cannondale *&@# or Huffy *&%#.

Trek. Period. Carbon. Do youself a favor. It's good for you, and dogone it... It's good for America.

Trekaholic.
Biased for a reason.

:crash: :rolleyes: :fight:

get a life............