Road Cycling - opinions on "jamis xenith" and "kestrel talon sl"

Hi
I'm an enthusiast road rider and occasional racer, looking to buy a new road bike.
2 frame options are jamis xenith (lithium alloy) and kestrel talon sl (carbon fiber). I will very much appreciate user's opinions on those bikes, regarding ride caracteristics and any other important information.
Thank's
Jerome

hey-

i've never tried the xenith, but i have ridden the lower-end eclipse. i absolutely loved it. it gave a traditional steel ride, which is to say smooth and stiff. and jamis bikes are great values, you can't really go wrong.

I worked at a shop that sold Talon's, but I've not ever ridden a Xenith, so I'll only coment on the Talon.

The Talon is a sweet handling bike, the carbon fiber provides exelent damping of road vibrations but due to the design provides a lot of lateral stiffness in the bottom bracket area, so there is little to no "flexing". The ride is stiffer than my steel LeMond, but not bone jarring like an aluminum Specialized. Quality is very nice, just don't grease the seat-tube and don't over torque the seatbolt clamp. We had several frames where the seat clamp was over torqued and it broke off in the frame (punched through). It's not as lively a ride, but is better for an endurance cyclist as opposed to a sprinter.

Can't think of anything else to say. Nice bike!

L8R

I have no personal experience but a friend of mine who enjoys a "money no object" lifestyle recently owned a new Kestrel Talon. He had it about a month and decided to go with Calfee instead. "The Calfee is superior in every way..." his words not mine.

I can offer little more than that assessment, however, I can't help but believe that at that level, any frame you choose will be a fantastic choice.

Thank's for all the responses. Doesn't anyone ride or knows someone who rides the jamis xenith? I e-mailed reynolds (the tubes manufacturer) with some questions about the special lithium x-100 tubes the xenith uses, and they said that untill now no other frame manufacturer uses these tubes, because jamis took all their x-100 supply up to date! so there has to be some xenith riders out there. Is the frame realy, as jamis claims, an aluminium light weight with the steel feel?