Road Cycling - Lord help me... I'm getting the carbon bug

I'm in the market for a new road bike. I had been leaning toward steel -- the "steel is real" crowd had made a believer out of me. Well, almost. Now I'm actually considering a carbon frame, but this puts the price of the bike way up in the stratoshpere. Yikes! So here's the question: Trek 5200 versus Kestrel Talon or 200 SCi versus Scattante CFR Carbon Road (Supergo). The Scattante is an amazing deal: carbon frame and fork, full Ultegra, Mavic Wheelset, all for $1695.

Has anyone ridden the Scattante carbon? How about Kestrel? I know there are lots of Trek riders out there -- can you tell me why I should buy the 5200 instead of one of the Kestrels or the Scattante?

Many thanks for your time and advice.

Island Rider,

When I decided to get a good road bike I also fought the carbon vrs steel question. In evaluating the carbon, I rode a Kestral SCI twice and frankly found the Trek carbon ride preferable. Why, I can't explain. I searched and found a Trek Y-Foil that had not been built up and it rides even better than the 5200.

The drawback to the carbon road bike was that I was limited on tire size. During the winter, snow and ice attract small stones, and the clearance between frame and tires is so tight with the good road frames that I was concerned with frame "scraping". Also the road frame was severely limited off a good road surface. The result was a purchase of a cross bike constructed from 853 steel that I use for bad roads or bad weather.

The ride is very good with the steel, but I still prefer the carbon for long distances. Bumps and rough roads are much smoother with the carbon, and the Trek is amazingly stable on down hills and at high speeds. It climbs like a dream. Test ride, test ride, test ride, and good luck.

John

I know a guy who has a Calfee (http://www.calfeedesign.com/) and likes it a lot. Worth a look, though test rides might be a problem.

Scattante doesn't have a really great reputation. It's not that they're bad bikes, per se, but some of their frames from a couple of years ago were... er... dodgy. And it IS a store brand.

Having said that, the Scattante CFR is actually made by Leader USA (http://www.leaderbikeusa.com/) [not to be confused with the late Canadian company of that name] in Taiwan. Leader OEMs frames for a whole lot of companies, including some pretty high end US companies [the names escape me, I think the Kestrel 200SCI and 300EMS frames are also OEMed by Leader]. I do know that the EXACT same frame as the Scattante is sold by a Canadian company called Argon 18 as the Helium. It's sold by Leader as the LD 7955. This is what the Scattante looks like:

http://www.supergo.com/img/completebikes/full/ScattanteCarbon-bike-f.jpg

This is the Argon 18:

http://www.veloargon18.com/images/HELIUM_BIKE.jpg

Difference?

Argon 18 does have an excellent reputation in Canada. In fact, I know someone who rides the Helium [remember, this is the same bike as the Scattante CFR]. He's an ex pro racer and prominent Montreal are coach/trainer, so he should know about these things. He liked the bike, though he hadn't really had much mileage at the time. He did say that it was a smooth ride. I picked it up and I can tell you it was a pretty lightweight bike.

So in a lot of ways, brand doesn't really matter since, a lot of the times, it's the same bike under different paint. What does matter is (1) the long term durability of carbon, which is not 100% proven and (2) whether the bike fits and whether you like the ride.

If the bike fits, you like the ride and you're not worried about the long term durability issue, then buy the one with the nicest paint job.

"If the bike fits, you like the ride and you're not worried about the long term durability issue, then buy the one with the nicest paint job."

Funny! (And yet, maybe true too.)

Thanks for this detailed info on the Scattante. My brother just bought their 853 road bike and is totally pysched about its appearance and apparent quality of the frame. His buddy who's a serious biker (sub 10 hour RAMROD many times) was also impressed when they assembled the bike yesterday evening. So it sounds like their carbon frame may be of decent quality too.

I like what I'm hearing about the feel of carbon on long rides. But long rides are something that you generally can't do on a test ride.

I am concerned about long term durability. I suspect Trek would be the safest choice in carbon since if I have a problem with the frame, they would stand behind it, even years down the road. Don't know about their warranty if I were to buy a used Trek, whether the warranty gets transferred from the original owner. Usually warrantiers are not transferrable....

So what to do... Scattante carbon, Scattante 853, Trek OCLV?? Maybe flip a coin? Nah. I'll buy the one with the coolest paint job.

Originally posted by velocipedio
Having said that, the Scattante CFR is actually made by Leader USA (http://www.leaderbikeusa.com/) [not to be confused with the late Canadian company of that name] in Taiwan. Leader OEMs frames for a whole lot of companies, including some pretty high end US companies [the names escape me, I think the Kestrel 200SCI and 300EMS frames are also OEMed by Leader]. I do know that the EXACT same frame as the Scattante is sold by a Canadian company called Argon 18 as the Helium. It's sold by Leader as the LD 7955. This is what the Scattante looks like:

is that really true about leader? I got this frame thinking it was something to upgrade later... but are the frames that good? :eek:
I have the LD 715...

http://www.riverwind.net/graphics/bikepics/leader3.jpg