Zinger

Well, personally I've never ridden anything but steel yet so I'm the last one to know but do listen to and read others personal experiences with the frame materials. That looks to be an off-road frame to me and, as such, likely to be sturdier than the road racing frames in the failures pictures.

For myself I figure that if I've got $1500 in a Mercian steel frame that T bones some half blind little old lady's Cadillac it's going to be cheaper than replacing that Paris Rabidoux tested CF frame that I couldn't do justice to anyway.

Some of these Ti bikes look very nice and rugged but I'm a guy who wishes he could have built more lugged steel bikes up during the '80s (Only did one from the frame up) but just didn't have the time back then. So I'm making up for it now while I can still find lugged steel bike frames.

Not knocking CF here. I get passed by CF all the time.....Just questioning it's application for panniers-touring when better priced alternatives are already proven for it.

Bikey Mikey

That is a sweet looking bike. I'm drooling.

dbg

It's one of the first things I consider. Doesn't have to be a wipeout. A friend accidentally lost grip on his drop-down rear bike rack. In falling to the asphalt it snapped the chainstay of his high end carbon fiber bike. End of trip. The steel bikes were unharmed.

Zinger

That would be a good one. I'm still in the deciding process between that custom Mercier or an off the rack Bianchi Tipo Corsa depending on how much money I'll have to throw at it. Bianchi stopped making their Dolomiti I guess but I could be able to get one of those in my size still. If I'm going to pay $1200 for an off the rack frame though I might as well go with the custom Mercier a cm taller and with the OS 853 tubing. They just came down on the Tipo Corsa price though so I'm tempted. I don't see any braze on brake cable guides on the top tube of the Tipo Corsa so it would be a whole different style about the bling thing.....Of course I'm buying parts on Ebay for either contingency. Can always put those to use somehow.

And just to be topical I'd love to have a nice Ti frame or that Carbon Fiber tubed Ti lugged beauty linked earlier in the thread. I just need to find a sugar mama to get me one.

martianone

CF sure seems to be more of a commodity vs Ti which is still more custom. That said, there do seem to be more stock Ti bikes out recently. I went with steel.

Mobile 155

And there is the point isn't it? In what other form of transportation do we think less of our body than our machine? All materials have advantages, even Bamboo, if you are into being green. ( Was really lusting after a Calfee about two yeas ago) But there is a reason for the N+1 rule. A different bike for different reasons. And there is a reason we don't often agree on frame material, Saddles, wheels or tires. Because we all have different needs. We as cyclists are in the minority. Recreation Cyclists may be the majority of that minority. Touring Cyclists are a minority in that minority. Vintage cyclists are in the minority of that minority. But they all have an opinion and needs that may or may not be met buy someone else's favorite material. But it seems as if the frame material of choice also corresponds to the number of riders in each group. The people in the minority simply tend to be more vocal about their needs.

rebel1916

It is a mountain frame. Burly road frames are also available. Believe it or not a burly CF road frame (Like my Van Dessel Rivet) is gonna be lighter than a weight weenie steel frame. And stronger.

As to loaded touring, the only that makes it unsuitable for building a touring frame, is that the demographic niche that buys touring bikes is uninterested. Which is cool. Aesthetics are a perfectly good reason for making choices, all things being equal, and it's fair to say that for a guy who is loaded touring with a combined weight between bike and luggage of 70lbs a 4 lbs frame and fork and an 8 lbs frame and fork are pretty much equal. I just get frustrated when people espouse nonsense that CF cannot be made strong enough for touring. That rugged mountain bike is almost certainly no heavier than a touring bike. Strong like bull.

dbg

Even though I've blasted CF in earlier posts I admit that I recently converted a high-end CF climber to a light tourer (650B wheels) and did a 500+ mile trip on it with great results and good experience. I'm also now building up an early CF mtb frame into another less light tourer with racks. These are experiments based on frames that happened to find me. My criticisms still hold. Just checkin it out.

tom cotter

My go to roadie is a Lemond Zurich spine bike. Part steel, part carbon fiber. it is easily the most comfortable bike I've ever ridden.

That said, when i bought the Zurich, around 2005, other gotta have a new bike contenders were the Ti bikes of that era. I really liked the Litespeeds. And to this day still want a Tuscany. At the time i felt the $1500 extra dollars for the Tuscany wasn't reflected in the value added. And, truth was, the Zurich rode better. But still, that Litespeed, one sweet ride!

Maybe one will come up on CL. I really liked that bike!!!

zonatandem

Have ridden all types of frames (except Magnesium).
Our butts are on carbon fiber.
As far as c/f longevity . . . 34,000+ miles on our Zona tandem.

sirupate

Titanium? I'm still riding steel (Reynolds 531)! Maybe one day I'll get a "newfangled" aluminum frame road bike. I'm betting that titanium stuff is darn expensive.

NOS88

I just re-read the OP, and it occurs to me that "recently" is a relative terms, especially for our age group. I'm thinking about my first ti bike and realizing it was 8 years ago. Recent? Well, in the grand scheme of things, yes.

zx9rmal

So, riding an early '90's Merlin Extralight, but also interested in adding a CF bike, what would be examples of "high end" CF road bikes for a recreational rider, under $4K?

lhbernhardt

I think it depends on the builder and the tube source. I don't like Ti because it WILL break, if not manufactured under extremely pristine conditions. I've broken three Ti frames from just riding, but they were made of cheap Chinese "aerospace-grade" Ti. EVERY saddle I have ever owned that had Ti rails had the rails break (except for the one warranty replacement I still own which has not been used). So I don't put a lot of trust in Ti. I think carbon fiber will last much longer under normal operating conditions. I've used carbon fiber forks almost exclusively since the 90's with no problems, whereas I have always had problems with Ti (see above).

So, along with its more flexible ride, I really think Ti is highly overrated. If you're going to get a Ti frame, get a reputable one from a very experienced builder who will provide a very solid warranty. But in my opinion, the only two materials worth considering for long-term bicycle frame use are steel and carbon fiber, in that order. Aluminum is OK, as long as you just use it for racing and will be replacing it after one season (or until the first crash).

Luis

big john

Geez, almost anything can be had for under $4k if you pick the parts carefully. Shop around, look at bikes and see what blows your dress up.

The guys on the road forum did a group buy on Pedal Force frames and got them for $500 each. You could start with $500 frames and go up.
Nashbar has some Merckx frames and bikes cheap right now.
Go to Competitive Cyclist and check the clearance frames.

Here is a full carbon, full Ultegra bike for $2K!!
https://www.competitivecyclist.com/or...NjQ2F0MTAwMTcx

NOS88

Several years ago I would have offered that having 3 titanium frames break was odd beyond odd. That is, until I had three carbon frames break in an 18 month period of time. (The regional Specialized rep was not all that eager to see me after those incidents.) I guess no material is completely indestructible. I would strong agree with your statement that you should go with reputable builders. My Indy Fab has had zero problems. But, then again, going with a reputable builder regardless of the frame material is not a bad idea.

Rhodabike

The thing about carbon fiber is it's versatility. It isn't just for racers. They can make a frame very stiff (eg., Cervelo) or they can make it incredibly comfortable (Cannondale Synapse, Look 566).
I didn't buy my Look 566 for racing - lord knows, I'm decades past wanting to do that - I bought it because the roads are garbage where I live and it floats over that broken pavement better than my old steel road bike, and without the bottom bracket flex when I climb a hill. It feels like it was made for me. And that's the real criteria of whether a bike is "right". If it feels like it was just made for you, then it's the right material, no matter what it's made of.
I'm not worried about catastrophic frame failure. For one thing, this bike gets ridden only about twice a week, for another, I'm not likely to be racing any crits and crashing on it any time soon. I'm already 55, why would I need a bike to last another 40 years? It's unlikely I'll be going out for very long road rides when I'm in my 80s or 90s.

StephenH

The warranty issue is one I have been wondering about. I'm a heavier rider, compared to a lot of typical riders. So I'd like to know that I'm riding along and a bike busts apart under me, that it's covered in some way. But some of the CF warranty statements out there are pretty much along the lines of "We'll replace it if it's defective, but if it busted, it wasn't defective". A friend of mine that rides primarily titanium started using that material after he broke the bottom brackets on 3 or 4 CF bikes in a row. His were replaced under warranty, but it doesn't sound like a lot of modern bikes would be.

NOS88

My experience has been that the warranty is only as reliable as the dealer's relationship with the regional rep and his or her desire to advocate on your behalf. As an example. I purchased a Specialized S-Works bike from my LBS. Two months later, when the rear chain snapped, the dealer was no longer selling Specialized. Yet, this dealer made a call to the Specialized regional rep and advocated on my behalf. The relationship was strong enough that the regional rep gave my LBS that names of three other shops in that area that he would intervene with to make sure my frame was replaced. True to his word, my frame was replaced by a different shop with no hassles at all.

cyclist2000

I plan on having one sometime in the future but i have too many bikes on my N+1 list.

Velo Fellow

LOLOL ...............Nos88, I just ordered a new Habby from Mark (kool guy to work with) at Habanero Cycles partly because of a nice review you sent me 5 years ago about yours. We oldsters do, in fact, regard time with a different perspective. Ironic, the less time you seem to have, the greater your patience with life. I do regret I've waited so long, but apparently some decisions just require glacial speed thinking.

BTW, I'll let you know my impressions when it gets here.

Bob Ross

Eventually, yes. My very short Wish List has a titanium bike on it. (My very long Wish List has several!)

the engine

I ride steel and titanium. I've owned aluminum, test ridden carbon, and would not buy either.

I own a Lynsky, and it is a dream bike.

That's just me ...

Bob Ross

+2
A friend of mine has a lugged steel frame that suffered some damage in a crash, and he figured "Great, here's my chance to take advantage of this well-known (sic) opportunity for easy frame repair!"

He contacted seventeen different framebuilders, all renown for their work in lugged steel bicycles ...and for whatever reason, none of them would take on his repair project.

So yeah, in theory you can take it to any welder on the planet to get fixed. In practice...

rydabent

IMO the fact still remains that the owner of a titanium frame bike will still have his bike long after an owner of a CF bike will.