As a general observation: It's pretty hard to answer "worth the extra $$" without knowing how much "$$" you have set aside for the purchase.


If the carbon frame is less than what someone spends on a dinner for two and a bottle of wine, then I think the calculation will be different than if getting the carbon bike means missing two months of mortgage payments.

I think the carbon frame will offer a subtlety better ride. I don't know if that's worth $1K or not. It isn't to me, but that's a reflection of my budget, not the validity of the bike's price gap.