It rides like a brick. At least that's what I thought at first. Now after six months I find it feeling a bit mushy at times. I LIKE it now. Go figure. Suffice it to say that no matter how stiff CF may feel at first, it has some road shock absorption capabilities that alu frames do not. The last bike this stiff I owned was a late 90's Cannondale CAAD 3, and that bike always rode like a brick.