Originally Posted by
wahoonc
I question how many of those bikes make it through the complete Tour de France, those guys have several bikes that are all set up the same, not just one.
Ultralight touring bikes aren't anything new.
The Technical Trials from the 1940's produced some spectacular bikes. I am not a huge fan of CF, engineered properly it can do some amazing things, but that doesn't mean you should.
If you have the money to spend, go for it. I will stick with my proven, heavy, inexpensive (relatively speaking) steel bikes. Some of which are still rolling after tens of thousands of miles and decades of riding.
Aaron
Those technical trials sound pretty awesome actually, and more or less what the OP had in mind. Modern road racing bikes wouldn't be very good for touring, but that's because they weren't built for touring. If, however, you were to start from the ground up and have a carbon bike built for you and your 15 pound load, it could work out. You could have it built with room for 28mm tires, fenders (maybe an excuse to use those ridiculous CF fenders Bruce Gordon sells).
It would be fantastically expensive, and you would have to have all the gear work together (Use the bike as the center pole for a Cuben Fiber tarp and you could have a storm worthy camping shelter for close to half a pound), but it would be a really fun project. Think of it as a modern day Technical Trial; just because a technology is old and proven doesn't make it the best, there can still be room for improvement. I don't know if I would want to take this elaborate construction on a round the world tour, but if I had unlimited funds, it could be a fun path to pursue.
For a technology to be proven, someone has to do the proving.