I would agree that the traditional touring approach and frames do not mix. The mounting for racks, etc. is just not going to work well with any current off the shelf carbon frame, and a touring specific CF wouldn't make much sense market wise.

But then again, the original question was not about that. I did one overnighter on a Specialized Roubaix. Except for the horrible route, the bike and gear did fine. If you're going with the UL approach without racks, any off the shelf bike should work. Go nuts. No problems.

But seriously, what do you guys think happens at the TDF anyway? The way you talk about it, it's a miracle any bike ever crosses the line so that they can throw it in the garbage on the way to the team bus where a fresh one awaits them for tomorrow. This just isn't how it works. As much money as teams appear to have, they just don't toss aside bikes as flippantly as some of you guys suggest. Here's an excerpt from an early installment of "Ask Nick" on Velo News:

"Great question. The work involved in preparing for a day like Roubaix is enormous. This July we had to do it in the middle of a grand tour. Because so much is invested in one day, we want to throw away as little as possible.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the consumption of pro teams. Some fans actually believe that we glue up new tires for every day of racing. Utter nonsense. Remember that even if a tire sponsor was willing to give a team that many tires, the mechanics aren’t interested in doing that much work!

Roubaix is particularly taxing on riders and equipment. But you’d be surprised to see how much is cleaned up, checked thoroughly and put away until the next season’s classics. Handbuilt wheels are a big investment for pro teams these days because they aren’t mass-produced. They will be re-used season after season, sometimes with the same tires even (after a fresh layer of glue). If you look closely at photos, you might see hubs that aren’t currently produced.

Frames are re-used as well. In some cases these bikes are ridden only three times in a season; Flanders if a rider wants to get on the bike early, Roubaix reconnaissance and Roubaix itself. Unless the frame is obviously broken in a crash, it is saved as a spare for next year.

Cables, chain, bartape and brake pads are the exceptions. They’ll be pulled off and replaced."

And that was just for the northern classics. Those are BRUTAL on both bikes and men. I'm sure that an average TDF team probably goes through maybe slightly more frames as any other team did in the days of steel. With the exception of a large crash, pretty much every bike crosses the line as good as when it started. Lots of steel frames in past TDF's were lost in crashes as well. Freak failures occurred on steel frames back in the day, too. Probably just as rarely as a freak failure on carbon frames now. I can't even remember the last time a carbon component had a freak failure during the tour. But then again, I'm not thinking very hard. In fact, the one that everyone likes to make a big deal about, Hincapie's steerer breaking on the Paris-Roubaix, was actually an aluminum failure. There was that crash that tacoed Cavendish's wheel near the line of one finish. But that happened because he was on his way down and another bike actually ran over the carbon wheel.

Anyhow, I'm rambling, my apologies.