Originally Posted by
rpenmanparker
Once you discount the idea of perfect reliability in any of the choices (as you say, "everything breaks"), and you still want high performance and panache, carbon doesn't look so bad providing it is within your budget in the first place.
I have a serious question, with no intent to argue. Is there an actual performance benefit of a carbon crank? I have seen differences between cheap aluminum cranks and nice aluminum cranks, but have no carbon crank exposure. Does buying a carbon crank get performance, or just panache?