Originally Posted by slide
Why not have the bike built by someone in the business who you trust. They're the experts and that way you won't have that after the sale doubt.
I tried an older carbon bike. It felt to me as if it were made of soggy newspapers. I bought Al and am very happy (carbon fork, bar and seatpost for that good ride). I would guess modern carbon bikes are as nice riding as my Al one or the steel one I borrowed before I got my own, but why get yourself in a lather since you can still buy great frames of Ti, Al or steel.
You know I have never understood the real basis for comments like this. A lot of things contribute to the feel of a bike, such as the wheels, the handlebars, the pedals, the tires, the saddle...
I test rode all in the same day a Madone 5.9 SL, Carbon Roubaix, Aluminum Roubaix and they really did not feel that much better from each other much less that from my 16 year old Carbon bike. In fact the biggest difference I felt between the bikes was my body position on each unit, how the components reacted and how the wheels responded to my pedal input, rather than the feel of the frame. I would take any frame material and be happy, its just a Bicycle and really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
I would even bet if there was a way to do blind ride tests not many would be able to separate the brand names much less the frame materials.
I think sometimes we just want to be frame connoisseurs, kind of like a wine connoisseur
