Well, as someone who has crashed several times on a carbon frame, I can tell you for sure that they aren't so brittle that they are just going to break into a thousand pieces upon contact with asphalt. Carbon is pretty strong material, otherwise they wouldn't use it at all. It can be damaged, just as a frame of any other material can be damaged. It can also be repaired. There were some problems with early carbon frames which were responsible for a lot of the myths that are perpetuated today. Today's carbon frames are much better than the frames of 15 years ago. If you want it, buy it.