Originally Posted by Campag4life

Chaad...you seem to be one of the only guys here actually defending the article. To me, the study is rubbish. Lots of guys here with a science background that believe the article is fraught with improper boundary conditions to make any reasonable conclusions. Include me. The range of geometry for any of the materials will negate or promote if not expose the strengths and weakness of different materials...and yet 3 distinct geometries and 3 materials from a single manufacturer are used to judge the properties of three common bike materials. A steel bike can be made stiffer than Al or carbon...of course it will be boat anchor heavy. Easy to make a carbon bike stiffer than any of the materials because it is the strongest and stiffest material....or an Al bike even though it is the weakest material. The Vitus proves one can design a Al bike to ride like a trampoline. I have owned steel bikes that ride like a pogo stick over bumps, my latest Reynolds Bianchi was that way in fact and I could easily rub the front derailleur out of the saddle and I am no brute.. My current road bike mutes bumps better than any bike I have owned previous and it is 3 x's more stiff than the Bianchi laterally. There should be no debate as which material damps high frequency vibration better. Its non metallic carbon fiber. There is also further conflation of what constitutes ride quality. Is it attenuation of high frequency? Not necessarily. Specialized with their Zertz + carbon quells high frequency vibration probably better than any bike out there but there is a VAST difference in ride quality between a SL2 Roubaix and a SL4. In fact there has been an outcry from Roubaix loyalists that Specialized made the new SL4 too stiff. It has poorer ride quality than the SL2 which rides like a whippy steel bike only lighter and without the energy transfer of the SL4. Geometry matters a lot and perhaps even trumps material when it comes to ride characteristics. But no mistake, material is a BIG player when it comes to the performance and personality of a bike.

Lets take aluminum for example. Lets say that Cervelo makes a crappy aluminum bike. Most know the Soloist for example is a very stiff bike...has a VERY stiff ride. Btw, there is further conflation if not lack of differentiation between vertical stiffness normally considered important for ride quality and laterial stiffness important for energy transfer. This isn't even addressed in the article. The Soloist is VERY vertically stiff and not stiff laterally compared to many top racing frames. This is because of its aero tube sections. So the Soloist bike feels stiff but actually isn't when it comes to transferring power from the pedals to the rear wheel...the other aspect of the article woefully misrepresented. Also, how can it be that the softest material in the study aka Aluminum had the best energy transfer...even better than carbon? Many don't know that Aluminum is soft. And yet generally Aluminum bikes have a stiff ride. Aluminum has the lowest modulus of elasticity of either carbon fiber or steel. That is a fact. And yet, a Solist rides like a covered wagon. This is because of the geometry. The Vitus was mentioned which sometimes comes up in these types of discussions. And now the CAAD10 has arrived which many believe is the best race bike for the cash...although the Spesh Allez gives it a run for the money. They are different, in fact so radically different in ride quality, its almost hard to believe they are made from the same material and yet they are. Geometry matters a lot when is comes to vibration damping and ride quality and energy transfer from pedal to drive wheel and the article doesn't even address the root cause.
But make no mistake which material quells vibration better. Its the epoxy matrix in carbon fiber. It natively damps vibration. I mentioned the Allez which is considered one if not the best Al race bike on the market. Comparing it to its carbon brother...the Tarmac, there is no comparison in ride quality....the Tarmac as stiff as it is and it has world class stiffness as a premier race bike...it absorbs bumps and attenuates road shock better than the Al Allez.

Can I ask your science background?