Originally Posted by
Robert A
So, I have a CAAD12 and I struggled between this and an Evo. The only way I could decide was that my LBS gave me both bikes to ride, back-to-back, for a full hour. By doing an A/B comparison, repeatedly, could I tell that the CAAD was slightly sharper and snappier, and the Evo slightly softer and more refined. If I'd ridden them on different days, I would never have known the difference.
This post kind of exemplifies what I was getting at. You describe the CAAD 12 as "slightly sharper and snappier," which I would think aligns with the OPs point about his old bike being livelier. The aluminum frame is going to transmit more road noise than the carbon Evo. That is one of the benefits of carbon. But really, the frames, given their near identical geometries, should handle pretty much the same.