Originally Posted by
Johno59
The only advantage of a CF frame is if you can ride a bike at 25 mph for 5 hours without wheel sucking, a CF bike will place you half a mile ahead of your non carbon opponent.
The ridgity of a CF bike means more of your power transmits to where the rubber hits the road. Metal flexes and that flex draws efficiency and you are consquently slower than your stiffer CF opponent. Unfortunately you have to be strong and extremely fit to take advantage offered up by any CF bike - especially after 200 kms.
In the mountains any weight is an important factor but putting a pair of water bottles on a $10 K bike will turn it into a 1990s steel Eddy Merckx and will destroy any CF advantage.
Finally ,and most tellingly, in a a sprint finish - after 200 kms - the sprinters crank it up to an amazing 1500-2000 Watts. At that wattage a steel or Ally bike will flex like a bastard and your plastic rivals will leave you for dead over the final 100 meters - but these people are freaks and train 5 hours a day, six days a week.
Carbon fibre provides designers with more flexibility than any metal. The ability to control the size, shape, thickness and fibre orientation offers unparalleled control over frame characteristics. Carbon fibre frames can be designed with a wide range of ride qualities. It all depends on the designer's intent. The notion that carbon fibre is stiff, unyielding and can't flex without breakage is a myth. Just ask anybody who uses carbon fibre equipment in other sports, such as golf, tennis or rowing.