Originally Posted by
Garfield Cat
Is there any way to know the quality of the carbon frame? I mean not the knockoffs. Even the major brands, even those brands that appear in the Grand Tours.
What I see is the price of frames with the major manufacturers. A company such as Specialized has different price levels, as do many other brands. The guesswork is to look at what are being used by the teams in the Grand Tours. Even then, the manufacturers may have done something special for those teams that they support.
This is where you rely on brand reputation. The different price levels of carbon frames within the reputable brands is mostly about weight and stiffness, not quality and certainly not safety!
If you buy a carbon frame from a well known major brand like Specialized you can expect it to be safe and of reasonable quality. The higher end frames are simply lighter and sometimes stiffer.