The "feel" of a bike is a result of the rider's position and "fit" on the bike, wheelbase length, chainstay length, width of the tires, and the design of the frame and fork tubes. The material used for the frame and fork doesn't make the top twenty on factors impacting the feel of a bike.

Then why do the bikes of 1987, with steel frames and steel forks "feel" so much nicer than the carbon frame and fork bikes of 2007...in 1987 designers knew how to design for comfort, using rider's position and "fit on the bike, wheelbase length, chainstay length, the width of the tires, and the design of the fame and fork tubes.

Twenty years ago, designers used each of those factors to increase rider comfort. Today, even the cheapest bike is designed to look like a racing bike, so comfort is no longer relevant to bike designers...style sells, comfort does not.

Yes, Specialized is trying to sell "comfort" with the Roubaix, and Trek is trying to sell comfort with the "Pilot" series. Selling properly designed road bikes is a brave, but uphill battle in an industry where even the entry level riders come into shops asking for a pretend race bike that "looks just like the bike Lance rides".