As an old ex-racer, from the days of steel, I really appreciate the performance, and feel of my two carbon bikes. One is a comfort and endurance Roubaix, the other is an aero, racer stiff, Di2, disc brake wonder bike. That being said, I still love and ride my 55 year old Legnano race bike (46 miles yesterday, 16+ mph average). I'm not a cycle tourer, not a commuter, I just love riding. It serves no purpose to dis people who prefer carbon over steel. It's like dissing people who like broccoli, just because you do not. Cycling is a big buffet table of goodness. Take what you want, love what you ride, ride what you love. Its all good. Don't blame the manufacturers, consumers rule, manufacturers only provide the buffett.

My oldest ride ...

... and my newest (c-word ) ride.

I shy away from carbon fiber for a reason few talk about. Failure mode. Aluminum frames and forks for the same reason. I have lived through an aluminum fork failure. (If something of that magnitude were to happen again, I pray I won't live. Once is plenty. So I ride steel and titanium frames. (The titanium ones built by builders I know and have been doing it a long time. TiCycles. Been in the game almost as long as Merlin and Lightspeed.) Steel forks, steel steerers, always.

I make no claim these parts won't fail. I do have some belief, based on experience, that those failures are very likely not to be physically costly to me. I have had two steel frames break on me while riding (a right chainstay and a seattube at the BB, two forks; a blade midway and both blades at the crown. (Yes, that last one was scary. We, myself, the builder and the metal plater made a series of decisions that almost worked out very badly. I descended 2000' on those blades that barely got me home. I replaced that fork with a good ol' - brand new - 531 fork with a deeply scalloped crown ... and paint. It's going nowhere in my lifetime!)

I will never race and haven't since I hung up my numbers a year after my head injury. I now have NFL "loose brain syndrome". Spending a lot of time on wheels is not being very smart. So I absolutely do not need the speed advantage of CF. I do love climbing but for me, the pure joy of it happens when the bike fits perfectly; it and me form a smooth machine. Weight and speed really don't matter much.

Rode yesterday about 35 miles on my old Mooney. Fancier materials wouldn't have made the ride any better. (Now less wind would have. Aero wheels would have helped, But being blown around more, well, maybe not. The rest of the aero was all about the long, low back and frame material makes zero difference there!)

Ben

I have to disagree with you on cycling being a buffet of goodies. While in the entire universe of cycling there is something for everyone. But at the LBS level, all the buffets have the same stuff. Unfortunately when you see the same stuff everywhere, you assume that is all there is. You only know there is whole array of other options if you spend all sorts of time obsessively researching (and of course if you have found your way to this pocket of the Internet - you are likely the type to do so).

I'd love it if I could show up to the buffet and find something classic-ish looking that gives you the best of both worlds combo of a Rando bike with a townie bike. Unfortunately that isn't available and I have to make it myself. But I can definitely find many flavors of carbon, gravel and crappy commuter. And I have to find the secret club and password for the people who have or are adjacent to what I want.

Honestly it feels like in my local shops there is even less choice than there was 3 years ago. And I live in a place with lots of shops and lots of choices. Regular old USA has even less options than I have.

If weight and speed don't matter, you should try a tadpole trike.

I saw a few carbon bikes at NAHBS that I liked. I'm just way over it on the whole carbon is the only choice for everything mindset.

OK, so I feel the need to weigh in. I have two road bikes that I ride regularly. One is a ~15 year old, sub-20 pound pro-level (state of the art in its day) race bike; the other is an I-don't-know-how-old (30-40 years probably), 30-ish-pound full 531db race bike, 650b conversion with VO fenders and dynamo lighting. I average about 2mph faster on the light bike, but I doubt that the bike is inherently faster. More likely I ride faster on it because it feels lighter and livelier. If I had to choose one, it'd be the 650b bike because it's more versatile and I don't always ride on good roads in nice weather. But I'm glad I haven't had to choose. I love them both.

SP
OC, OR

I love ALL my bikes. BUT, like I said, the CF Cannondale will go with me to the mountains, when I go.

My last bike shop bike was 2007, and it wasn't a great experience. They spent zero time on fit. I had to go back several times to get the front derailleur adjusted, and finally went to a different shop to get it properly adjusted to keep the chain from jumping off the big chainring. Every following bike has been direct from builder, Craigslist, or from swap meet parts and a frame I rescued from a scrap pile. Bike repair and maintenance is not that hard to learn. I don't feel too sorry for some disappearing bike shops. The good ones who truly care about their customer and product, will hopefully survive. If not, there are all kinds of ways to find, buy, or build the exact bike to fit your needs. Its not that hard. I enjoy the research, the hunt for parts, and making it all come together. If not, there's always Walmart, for carbon free shopping. 😉

+1. The important thing is to get out of the car and on to a bike.

I have several steel bikes and one CF. Love riding them all.

I have no interest in riding a carbon bike... seen too many pictures of exploded carbon from people that were just riding along. I do really like my carbon rail brooks saddle and would maybe try carbon fenders if they ever become widely available.

Someone has to show me how you do the "dance" on a tadpole. The dancer - out of the saddle uphill with everything, bike and rider, moving side-to-side but with the tire tracks going straight up the hill. I live for that dance.

Ben

[MENTION=373380]jade408[/MENTION]....... reading this I am more inclined to think you should at least call and talk to silva cycles, or looke them up on facebook to see some builds and such..... I think that is would be worth your while to to trek from the east bay. the mechanic (Tahn) has been my go to guy for years when I am out of time or have screwed something up. They stock Rivendell, Jones and such

here is an example of something they did.... MTB to city bike

That looks super fun!

I ended up taking the super upgrade path! I am working on a custom frame build. I debated back and forth on stock frame or not.

Got my parts finalized and deposit down! Hope to be riding it in June.

I did a fitting, and am planning custom front and rear racks. Super excited about my build!

It was actually the fitting that pushed me over to custom frame. The process and seeing my measurements really solidified why I have been having such fit struggles in the stock bike sizes.

Its not balance. I get concussions really easily. Just a hard body slam can do it. My brain is loose inside my skull. (Hence the "NFL loose brain syndrome. Those guys know what am talking about.) Edit: That makes riding in close quarters and following wheels more than occasionally not very smart.

Ben

Yes, it would be nice if there was a forensic carbon inspector out there to catalog it all and conduct interviews, review video footage. Personally, I just choose not to use it. I've crashed my bike enough times I'd be crazy to keep riding it if it were carbon, but since it's steel, I have full confidence in it.