I'm looking at buying a bike primarily for short tours and getting to work. While doing some searches I found this bike on craigslist:

*** CRAMEROTTI 52cm. ROAD BIKE ***REDUCED - $1800

To me this is a racing bike more than a touring bike but... it IS pretty and unique. It looks like a fun ride and I like that it's a small local maker from Vancouver... but... I'm not sure I'm a fan of the carbon components on a steel frame. Especially the seat post and fork. I had an aluminum/carbon bike in the past and found I didn't love how it road in comparison to my Gios (a quality steel frame). I also worry that the seat post will get crushed or crack with the tension.

Anyone road a carbon/steel frame bike? If so, how did it ride?

At the end of the day I think I'm leaning more towards building up on a Soma Grand Rando... but I'm still curious to hear your thoughts.

Not seeing much carbon on the bike, the parallelogram on the RD, the brake levers, seatpost & fork blades, not possible to tell what the steerer is made from.

For using carbon with steel, I have had a 531 frame with a similar setup, carbon seatpost & au/carbon forks since 2000, feels just fine, but then each ike can ride differently, and the tubes on that frame are oversized Deda EOM 16.5, so it will feel different to 531.

Is a thin aluminum tube with a little carbon fiber wrapped around the outside aluminum, carbon or something else? If you worry that much you probably shouldn't be using aluminum handlebars.

i've got several metal framed bikes (steel, aluminum, titanium) with CF parts (saddle, seatpost, handlebars) and IME, there is nothing to worry about.

Stop worrying. My favourite steel bike has carbon seat posts and forks. The latter take a couple of pounds of weight off the bike, and the former is no more likely to break in a steel frame than in a carbon one - which is to say, not likely at all.

Damn it! You were all supposed to talk me out of buying this!

Just kidding... kind of... I guess I can always turn to my girlfriend for that.

Thanks for your input everyone. I guess I'm too much of a carbon naysayer and that the next thing to do is give her a ride and just see if I like the feel.

I'm a firm believer that if you want it built the way you want, build it yourself. I really like my Soma ES and it'd work fine for commuting and light touring. Wouldn't do so great for loaded touring, but the grand rando isn't necessarily built for that either.

you mean this one? https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-image.ht...tionFlag=false

your link in the OP is DNF

Here's my question about that... what's the line between light touring and loaded touring? I've done a number of 1500 km bike trips, but I pack light and don't think I'd ever see myself traveling with more than 30-40lbs of gear and even that is pushing it. But yes, it would be so much fun to build it and both those Soma bikes look great. I'm not as keen on the dedicated touring bike frames like the Saga because at both ends of my commute I need to carry my bike up stairs and through several sets of doors and do the awkward "hold the door with one hand, hold the bike with the other, and try to fit through it without the door closing on your bike" thing. That might sound silly but I had a longer frame and found the back-end always getting slammed as the doors closed.

That's the bike! I think I've fixed the link as well.

Not sure myself, but I believe it's how they built the frame. Most of these bikes it'll say if it's designed for loaded or light touring. That's how Soma says the ES is made for. Will it work for loaded touring, probably so, but would it be reliable for that? Maybe not. Issues like cracking welds and such seem to be the main concern when using something made for lighter loads to do heavy touring.

I'd take the builders advise on it myself. I'd hate to find out my light touring bike can't do it when I'm 300 miles from home.

Pragmatically On a tour, Here in this town on the very popular Pacific Coast Bike route we have zero Campagnolo spare parts .. it aint Portland.

so overspending on a bike will bite you in the spandex if there are problems on the tour. (Idk about fully supported tours Never done any)

for those who show up here needing stuff not in stock we work with the next big (?) town
Down the Coast and call that Bike shop, they special oder the stuff and the rider limps a couple days south on their bikes ,

and hopefully the order has been Expedited to be there..

The name, Cramerotti, is disgusting and ugly. I'd not ride a bike so named. Apparently, judging by the sellers use of the three asterisks in front of the name in the CL ad, which looks all the world like A** Crammer to me, the seller feels the same way and that's probably why they're selling it.

In all seriousness, as the others have said, your concern about carbon forks and seat posts is per se is misplaced, and of greater concern should be your intended usage, and whether that's appropriate to the bike overall.

FWIW, I've been riding one steel frame with carbon forks since '01, and also currently have a steel frame fitted with carbon seat post, fork, and cranks.

A used Campy Chorus bike for $1800? Unless the frameset gives you a woodie, too much.