Good carbon frameset under $2000
 

I want to upgrade my older aluminum Litespeed frame (what feels super light, but it's getting old).

I'd use the frame mostly for group rides, century rides.

My only concern is the weird world of the bottom brackets. Now I use a full Ultegra 6800 groupset and I'd like to move it to the new frame. New BB is fine, but I wouldn't use a converter if it's possible (nor new crankset). I'd appreciate any take on the best BB type for Shimano Ultegra 6800.

I found the following frames in this price range:
Litespeed L3 (BB386)
Boardman Elite SLS 9.8 (PF30)
Cervelo R3 2013 (BBright)
Merckx EMX-5 (BB86)
Williams Genesis (English)
Ridley Helium (English)

Please let me know your recommendations / opinions on the listed frames. Thanks!

These days most manufacturers have good carbon frames under $2000. In fact, if you look hard enough, you can find a lightly used brand-name carbon frame under $1000 on Craigslist or eBay. If you're willing to go up to 2000, you're going to pay a premium for something, and you better understand what that something is. It might be lifetime warranty, or extremely low weight, or aerodynamics, or something else. You may be interested in this recent thread of mine: http://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...ro-frames.html

In my opinion, the biggest difference between carbon frames is aerodynamics. All else equal, on a $2000 budget, I'd go for Cervelo S2. There are a few other options just above $2000 in the thread linked above. Personally, I'm waiting for Black Friday to see if I can snag a Giant Propel Advanced or one of the alternatives for 1500.

As for BB types, I don't know what crankset you have in your bike, but quite a few bikes with BB** bottom brackets ship with FSA SL-K Light BB30 crankset, which is something like 200 g lighter than the standard Shimano Ultegra crankset+bottom bracket combo. It's hard to beat that.

I recently saw a Tarmac SL3 frameset for $800 in the SF craigslist. Too poor atm.

usually

www.competativecyclist.com

has some great deals

I have a Shimano Ultegra 6800 crankset and I'm perfectly satisfied with it. I'd rather spend the extra money on the frame than to buy a new crankset. Is there any easy to understand compatibility chart for bottom brackets? I'm totally lost.

I agree



as for picking a frame, it's your preference. If it were me, I'd pick a race style geometry like a tarmac/venge, supersix, or cervelo s-series, but that's just me. even though I'm interested in racing, I can also get competitive in group rides or charity rides. if you prefer a more relaxed geometry, Roubaix might be a good option, or kestrel RT1000.



you might also look into titanium. but my impression of titanium is that it rides about 5% better than a steel frame, at more than double the cost.

If I'm not mistaken, Ultegra 6800 cranksets are designed to be compatible with standard (narrow) BB shells, so, you can get an adapter to put a 6800 crankset into a BB30 frame (standard shell is 33-35 mm in diameter, BB30 is 42 mm, some others are even bigger), but you can't put a BB30 crankset into a standard frame. Many cranksets come with several installation options - you just pick the right bearings and spacers and you can install the same crankset into different frames.

^ This. If you have a 6800 crank, this is pretty easy. It is the smallest standard diameter and the right bottom bracket and/or adapter will make it fit BB30, PF30, etc. by taking up more space. Standard threaded is probably still the best fit, but the others will work (the adapters are better now-a-days). If you had (say) a BB30 crank you loved, your options would be more limited.

As for frames, I think this one looks really nice:

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/OTY3WDE2MD...ToiYe/$_57.JPG

2010 Specialized Carbon Roubaix Comp Size 58 Roval Wheels Frame Needs Repair | eBay

Under $750 shipped and only needs the carbon repaired in five spots. :p

LOL. People...


S

wow! what a bargain! and... FREE SHIPPING!

Competitive Cyclist has Fuji Altimara frames for about $800. Everyone I know who has one, likes it.

this guy says "no problem!!"

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=388219