nuhtowel

How come so many people ride aluminum road bikes and don't ***** about the harshness of the ride?

cc700

because you can engineer the tubes to not transfer as much of the vibration. you can make aluminum ride really damn well, especially with high quality tires, wheels, spokes, and carbon forks.

my cannondale is a dream.

there aren't very many road bikes that are made as stiff as ftps, cannondale tracks, and felt tk2s.

the early leaders were like the older ftps and such too, but a visp rides like a ****ing kilo. material matters very little compared to how the frame is designed.

hairnet

Take a look at this C-dale Criterium. Basically a track bike with gears - harsh, stiff and fast. I believe it was because of bikes like this that people associated aluminum with harsh.



People also tend to buy what looks cool, what looks pro, with 23mm tires at 120psi. They are not used to riding such frames, in addition to over inflated narrow tires, and then complain about how harsh they ride.

Trakhak

hairnet et al. are right: so-called "harshness" = short wheelbase, not frame material. My steel steep-angled track bikes ride the same as the aluminum ones. If you're worried about comfort, ride a recumbent.

8bits

if you are thinking about getting a LOW I would strongly suggest thinking about getting a Pelizolli FOR3 or Leggenda, almost the same price and the craftsmanship is amazing

cc700

win

Scrodzilla

homebrewk

^^^ What Scrod said.

hamfoh

I saw a modern marvels episode that talked about how amazingly strong carbon is. I don't remember the information and I'm too lazy to look it up now, but I left thinking "I want a carbon frame one day". I had always just assumed it was brittle and terrible for the urban riding based on forums (like bfssfg).

my mash is fine on the streets, some really rough streets sometime too. my leader was okay, but if I got on a truly bad road, it was terrible (i had the carbon/aluminum fork) - had deep as balls rims too. though the harshest ride I've ever had was my cannondale critterium on 23s and low profile rims. I thought I was going to lose a filling

edit: heh I didn't even notice someone posted that bike up there

Scrodzilla

There's a number three on the seat tube because that's how many times you need to punch yourself square in the balls before you come to your senses enough to realize you will probably never own one.

8bits

Well...when you think about it it's not that expensive...I exchanged emails with the guys there and they offered a Leggenda for 800EUR (˜1000USD) and it's a custom frame, they take your measurements, weight, what type of ride you'll be doing with it, you can change geo too and choose between 1" or 1 1/8" carbon or steel forks. That's a lot of choices for a 1000USD frame, hell a OTP Mash Histogram is nearly that. Of course is still a lot for a frame but not mad expensive like some custom made frames out there.

homebrewk

Seriously.

Scrodzilla

A thousand bucks really isn't bad at all. Good thing I've only punched myself in the balls twice.

Sherblock

I'm fairly confident that if anyone here really wanted a Pelizzoli they could have one.

cc700

yeah, odds are if you have access to a computer, you have the ability to make and sacrifice 1000 dollars, easy.

Scrodzilla

True. I sometimes forget this isn't ******.

carleton

A recent video. These are MTBs, but it's a comparison of two Santa Cruz frames, one aluminum and one carbon. This shows the differences between the two materials.

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/243228

redpear

I read the tech paper Calfee has on their website about composites, and I left feeling the same as hamfoh.

It's not as visually stimulating as carleton's video, but it's very informative. It's a good supplement to carleton's argument:
calfee on crabs on fire

hamfoh

This video is awesome

max5480

yo my SLC brother!
I'd definitely go aluminum seeing how my pista steel just got another crack in the frame cuz of the salty roads. That being said, i think 800 is a bit much for an aluminum frame so i'd go with the wabi lightning or the pake french track because they're cheaper and you won't have to worry about theft as much. just my two cents.

redpear

Says the guy with the mash.

Scrodzilla

Nagrom_

How old is she? legal?

The "nick" logo makes me cautious.

homebrewk

You're good.

Nagrom_

Ok good, I'd do terrible things to her.

terrible things.