Originally Posted by
sweetspot
I thought so too until I started to ride and directly compare my bike to a couple of carbon gravel bikes. The perceptible difference is big. I also ride much more and got stronger. My neighbor is a semi-professional cyclist and when he attempted to pedal hard while holding the brakes, he made the bb area of my bike flex so hard that I thought it will brake. When doing the same on a carbon bike, the flex was much less apparent. So it is not only my subjective feeling...
I believe you. And honestly it doesn't matter if it's real or perceived, if you don't love your bike it's time to move on. There are soooo many choices out there now, life is too short to ride a bike that doesn't bring you joy.
For what it's worth I almost got a T-lab. We have a distributor here close to me and the bikes are fantastic. They look like carbon bikes made out of metal, and the paint is really well done. If you're leaning towards one I can't imagine you'd be disappointed.