Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
I recently posted above: For my choice of an Aluminum Diverge as a beater [in the above photo of my indoor storage], frame material was a surrogate for price, about $1500 vs a few thousand for carbon fiber.
There
were carbon mountain bikes in the price range I was shopping, from discount outlets. They did not have the frame features I wanted, and they were mostly XC-format and not trail. Today you need >$2000 MSRP to get a carbon road bike from Trek, but you can absolutely get one for $1000 shipped from Bikes Direct.