ahanulec

I picked up my first modern road bike this past fall. It's a switch up from the mountain and hybrid bikes I have. The bike was a lightly used Felt F85.

With limited experience on road bikes I've little basis for comparison but the ride quality of this bike has really exceeded my expectations to the point that I wonder how good these carbon bikes must ride.

I bought this from a triathelete friend how upgraded so when I took ownership it had 18mm tires. Even with those tires the bike was very nice. My only issue issue is at 6'4" tall this bike is a little too small which has me thinking I may want something larger.

For as much as I have searched the Internet for direct comparisons I have yet to see a head-to-head ride quality shootout of Al vs. Carbon. Has anyone experienced the difference between two similar bikes of the two materials and was it a noticeable difference in vibration damping and ride quality?

10 Wheels

Its all in the tire brand and PSI.
Put 39,000 miles on my F-80 / F-85

With 700 X 18's

Larry77

I've had both aluminum and carbon, the biggest difference I feel is the road "buzz" from aluminum. Carbon forks and carbon seat posts are often used for higher end aluminum bikes to try and minimize the buzz (road vibration). I know there are other differences like stiffness and weight but for me that's harder to notice.

There are a lot of articles about carbon vs aluminum if you google but here is one:

https://roadcyclinguk.com/gear/what-...gGGSuJDrYbK.97

rms13

Good modern aluminum has taken care of road buzz. I've had a caad9 and caad10 and could barely detect ride difference from carbon. My friend has an emonda aluminum and another has an allez and same thing

Larry77

Here's a good video about it:

redfooj

its mostly in the tires


now lets see how far this thread goes.

Mulberry20

The smoothest ride is from a lightweight steel frame with a carbon fork. The material inherently has good qualities whereas the others need lots of engineering to achieve the same. Aluminum wouldn't have anywhere near the dampening of carbon or steel.

Maelochs

How about a Ti cruiser with a sprung saddle and balloon tires?

thin_concrete

Another vote for tires. You can read as much as you want on the internet, but my guess is that you'll be more confused than when you started. My suggestion is to take one of each out for an extended amount of time (not the bike shop parking lot 15 minute ride) and make the decision based on your experience.

DrIsotope

90% of ride quality comes from the only part of the bike that touches the ground: the tires.

Maelochs

Only ride smooth pavement.

TimothyH

25 is the new 23.

rm -rf

Bike tests

Tire pressure is critical

If you test ride bikes, get the tires topped off with the same pressure. Don't just pull a bike off the rack and ride it. It's very hard to compare with wildly different pressures.

The front tire should be 10 psi to 15 psi lower than the back.
25c tires can use about 10 psi lower pressure, front and back.
The newer wide rims can drop it another 5 psi at least.

Some frames can now fit 28c tires. If your roads are very rough, I'd want those. You can run quite low pressures and not be any slower. (There's a slight aero disadvantage and a small weight penalty to larger tires, but they are still worth it.)

For example, I'm riding 23c tires on very wide 25mm rims, so the tires measure about 26.5 mm
I've been using 82 psi front, 95 rear, and I weigh 175 pounds.

Tires
The more expensive, thinner, flexible tires, like a Continental GP4000, will flex over rough roads better, for a smoother ride. So, cheaper, stiffer tires on the same bike won't feel as good. A lot of bikes come with these less expensive tires.

Frames

I find the carbon vibration advantage is fairly subtle, and tires make a bigger difference.
The carbon bikes are usually lighter, and may be stiffer for a little better handling and feeling more responsive.

I'd test both carbon and aluminum bikes.

rm -rf

TIRES (and air pressure)

ahanulec

Great information so far. The article and the video are perfect.

As a super Clydesdale I already switched the tires to 28s. It's smooth with those on for sure. With many questionable roads around here I wasn't willing to continue with the 18s fitted when I bought it. Even if the ride quality was impressive.

A year ago I would have never thought carbon to be something available for me, but the more I keep learning about it the more I think from a strength and ride it would work. I suppose maybe the strength component still holds but the ride quality argument might be out the window.

alathIN

If ride quality is your thing, you can't do better than these guys:
Bikes | Volagi Cycles

I got one of the steel frame ones 3 years ago and love it. Word is the Ti and Carbon ones are even sweeter to ride.

Jiggle

Good ride quality is easy to get on smooth roads. On chip seal or cobbles is where it gets tricky. I've found the good combo to be 28mm tires, latex tubes, stiff frame and fork, and cushy seat.

Dan333SP

Wait... Steel frames just magically ride well regardless of manufacturing and design choices like geometry and tubing, while carbon frames don't really count because they are over-engineered?



Have you ever ridden a carbon bike, or a modern top-end aluminum bike? I'm honestly curious.

v8powerage

I had steel for a longest time now I have carbon/aluminium and there's staggering difference, it's like rolls royce vs gokart, on steel I could feel tiniest road imperfection which are plentiful where I live, whereas on the "new" bike it feels almost like it had suspension.