Big Pete 1982

My CAAD10 is just fine by me.

Bacciagalupe

IMO there's very little difference these days between the higher-end aluminum frames of any of the major brands. They've all got a pretty good understanding of the material, tube shapes and frame design.

That said, my guess is that CF offers designers a little more control over tube shapes, ride characteristics and weight. Although there are lots of excellent aluminum frames being made now, I expect CF will continue to dominate the high-end part of the market for a long time.


I disagree, I see no need to go custom unless you really can't fit a standard bike.

The performance differences between a better-quality mass-produced frame and a custom frame will be small.

garysol1 

My favorite aluminum bike ever is the Specialized E5 S-Works. I would build it with Thomson seatpost, stem and bars, SRAM Red and a pair of 404's for the ultimate crit machine.

Mike F

I havent talked to anybody who has ridden the new Sportster so my post is useless, but for 2013 they ditched the CR1 profile for the Foil and added internal cable routing. Would love to hear any feed back from users.

Spiduhman

Soloist/S1 isn't new, but still a great bike.

Elevation

CAAD 10 with RED, SRM, enve everything else

ultraman6970

If you want the bike for racing (new or used):

DeRosa planet, merak and the pro something model that has integrated seatpost, the problem is that those are hard to find, and are expensive. IMO you wont find an AL frame that will climb and sprint as the merak or the planet.

Caad, if you are in a budget the caad is a good bike.

Canyon, these are not available in the US but the aluminum models are famous for riding as a carbon frame, someday I'll get one.

Ridley compact and scandium frames are fantastic too.

EM, EM built a few frames in AL and scandium , good stuff and hard to find. I have a derosa and a EM in aluminum, great frames.

For recreational riding: Any other aluminum crap in the market will do just fine, in a matter of fact i would put the BMC street racer in 1st place of the list, ready to race week end warrior frame.

In carbon/AL I would go straight with the BMC road racer, this thing does it all.

Ps: a lot of stuff is out of my list because basicaly i dont like crap with a 6 feet tall front tube.

Carbon Unit

There is nothing to fear but fear it self.

rpeterson

I'd take my Speed Concept 2.5 over a CAAD anyday for an awesome aluminum frame.

primov8

Spooky frameset, De Rosa Milanino.

JoelS

Cyfac Nerv for me. Custom geometry and ride tuning.

nkfrench 

I picked an Aluminum frame bike for my cheap-but-well-fitting backup bike.
It's designated purpose is to sit in a trainer but can be put into street duty when my good bike isn't up to the task.
It occurred to me that some rides involve leaving my good bike locked but unattended too long in less-than-stellar areas. Same idea with having to ship a bike for use on vacations.
So I wanted the option of riding a decent well-fitted bike but not something I'd be heartbroken if it was damaged or stolen.
I also got to try out some different gearing using the cheaper 105 components. Experimenting with the dura-ace on the good bike is pricy.
I decided I like the 53/39 + 11-28 on the AL bike better than 53/39 + 12-27 on the good bike, but I'd have to replace the derailleur and possibly more on the good bike.

I really appreciate the good bike more after riding the cheap bike. The AL bike with 105 components is very noticeably different. The cranks flex too much and the shifting is sluggish and clunky. It's not as much fun to ride. I don't know how much of the flex is the frame and how much is the components.

James1:17

shouldn't be the components. newer gen 105 has hollowtech cranks just like its bigger brothers.

HAMMER MAN

www.tiemeyercycles.com/


great bikes, great builder!
i bought a road frame last year, powder coat by Spectrum. custom build and just a great riding bike

Built it with Ultegra 6700
Mavic Ksyruim wheels
Williams carbon seatpost
Williams drop bars
Fizik Aliante saddle
look pedals
D/A 7800 crank

caloso

I saw them at NAHBS last year. They are the business.

Jed19

Kinesis, a brand in the United Kingdom, is supposedly doing some really exciting stuff with aluminum these days. Look them up. And you can buy some of their frames from Probikekit.

EdIsMe

Thank you for your posts everyone!

Keep 'em coming!

@Almost all frames, aluminum or not, are sold with carbon forks and are generally considered to be the norm. This is acceptable and follows the rules. The reason I'm disallowing carbon/aluminum hybrids is I feel it's a cop-out in quality frame design; i.e. "We can't do what we want with aluminum, so we'll sub-in some low grade carbon and consumers will eat it up just the same."

Also, with new'er' techniques in hydroforming, aluminum has arguably never been better and has the capability to be much better than what any custom builder can achieve with standard butting techniques.

I'm not going to explain why high quality aluminum may be a better choice than low-grade carbon for some riders.

I am surprised how much the CAAD is dominating this thread so far. Audience a bit biased maybe?

HaroldC

2013 Specialized Allez Race with Red and 303 FC wheels here. Rode it for the first time outside today and it was pretty awesome. Really stiff and responsive to every input and attack I made.

Orangejuice

Certainly I would select the 2012 Lapierre Audacio 700

EBH

Canyon Ultimate AL 9.0
This looks great and have gotten great reviews in Europe. Considered as good as the CAAD 10 frame. Was close to buy it last year, but ended up with a carbon racer instead. Comes with the Ultegra groupset, also DI2, and Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheelset.

marqueemoon

Pegoretti, Spooky, or Rock Lobster depending on the budget.

Dilberto

CAAD frame with Hollowgram cranks makes for one AMAZINGLY STIFF combination. One turn of the cranks is met with a surge of forward thrust...stand on the pedals while climbing, and the bike literally rockets uphill.

sced

Cyfac Proxidium. Cyfacs are works of art with no lumpy welds and an amazing heritage.

https://www.cyfac.fr/Pages/Products/P...roductId=15019

rebel1916

That was a pretty amazing self immolation there

baj32161

I have wanted to get my hands on a CAAD10 4 with SRAM Rival in the black and yellow paint scheme since I first saw one. I cannot afford one though, and likely, will not be able to afford one any time soon....more's the pity. I SO Want one.