Old 06-06-22, 08:24 AM
  #24  
Tourist in MSN
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Madison, WI
Posts: 11,112

Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.

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Originally Posted by staehpj1
It is just another material with lots of great properties. It can make a great frame that is plenty durable. No one makes one that is specifically designed for heavy touring, but that has more to due with whether it would sell than whether it could be durable enough. It just happens that the frames on road bikes are probably designed to be light, stiff, and durable in approximately that order.

People probably tour on CF road frames because they are touring light and a light frame suits their setup and is tough enough. Some may do it because it is the bike they have. Some may just be misguided.
...
I can see your point though in that for heavy touring there wouldn't be a lot of point in going to a CF frame and mounting 4 panniers ahd 40-60# of gear on it. ....
I really do not consider your touring setup to be the norm. As a former racer that carries less gear on a bike than most backpackers carry, I can see how a carbon racing bike would make a lot of sense for you. But you are not carrying the typical bike touring setup. I think you are the only regular participant on this forum that uses a bivy sack instead of a tent.

Your point that nobody makes carbon frames for loaded touring (four panniers, etc.) is directly related to my comment, perhaps I should have said that I do not understand why people with lightweight carbon racing frames use them for bike touring.

Your comment on four panniers, I readily admit that my titanium touring bike is the ultimate in bling. I think the titanium only knocked off a couple pounds of total bike weight, so financially for a buyer it makes no sense to build a touring bike with that material. But I got the frame with factory warranty for less than half the cost of it through normal sales channels, and I had always wanted a titanium bike so when I saw it I decided that I wanted it. (Lynskey puts dealer returns on Ebay instead of putting it in inventory, thus I bought mine from Lynskey, but on an Ebay auction.) But that frame is specifically designed for touring.

But when I read that a carbon bike fell over because the wind blew it, and the frame cracked, that is something that helps perpetuate the reputation that carbon has. And it makes me wonder why someone would want to tour on such a bike.
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