Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
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.
FWIW, none of my bikes are actually carbon. I do have one with carbon fork and stays (I haven't toured on that one) and one with a carbon fork that I have toured on. None of my bikes are expensive enough to be carbon. I don't remember what I paid for them all, but none were all that much over $1000. Certainly they were all well under $2000. So in my case not much bling. Of course $1000 was a lot more money back when some of them were new.
I think we mostly agree that a CF road race bike is a poor choice for a fully loaded touring bike. I just don't blame the material itself. I also don't think that applies to lighter touring loads. I think loads in the sub 20# range are becoming somewhat common and fairly sensible on a cf road bike.
Risk of breakage is real, but probably pretty overblown in my estimation.