To Carbon or Not To Carbon (Finishing Kit)

[Eddh]

I am currently thinking about the last few parts of my build, I have a Scott CR1 pro, a pair of Planet X 50mm carbon wheels and a SRAM Force 22 group set.

So really all I need is some finishing kit, now the question is - do I do this in carbon or not? Is the extra money worth the outlay? Will I notice any difference?

[Jimbo.]

Meh. You're not chasing every gram, so why bother with the additional outlay?

[Eddh]

I was thinking more along the lines of is it more forgiving? Does it absorb the road buzz better and thus give a smoother/nicer ride?

[okgo]

No. Good tyres will so that though.

Alu every time for me.

[graeme4130]

A decent set of carbon bars, post and possibly stem will certainly take a few grams out and take a bit of the primary harshness out of the ride, but it's never cheap and you always run the risk that there's more of the bike to break that's a little less durable than aluminium
I mean this in the context that carbon can be structurally shagged, but appear fine on the surface in the lovely lacquered decorative weave layer. I have carbon bars on my summer roady and TT bike and I'm constantly worried about one of my kids knocking it over in the garage, the bars taking a big knock and then failing on me at 45mph in a corner when descending
It'll make your bike look and feel cool though and we all know that's important

[Some Gump]

Imo, carbon seat post, ali bars.
But then,i've fallen off ever single bike i own at one point in it's life, and would be much more brassed off it it cost me a set of carbon bars, not just some bar tape...

[agentnomad]

Depends what you want out of it

If you want the lightest bike in your club I am sorry you will probably need to start again with the build. (not a nasty comment but its true)

If you want nice shaped smooth aero looking handle bars that need a little less bar tape on them you really need to go carbon

Now seat posts and stems come in lots of different qualities starting with cheap alloy, to good alloy this is overlapped with carbon wrapped alloy then again overlapped with pure carbon ones. You also have alloy parts to the "full" carbon seat posts this being the clamp etc at the very top end you have aero shaped carbon seat posts with Ti fixings etc (I have one in my Dogma as this is what comes with the frame) it may also hold the Di2 battery (mine does) this then becomes it a heavy seat post but the battery has to go somewhere

I used to have an S works Tarmac this was built light and was lighter than the Dogma 65.1 I now have, but the Dogma is different in a lot of little ways some could just be marketing bull but when you have spent Dogma money you start to believe it (I know its the legs/rider)

For performance weight gain/loss you need to look at the rotating mass as this is worth around 6 times static mass so working in from the larges rotating mass Tyres/tubes, inner tubes, rims (shallow rims/deep aero, shoes, pedals and cleats (doe pedals are lighter but the cleats are heavy needs to be both for comparison, then cranks nearly every thing is static mass (I know spokes hubs and B/B)

So back to the question buy what suits your bike, performance range (F1 tyres won't work on a 3 series BMW very well) and your pocket as well as feeling right for your riding style

I know it does not answer your question yes or no but maybe helps you think about the choices you have, I would go carbon bars for the choice of shape and the comfort they offer (shape where you hold them) as well as the flex in the right direction (this is not true for the cheap ones)


If you go top end can you afford to buy it again if it gets damaged as down grading is a hard mind game, harder than wishing you had the top end first time round


What ever you finish the bike off with enjoy it

[Eddh]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll go alloy I think as cheap carbon sounds like a bit of a bad idea. I'm not chasing pub bragging rights for lightness and I am 78-79kgs so not the lightest person in the world...

I hadn't thought of the falling off/dropping the bike and damaging parts either, that is a valid point!

[nammynake]

I'd like to try one of these seat posts to see what the fuss is:

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/category/compon...

[JohnnyMac]

Why not finish off a nice build with some nice carbon components? If you can afford them do is what I'd say.

[anonymous-user]

I'd personally go with 3T, Zipp or Ritchey WCS kit and match it all up with a Carbon post, alu bars and stem as suggested.