Or is this a myth?

Nah – they're divine

Myth.

Every frame is different irrespective of the material used.

Onion – need to speak to you re the Stinsons. Call moi svp.

Not sure what a carbon hardtail would feel like, but my BLTc is fantastic. It's all about the stifness imho, if you like that kind of thing.

Depends on what it is designed for, they can make them stiff or compliant.

Plastic tat.

My carbon Stumpy FSR feels very nimble and intuitive (to me anyway) – not sure about the unforgiving-ness though …

what do you want it to forgive you for?

Not this sort of thing again? 😳

Thanks – hardtail – compared to the same frame in steel or ti?

Unforgiving in what way? While your riding or are we talking about crashes/bumps n knocks?

While riding I would say carbon is more forgiving than aluminium. Crashing/bumps n knocks, draw your own conclusion! It's been battled to death here!

YouTube – Carbon vs Aluminium vs Steel

My Rm Vertex is very comfortable, more so than the steel frame it replaced (I know, probably blasphemy on here) It's very stiff power wise and the large frame is noticably less noodly torsionally but it's comfortable to the extent that another 10psi can be added into the tyres with no adverse affect on comfort.

Other frames may differ, depends on the will of the designer and what he wanst it to do TBH.

Thanks – hardtail – compared to the same frame in steel or ti

Absolutely impossible to say, you can do much more with carbon, so as Will said they can make them as stiff or as compliant as they like.

However… most carbon frames are of the racey style, so will be designed to be light and stiff, whilst most steel (and to an extent ti) frames are less 'agressive' in their geometry and are designed to be a bit more forgiving. Of course there are exceptions in both categories.

what do you want it to forgive you for?

Not this sort of thing again?

Drifting off topic a moment…so a drunken bloke pretends to shag his bike in the privacy of his own hostel bedroom, cleaner unlocks door with master key, get's all drama queen, and the guy ends up on the sex offenders register..? Not saying I want to shag my bike, but when I eventually get a custom Ti hardtail I may just reserve that right, and I don't expect to be labelled a sex pest if getting it on with said hardtail in the privacy of my own bedroom. Hmmm. As you were.

if he moved to my neighbourhood, I would keep all my bikes away from that perv

Unforgiving as in uncomfortable, not as in resisting crash damage

i had a scott scale and it was really comfy but not flexi and suprisingly playfull to ride, bit too playfull,
i broke it 😥
BUT they are repairable, hq fibre repairs in norfolk are ace btw 😀

My Vertex RSL was dead comfy, much more so than my mates Taurine.

They both felt completely different to ride even though they are similar bikes both made from plastic.

I'd test ride a few if you can or at least get feedback on individual bikes from owners 🙂

YouTube – Carbon vs Aluminium vs Steel

Now that's some fairly scheisser testing right there… wouldn't be drawing any conclusion re. any frame material from that bunkum…