Road Frames… "Good" ally Vs "Cheap" Carbon debate…

and more comfortable.

Fit and geometry make such a big difference, it’s very hard to compare two frame materials as you don’t get like for like frames.

I currently have cheap carbon (Planet X – which I really like) and am on the verge of buying a CAAD10 so we’ll see… Everything I’ve read about it sounds good so I’m interested to see how it rides 🙂

Sadly I won’t be able to compare them directly as the two bikes will never meet or be ridden on the same roads – my parents live abroad so the CAAD is a second hand bike which will live at their house while the Planet X stays at home.

“So kinda throws the expensive wheel debate out the window also, as expensive = deep section carbon in wheel terms surely?”

Nope.

Sorry, should have put it in better context… “For guys like me averaging 17mph or so” should have preceeded it. Aero wheels make exponentially more sense the faster you’re average speed is of course, but my rides are generally 40 miles or so at 17mph, not 3 solid weeks through France at an average above 25mph.

Errr, yes, pro-riders always use shallow section alu wheels because they are actually the best. Oh wait…!

See above…

There are good frames and bad frames, price and material doesn’t guarantee anything.

This is of course totally true, I had just wondered if there was any kind of pattern to it when you throw price into the mix…

I had a Planet X Carbon Pro and it was an ace little bike, did loads of club miles on it, went overseas on it all was fine until you wanted to race it. It was a slug in the peloton. Tried three sets of wheels in it and the frame still flexed so badly that both chainstays were never going to last.
I resorted to racing my old 2004 Alez and had no issues.

Then I bought the TCR Advanced SL frame poles apart.
With my wheel budget I went for sub 1400g low profile wheels