Does anyone use carbon?

[Feanor]

To the OP:

To answer your question "Does anyone use carbon?", simply go down to the start of any local audax and have a look for yourself.
If you CBA, then the answer is: "Yes, lots of people do."

That avoids all the extraneous fluff about whether it's good, bad or ugly.
It simply answers the original question.

[Somnolent]

It simply answers the original question.

Why on earth would you want to do that?
This is the internet, dontchaknow?

[Kim]

To answer your question "Does anyone use carbon?", simply go down to the start of any local audax and have a look for yourself.
If you CBA, then the answer is: "Yes, lots of people do."

The rule of thumb is that if it's got wheels and is human powered, someone's probably ridden an audax^[1] on one at some point.

The corollary is that if there's some technical aspect of the afore-mentioned audax machines, someone - quite probably a USAnian - has nerded about its relative merits extensively on the internet.


Is carbon fibre a good idea for an audax bike?  If the bike you'd prefer to ride is made out of carbon fibre, absolutely!


_{[1] Usually PBP.}

[alotronic]

Show me a carbon bike with disk brakes, full mudguard mounts, and a fork crown dynamo light mount.

Yep, Datum, owned and confirmed. It was pretty much the only thing in carbon you could buy with those attributes a couple of years ago, but at the moment every new bike seems to have those attributes ticked off as the 'gravel' market grows.

Personally I have ridden the Datum out to 300km in a fairly aggressive setup but over that tend to 'relax' a little onto my Tripster. I had the option of both for LEL and performed a thought experiment of waking on day 3 from a long deep sleep (ha!) and thinking about which bike to be on.... Tripster wins that hands down but the Datum is great fun on 'shorter' bikes. I suspect I could do all my rides on it tolerably if I pulled the bars up a bit and popped the B17 on it but there is something in me that struggles aesthetically with a leather saddle on a carbon bike.... I know, I know, but there you go....

[Ben T]

Show me a carbon bike with disk brakes, full mudguard mounts, and a fork crown dynamo light mount.

Yep, Datum, owned and confirmed. It was pretty much the only thing in carbon you could buy with those attributes a couple of years ago, but at the moment every new bike seems to have those attributes ticked off as the 'gravel' market grows.

Personally I have ridden the Datum out to 300km in a fairly aggressive setup but over that tend to 'relax' a little onto my Tripster. I had the option of both for LEL and performed a thought experiment of waking on day 3 from a long deep sleep (ha!) and thinking about which bike to be on.... Tripster wins that hands down but the Datum is great fun on 'shorter' bikes. I suspect I could do all my rides on it tolerably if I pulled the bars up a bit and popped the B17 on it but there is something in me that struggles aesthetically with a leather saddle on a carbon bike.... I know, I know, but there you go....

sorry, and Di2. 

[Cudzoziemiec]

I use carbon quite a lot, chiefly when I've got a bit over enthusiastic while cooking.

[LMT]

Carbon wheels and shock horror electronic gears (which are also wireless), on a recumbent as well.

[zakalwe]

Show me a carbon bike with disk brakes, full mudguard mounts, and a fork crown dynamo light mount.

Yep, Datum, owned and confirmed. It was pretty much the only thing in carbon you could buy with those attributes a couple of years ago, but at the moment every new bike seems to have those attributes ticked off as the 'gravel' market grows.

Personally I have ridden the Datum out to 300km in a fairly aggressive setup but over that tend to 'relax' a little onto my Tripster. I had the option of both for LEL and performed a thought experiment of waking on day 3 from a long deep sleep (ha!) and thinking about which bike to be on.... Tripster wins that hands down but the Datum is great fun on 'shorter' bikes. I suspect I could do all my rides on it tolerably if I pulled the bars up a bit and popped the B17 on it but there is something in me that struggles aesthetically with a leather saddle on a carbon bike.... I know, I know, but there you go....

sorry, and Di2. 

Have you considered eTap?

[Ben T]

I would do yeah. I'm not really in the market to be honest, just wondering what I would get if I was.

[grams]

My £400 Flyxii is Di2 ready as well as all of the above.

(and, these days, Di2-having).

[ElyDave]

I'm assuming Di2 wires are of a pre-determined length? Hence e-Tap may be a better recumbent option being wireless?

[Hot Flatus]

There are different lengths of di2 cable available to account for different sized frames.

I'm not sure that SRAM products are ever a better option for anything.

[ElyDave]

But do they account for recumbent sized frames, or triples for that matter? I assume no triples as they have com out of the "this I what you need if you want to emulate froome" mentality

[grams]

Di2 parts can be connected together in any physical layout you like including using inline junction boxes to connect cables together end-to-end, so no problem coping with unusual frames.

Shimano do make one triple Di2 front mech but it's an MTB one. One odd quirk of the Di2 system is you can't mix road and MTB mechs on the same system, so you'd need to use it with an MTB rear mech.

No such limitation applies to shifters, so you can still use road shifters, or even have multiple sets of shifters of different types (up to 6 IIRC) on the same bike, and you can program what each button does separately.

[LMT]

There are different lengths of di2 cable available to account for different sized frames.

I'm not sure that SRAM products are ever a better option for anything.

I am, been running Etap now for little over a year - it's the mutts nuts.

[LMT]

I'm assuming Di2 wires are of a pre-determined length? Hence e-Tap may be a better recumbent option being wireless?

I'd go with Etap anyways, easy to set up, every shift is mint, the batteires are interchangeable and it is roughtly 45 minutes for a full charge - of which they can charge off an external battery. And when not in use they go into sleep mode unlike Di2 which is always 'awake' AFAIK.

[Hot Flatus]

Good to hear that the Etap works well, but....and it's a big but....will it be plagued with the well-documented lifespan issues of Red and Force?? Too early to tell.

[grams]

I much prefer the idea of eTap over Di2 but it suffers even more from the "only parts Froome would want" problem: No rear mechs over 32t, no official support for 1x, no flat bar / MTB shifters, all parts priced at Red (Dura Ace) prices.

It doesn't help that the individual components aren't available separately, only as groupset bundles.

[vorsprung]

In my experience the disadvantage of carbon for audax is not that it's an inferior material or more likely to break - it's not.
It's the fact it's more difficult to get a frame and forks with the exact fixtures and fittings you want.

Show me a carbon bike with disk brakes, full mudguard mounts, and a fork crown dynamo light mount.

[alotronic]

Show me a carbon bike with disk brakes, full mudguard mounts, and a fork crown dynamo light mount.

Yep, Datum, owned and confirmed. It was pretty much the only thing in carbon you could buy with those attributes a couple of years ago, but at the moment every new bike seems to have those attributes ticked off as the 'gravel' market grows.

Personally I have ridden the Datum out to 300km in a fairly aggressive setup but over that tend to 'relax' a little onto my Tripster. I had the option of both for LEL and performed a thought experiment of waking on day 3 from a long deep sleep (ha!) and thinking about which bike to be on.... Tripster wins that hands down but the Datum is great fun on 'shorter' bikes. I suspect I could do all my rides on it tolerably if I pulled the bars up a bit and popped the B17 on it but there is something in me that struggles aesthetically with a leather saddle on a carbon bike.... I know, I know, but there you go....

sorry, and Di2. 

Err, yep.... http://road.cc/content/review/161471-genesis-datum-30

[Zed43]

Bike24 will sell you the individual eTap derailleurs and other parts, or an upgrade kit

No experience with eTap, the BishBashBosh uses Di2  No problems with it so far, but I always carry the charger on 600+ rides (used it during LEL as well)

I was interested in the Datum frameset when it was £999 but at its current price, no way!

[Feanor]

I'm not sure that SRAM products are ever a better option for anything.

As a bit of a newbie to the world of TT, I have noticed that SRAM is pretty well regarded in this world.
Many of the riders on the local TT circuit are running SRAM kit.

[Hot Flatus]

Various bike mechanics I know tell me that SRAM will warranty absolutely anything....and there is a reason for that. Stuff breaks, but it seems to happen more often with SRAM. I'm also told that on the pro circuit Sram Red is regarded as shite.

But .. hey ho...you know how these discussions on equipment go. I have to say that the only kit I've ever had trouble with was Campag 

[Exit Stage Left]

I think people are more likely to believe a professional working with a product or material if they are negative about it. Positive comments are assumed to be more directed to sales. That's until you've 'bought into' a product or material, then we accentuate the positive.

Sole traders can be very dour, motor factors always seemed to be the worst.

[Ben T]

I did once have a sram shifter snap clean off when there was a bit too much friction in the cable. Which is why I'm dubious of sram ever since.