So I was out riding in the Hills of OC a few weeks ago and I was riding an aluminum mountain bike and my buddy had a brand new carbon fiber. We get back to his garage and he has like 4-5 mountain bikes, after 5-10 beers we start talking about bikes and Carbon Fiber vs. Aluminum Bikes. It was/is my understanding that Aluminum is “stronger” than Carbon Fiber bikes and I guess when I say stronger I mean that going off drops and such the Aluminum bike won’t break after long use but it might bend.
I have a Carbon Fiber TT bike and an Aluminum TT bike the Carbon Fiber TT bike is a much smoother ride but I would say that I would rather have my Aluminum if I could pick one bike to ride for durability.
It depends on the exact material and the design of the frame. I don’t think you can generalize and say that one material is always stronger than another.
Seems as though Aluminum is stronger that your typical Carbon Fiber bike, correct?
No. Aluminum, titanium, steel, and composites each have unique characteristics that must be considered when designing a frame. If it’s done poorly then the frame may break due to the fatigue life being exceeded, and this holds for any material. The metals all have a ‘springy’ characteristic, which means that you will have a slightly harsher ride compared to carbon fiber, which will absorb some high frequency vibration.
For a metal frame, if it’s “bent” then for all intents and purposes it IS broken, since the tubing only has columnar rigidity and strength when the tubes are straight. And, if your bike “bent” then it no longer has the geometry that was intended.
It depends. For normal use, no. But aluminum is going to be more resistant to stress/stronger from other vectors. Carbon is great when the stress is coming from specific directions, like on a frame or with wheels. But it has to be designed differently when the stress is coming from many angles. It’s kind of like how a carbon stem weighs the same as an aluminum stem of similar quality. i.e. there isn’t really a weight advantage to high end carbon stems like there is with high end frames and wheels. It’s because stems have stress uniformly in nearly all directions because of their location and purpose, so the carbon has to be laid up in such a way to deal with all these stresses. Because of this lay up, carbon stems are much heavier than one would expect, about as heavy as aluminum.
So for a carbon bike to be all around as strong as aluminum, it would be much heavier. But bikes don’t necessarily need this, so I wouldn’t say an aluminum bike is “stronger” than a carbon bike when used as intended.
What do you mean by ‘smoother ride’. On a TT rig I find it difficult to believe there is a significant difference in the vibration dampening of a Al vs CF frame. Wheel and tire choice will play a huge factor as can aerobars in terms of road buzz but can you really feel a difference attributable to frame material?
I own a CF TT bike because it is lighter and more aero than any Al offerings. I own an Al CX bike because I crash it more than I should and Al is stronger in terms of point impact damage than CF especially in terms from side impacts. I can not however honestly say that the frame material has a discernible effect on ride quality.
Well, my old road bike is a trek 1.5 and my new one is a felt AR5, there’s this patch of road where I often ride, the asphalt is exempt of pothole but is full of very small holes and I have no idea why, but it makes for a very bumpy/ vibrating section.
On the trek, it was hell, I could feel it all, it’s crazy, on the felt, I just sail through it, only remembered it when this fall I took out my trek again. It’s that important of a change.
Well, my old road bike is a trek 1.5 and my new one is a felt AR5, there’s this patch of road where I often ride, the asphalt is exempt of pothole but is full of very small holes and I have no idea why, but it makes for a very bumpy/ vibrating section.
On the trek, it was hell, I could feel it all, it’s crazy, on the felt, I just sail through it, only remembered it when this fall I took out my trek again. It’s that important of a change.
This could be due to the frame/seatpost/cockpit/saddle/bar tape, it could be down to differnces in the tyres and tyre pressures, or there are other differences such as the harmonics of the frame. It is very possible that certain frequencies of vibration associated with that particular road surface are exacerbated by proximity to the natural frequency of parts of the Trek frame. If so this would not be simply a material issue.
Well, my old road bike is a trek 1.5 and my new one is a felt AR5, there’s this patch of road where I often ride, the asphalt is exempt of pothole but is full of very small holes and I have no idea why, but it makes for a very bumpy/ vibrating section.
On the trek, it was hell, I could feel it all, it’s crazy, on the felt, I just sail through it, only remembered it when this fall I took out my trek again. It’s that important of a change.
This could be due to the frame/seatpost/cockpit/saddle/bar tape, it could be down to differnces in the tyres and tyre pressures, or there are other differences such as the harmonics of the frame. It is very possible that certain frequencies of vibration associated with that particular road surface are exacerbated by proximity to the natural frequency of parts of the Trek frame. If so this would not be simply a material issue.
I agree, it’s very possible, but I use similar bar tape/saddle/wheels/tires (~100psi since I’m 150pounds). But still the trek was a reverse jackhammer, it rides well but transmits road chatter amazingly well. My girlfriend hates that same road too on her aluminium bike which is fitted with the same gp4ks and 100 psi. And also most people I ride with dislike that segment for that reason when they have aluminium bikes so that’s why I figured it was mostly material and how they used it.
