I ride a 2008 QR Kilo Aluminum frame carbon fork. I love it with all my heart. I’ve had other bikes but for whatever reason my QR just remains my favorite go-to bike. My only issue with the QR vs full carbon bikes I’ve owned is the road vibrations from the Al frame.
I’ve got carbon race wheels on my QR but everything else is stock and aluminum. I was wondering if upgrading some parts to carbon (ie- cockpit, seat post or cranks) would help improve and/or reduce the road vibrations and fatigue on century+ distance rides? Would the dampening properties of carbon fiber parts make enough of a difference that I would notice it? I’m a middle of the pack guy who isn’t looking (or capable of) moving to the front of the pack. I live and ride on the pancake flat North Carolina coast, where the wind is our hills, so weight isn’t really much of a factor for me. Thanks in advance for your input.
simplest solution-lower the psi just a hair in your tires. 5-10 psi lower if your running in the recommended range.
or buy some wider tires tires and run them at the lower end of the psi range or
buy some wider rims for those wider tires to run at a low psi.
I would think those 3 solutions would provide much more ride improvement over the cockpit and seatpost.
With terrible splotchy and rough chipseal roads here in west texas, I run my tires 5-10 psi below what the tire recommends. That helps alot…I may be purchasing some wider rims soon for an even smoother ride while training.
99.99% chance the difference is either in your head, due to the way the bike sounds, or preconceived notions OR, due to using different tires or tire pressures that make the ride worse.
Either way, no, getting more carbon parts won’t make any difference. Tires that are more supple, or wider, or run at lower pressures would make a difference.
That’s comparing two modern bikes which were expressly engineered to have the same ride quality.
Go ride an early 90’s era Cannondale or Klein aluminum. Pre carbon-fork. Go ride it on chip seal for 5 hours. And then tell me it’s “all in your head.”
Extreme cases, and I have no idea about he QR, but bike frames do act as vibration dampeners in very important ways. Particularly in the fork and rear stays.
Go ride an early 90’s era Cannondale or Klein aluminum. Pre carbon-fork. Go ride it on chip seal for 5 hours. And then tell me it’s “all in your head.”
You have to do the test blind.
but bike frames do act as vibration dampeners in very important ways. Particularly in the fork and rear stays.
From Joshs’s post on testing bikes and wheels with protour riders:
“One of the major discoveries was that after controlling for seat post (round post shimmed into aero frame so as to not give it away) not a single rider found the aero road bike to be less comfortable, less compliant, etc, than the identically setup ‘endurance’ or ‘roubaix’ bike”
But it’s been done by others. Remember this one? Sensitivity varies a lot between individuals. Some can’t feel anything. As Damon suggested, you might be one who can’t feel anything. But don’t take your n=1 and then go announcing to everyone that bike frame vibration dampening is a myth.
Can you at least now admit that Firecrest-width wheels are pretty much better than the old “21mm” rim standard now that wider tires are pretty much proven to have lower rolling resistance and increased comfort with negligible cost to aero while on a well-shaped rim?
But don’t take your n=1 and then go announcing to everyone that bike frame vibration dampening is a myth.
It is a great thing to believe, because then you don’t notice as much!
I did leave some room for it being real in my %age
Can you at least now admit that Firecrest-width wheels are pretty much better than the old “21mm” rim standard now that wider tires are pretty much proven to have lower rolling resistance and increased comfort with negligible cost to aero while on a well-shaped rim?
Not entirely clear on that no. Not for front wheel time trial use anyway. For road racing, and long distance triathlon, probably. Maybe. =)
I ride a 2008 QR Kilo Aluminum frame carbon fork. I love it with all my heart. I’ve had other bikes but for whatever reason my QR just remains my favorite go-to bike. My only issue with the QR vs full carbon bikes I’ve owned is the road vibrations from the Al frame.
I’ve got carbon race wheels on my QR but everything else is stock and aluminum. I was wondering if upgrading some parts to carbon (ie- cockpit, seat post or cranks) would help improve and/or reduce the road vibrations and fatigue on century+ distance rides? Would the dampening properties of carbon fiber parts make enough of a difference that I would notice it? I’m a middle of the pack guy who isn’t looking (or capable of) moving to the front of the pack. I live and ride on the pancake flat North Carolina coast, where the wind is our hills, so weight isn’t really much of a factor for me. Thanks in advance for your input.
As others have mentioned the getting wider tires will help.
Id also mention finding the thickest corkiest bar tape to use, a carbon fibre seatpost would marginally improve the ride.
I had a 91/92 Cannondale SC (crit) frame that was stiffer than the frame-deflection measuring jig at one of the bike mags that tested it. It handled the tight mountain roads around Mt Tam and Marin county great - but it was more that my hands and ass could take on rides over a few hours.
I went from that to a very noodley Merlin SuperLight - that may have been the polar opposite. I think the bottom-bracket swayed about 1/2 inch side-to-side when I stood to climb - it wasn’t a great racer (neither was I) but century rides were a piece of cake.
There’s no better and cheaper way to improve ride quality than tires. I recommend 25 mm for standard road riding and that’s were pro team are currently going for, even during some big events like Giro. More traction, less rolling resistance, more comfort.
Wheels, tubes tires make the biggest different. Fewer spokes, shallower carbon rim, ride softest. Lighter, higher end wheels like Zipps probably rides smoother too. A “faired” aluminum rim will ride like an aluminum rim. Spoke count is again, probably the biggest impact. My zip 404 (non-fc) vs. my OEM Bontrager race light wheels is shocking.
Next is using latex tubes. This is a pretty big difference. Also, don’t over inflate your tires, especially with a wide rim. For training, 95-100psi on a wide rim is plenty to prevent pinch flats even for a larger rider.
Next it tires. Faster rolling tires, usually ride softer too. A wider 25mm tire, will ride better as well…especially if you drop tire pressure accordingly.
Then the fork (which you aren’t going to really improve as it will hurt aero.
Next the base bars. Carbon absorbs vibration a little better. Carbon extension probably won’t make much difference.
The frame probably has the smallest impact… and gets overestimated greatly in importance. The frame geometry and seat stay construction probably makes the biggest impact.
Now… in the spirit of Slowtwtich… stop begin a pussy! My roads are pretty poor where I live, probably worse than yours… suck it up.
Can you at least now admit that Firecrest-width wheels are pretty much better than the old “21mm” rim standard now that wider tires are pretty much proven to have lower rolling resistance and increased comfort with negligible cost to aero while on a well-shaped rim?
Show me this “proof”. Even show me something that counts as evidence. I’d wager that comfort is actually worse in reality (@psi).
Also, the wide rims don’t have negligible cost to aero… that is in fact where the benefit lies, assuming that you are running 23mm tires in both.
I should have left comfort off the proof clause, but I thought that 24/25mm tires are now unamiguously atop the Crr list?
On mobile, so don’t know the testing PSI but I claim without proof that lower PSI is generally a better vibe dampener. So even if they lose Crr @ lower PSI they still present the option to buy a little bit of either.
As for cost, it’s a little hard to gauge since many premium aero manufacturers no longer offer “narrow” options with the same “feature list” as the wide stuff. E.g no 21mm Firecrest.
Can you at least now admit that Firecrest-width wheels are pretty much better than the old “21mm” rim standard now that wider tires are pretty much proven to have lower rolling resistance and increased comfort with negligible cost to aero while on a well-shaped rim?
Show me this “proof”. Even show me something that counts as evidence. I’d wager that comfort is actually worse in reality (@psi).
Also, the wide rims don’t have negligible cost to aero… that is in fact where the benefit lies, assuming that you are running 23mm tires in both.