Tradeshow Roundup: Road Bikes – Part One

For those interested in Culprit, Unfortunately our website is still under update. You can find the full spec and details here.
http://roadbikebuyersguide.com/search.php. Pricing includes color options, jersey, bib, torque wrench and carbon bottle cage, bottle. However we no longer pay for fitting or shipping. If interested, please email for more details. service@culpritbicycles.com
Graphics have changed, see the link above.

I’m based in the UK and would love to be your European correspondent (shameful plug…). I minored in journalism (a while back) so ping me an email if you are interested. Now for the bikes, I don’t think that you can beat the Italians for style and flair. I haven’t personally ridden Carrera or Culprit bikes but if they are anything like my Colnago they will ride as good as the look.

@AlanM – you poor misguided soul. you probably also think an iphone 5 is still acceptable. they can’t build obsolesence into the frames for legal reasons (they have to keep changing bb standards to achieve the same effect), so it’s up to you to realize your shit is passe and upgrade. how can you possibly be enjoying your ride if you’re not on the latest lateral stiffness and vertical compliance? nobody keeps a car/wife for more than a few years, why should bikes be different?

Obsolete might have been the wrong word. But there’s definitely much more of a rat race when it comes to carbon frames than steel or titanium. Steel and Titanium bikes have gotten to the point where they can almost be considered timeless in comparison. Steel and ti bikes also will last longer sue to their inherit strength and are easily repairable. Their resale is also much better. Just look at the bay and see the depreciation of a high end carbon frame compared to high end Steel or ti frame. Not even close. My state of the art BMC Slr01 depreciated more in 1.5 years than a moots, pegoretti, independent fab, etc. will in 10 years. For me, I’ll take the panasonic anyday. Just my opinion though.

You are aware that carbon is easily repaired these days as well, right? Also, carbon has a better fatigue life than steel or titanium.

@ Erik:
You really haven’t a clue. Carbon is every bit as repairable as steel or titanium. Actually, it’s MORE repairable because a repaired carbon will almost always be stronger than it originally was when new. This is the exact opposite of a steel frame – every time you heat up a steel tube it gets weaker and there are limits as to how easily repaired steel can be. That said, I still personally prefer steel in almost every way and the bikes do have a timeless quality that carbon bikes do not. You can look at most carbon bikes and almost immediately date them.

@Eric: The depreciation of the carbon bikes also stems from the fact that most of them have a shameless novelty tax attached to them. This tax is completely lost on resale as soon as somebody’s behind has touched the saddle.

@Erik

Two anecdotes for you concerning the price and feasibility of carbon repair.

Anecdote #1: my friend wrecked his Madone and put a big crack in the top tube. He brought it into my shop, and we tore it down and sent to Calfee. It showed up again after 3 weeks or so. We built it back up with new cables, housing and tape, and his final bill was a little less than $650, including all our labor(we charged him a “Major Overhaul” which includes a full drivetrain clean, overhaul of all bearings, wheel true, etc), the repair, the shipping, and what we replaced on the rebuild. The repair was a very clean 6 inch wrap around the cracked area that was fully flush with the surrounding clear coat.

Anecdote #2: my coworker, a long time mechanic and all around smart dude, bought a DIY carbon fiber repair kit off eBay for about $100. He started practiced on a few totally trashed warranty frames, and then went on to repair a Jamis Xenith Pro with a chainstay that had been run over, and a Scott CR1 with a big hole in the top tube. His work is slightly less clean than what I’ve seen from Calfee, but it is just as structurally sound. He recently built up a frame under the tutelage of David Bohm, and he’s going to transfer all his sweet parts off the CR1 to his new frame, and chop through the seatstay, put a Gates belt through it, bond it back together, and have himself belt drive single speed carbon fiber road bike just for the laughs.

In conclusion, carbon fiber repair really isn’t anymore expensive than steel repair, and is much, much easier to learn than how to braze or TIG. I actually have taken a few TIG classes at the local JuCo, and I’m pretty sure I could not have learned how to so it off of YouTube.

Good luck getting Titanium repaired cheaply. Compared to carbon or steel repairs, titanium is rather expensive and difficult.

there’s a carbon repair shop here in Boulder, CO (Kappius / brokencarbon) that has done carbon frame repairs for as little as $150. And the repair is stronger than the original frame. I’ve seen his work – if you don’t care about getting the frame repainted to match, or if you already have a black-on-black design it’s cheaper than replacing a high end derailleur.

Carbon also does not fatigue, rust, or oxidize. And if you think steel “classic” frames look beautiful, that’s fine, but it probably shows your age. I think they look old / funny / obsolete but I’m more accustomed to compact frames having come into the sport about when that standard was taking off. Everyone in photos from about the mid-90s or before just looks to me like they’re riding a weirdly skinny / wimpy bike that is 2 sizes too big for them. And seriously what is UP with the weird hood positions back in the day? So it’s all in what you’re used to.

Technology moves on. You don’t see toeclips, downtube shifters, quill stems or handlebar-mounted bottle cage racks on modern frames either, but I know of people who argue vehemently that these things are “classic” and should never have gone away.