Budget carbon- asking for trouble?

[crashley]

Anyone have any experience with Phian frames? Looking at building a little budget-ish carbon mtb to play on in the winter and they have an offering, albeit it's not widely publicised as they tend to stick with road frames.

Are there any other alternatives for upto £400-450 mark (for a frame only) or should i stick with something branded (and more expensive) or a more conventional material?

Cheers

[Rouleur]

Try the On-One Lurcher, 456 and Whippet. They're all tried and tested popular frames.

[nammynake]

Genuine question but what is the benefit of carbon frames for mountain bikes? I understand the weight advantage for proper XC race bikes but unless you're planning on full XTR group set and carbon finishing kit then saving a few hundred grams seems pointless. Unless carbon frames are meant to be more comfortable? Surely comfort is much more determined by suspension and tyres?

Same question for road bikes I suppose, although the comfort benefits are meant to quite noticeable.

[crashley]

Incidentally, I prob would build it up with some pretty trick bits but I'm more interested in just doing something different. I've not built I bike for years do thought id try something interesting.

[nammynake]

Have you considered the Cotic Soul? Lovely 853 steel.

[Hobzy]

Rouleur said:

Try the On-One Lurcher, 456 and Whippet. They're all tried and tested popular frames.

Plus one for a Whippet:



I love mine. Back up to £349 at the mo but I suspect they'll be back at £279 at at some point...

[shalmaneser]

nammynake said:

Genuine question but what is the benefit of carbon frames for mountain bikes? I understand the weight advantage for proper XC race bikes but unless you're planning on full XTR group set and carbon finishing kit then saving a few hundred grams seems pointless. Unless carbon frames are meant to be more comfortable? Surely comfort is much more determined by suspension and tyres?

Same question for road bikes I suppose, although the comfort benefits are meant to quite noticeable.

It's lighter and more comfortable - riding a carbon bike is a very different experience to metal bikes. Steels not really comparable, it's horses for courses, some are good at some things, some at others.

[nammynake]

shalmaneser said:

It's lighter and more comfortable - riding a carbon bike is a very different experience to metal bikes. Steels not really comparable, it's horses for courses, some are good at some things, some at others.

Only marginally lighter than aluminium. The difference in weight between a carbon and decent Aluminium frame is probably a few hundred grams, which in the scheme of things is essentially nothing. In terms of comfort I have heard that carbon is noticeably more comfy on road bikes, but struggling to think of the benefits off road when suspension and fat tyres surely do most of the damping/shock absorption?

Edited by nammynake on Tuesday 15th October 23:21

[dudleybloke]

huge thread here about chinese carbon 29ers.

http://forums.mtbr.com/29er-bikes/chinese-carbon-2...