Subject: Re: Carbon or Steal rear stays? Posted by: abykerman on December 12, 2001 at 13:44:18: In Reply to: Re: Carbon or Steal rear stays? posted by Robert on December 12, 2001 at 04:51:55:

Message: >>I'm building a frame and I'm trying to figure out the pros/cons of the carbon rear ends over steal? Any one have experience with them? What's the projected longevety of them? I'm building out of OX-Platinum. Which one is the best? Are they stiffer than steel? Is it really worth the extra money to go with carbon over steel? Any info would be helpful. Thanks for lookin' >Most carbon/steel discussions and arguments are based on preferences. There are really good, lightweight, steel frames, and there are very strong carbon frames. It is really more a matter for personal preference than 'one or the other'. >However, if you do want to try building a mixed frame, there are several steel frames out now that have carbon SEAT stays. This allows a very strong and tight drivetrain, so they sprint as good as a full steel frame, but the carbon seat stay's take the shock of large 'hits' out of the ride, so they are more comfortable. >Carbon is very tricky to work with. I have seen several sites from people that have built carbon frames, it can be done by just about anyone who wants to give it a try, but I now from being into racing when carbon was first comming out, it is really hard to make a frame that does everything you want it to do. >If you are building an 'experimental' bike and want to just check stuff out, and can build up a new frame down the road with some idea's learned from the earlier frame, then you might want to try fooling around with carbon to learn how it reacts and see what you can so with it. If you need this frame to be a 'hot' frame from the start, I would stick with steel. The ride qualities and characeristics of different steel tubings are fairly easy to find. I personally don't know anything about the steel you mention, but I know this: The higher the stiffness factor of an alloy the firmer the ride, and the better it can transfer power. The greater the elasticity factor of an alloy the more forgiving it is (that is can take stronger 'hits' before failure). So if you find that information about different tubings you are chosing from, you can figure out what tubing to use to get the ride you want. If you want a firm, quick, racing bike get a tubing with high stiffness (elasticity wouldn't be that important). If you want a soft touring bike that can carry a large load, get a tubing with low stiffness and high elasticity. Thanks, I a building a race bike so I'll probably stick with steel. I am working under Doug Fattic who some of you at UBI probably know pretty well. He's never built with the carbon rear ends before so I wanted to get some opinions from someone who has. OX Platinum is True Tempers best stuff, it stiffer than 853 that's why I went with it. I'd still like to try a bike with the carbon rear end and I'd love to hear from anybody who has done this already. Thanks for your posting.