Carbon frame vs. Alloy for a flatbar road bike

[Calvin27]

I would personally not pay a premium for a carbon flat bar bike.

Carbon, at least in this stage of the cost curve, is still very much a go fast material. It's designed to be lighter and stronger than aluminum. If you're buying a flat bar, you are very likely recreational and probably would benefit very little from the estimated 1kg (max) weight savings. As others have mentioned aerodynamics of drop bars mean a lot more than 1kg in an upright position.

I would also ignore all the comfort issues I challenge anyone to blind test a carbon vs alloy flat bar and tell me the difference. If you are doing longer distances on a flat bar you will feel a lot more things hurt before you notice the 'road buzz'.

[DavidS]

I still prefer a flatbar to a drop bar. It might be a minority preference but it is a preference for some of us. I'm pretty sure my Cannondale with carbon forks has lugs for a front pannier, there's something half way down the fork and it sure as hell looks like a spot to screw in a pannier rack. When I broke my last flatbar I went out and got a better one! One thing I like about the Cannondale is that the cross bar is fairly flat and doesn't go down towards the rear of the bike, more like a drop bar frame I suspect.

That Scott looks quite nice.

DS

[Duck!]

Carbon, at least in this stage of the cost curve, is still very much a go fast material. It's designed to be lighter and stronger than aluminum. If you're buying a flat bar, you are very likely recreational and probably would benefit very little from the estimated 1kg (max) weight savings. As others have mentioned aerodynamics of drop bars mean a lot more than 1kg in an upright position.

I would also ignore all the comfort issues I challenge anyone to blind test a carbon vs alloy flat bar and tell me the difference. If you are doing longer distances on a flat bar you will feel a lot more things hurt before you notice the 'road buzz'.

Quite the contrary. Carbon isn't "designed" to be lighter and stronger, they're the inherent properties of the material that can be used to a significantly wider range of effects than aluminium. At this sector of the market the comfort aspect of the material's properties receives much more focus than its strength. Unlike any metal (aluminium, steel, titanium, magnesium), where the tubes are formed from one homogenous mass of material which results in a limited range of "tune", carbon tubes are built up from multiple layers of fibres laid in various directions. By altering the layup, the frame can be much better tuned for its intended type of riding. Flat-bar and "endurance" drop-bar bikes will have quite a different layup, tuned for comfort, than race-tuned bikes, which have a greater emphasis on stiffness. Due to the tuneability of the layup, there will actually be more of a difference in ride comfort between the materials in this sector than in the serious racing frames.

For reference, I have two road bikes (neither being flat-bars though), an aluminium Giant OCR (Defy forerunner) "endurance" frame, and a race-oriented carbon TCR. Despite its theoretically more comfortable geometry, the OCR is a noticeably harsher ride than the TCR. You most definitely feel the road buzz well before any other hurty bits.