There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
There's No Good Reason to Buy a Carbon Bike
The pro racers who do need carbon fiber bikes get them for free. Only the people who don’t need them actually pay for them.
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I'm pretty pleased with my fixed gear steel bike. It's cheap and easy to maintain, and it's held up well over the years.
I just don't talk to bicycle enthusiasts (except the worker at the shop I frequent) because they'll compare it to bicycles that are way beyond my means or needs. Most people don't need carbon or even aluminum, if you're just looking for reliable transportation.
What side of comparisons are being made? I own two enthusiast level carbon fiber bikes but also have a steel framed urban bike and love them all.
Mostly just like comments ranging from "You should buy a [$5000 bike]" to "You're riding a death trap!" And I'd say I'm basing this primarily on my experience trying to ask for help or advice on reddit, so maybe not a really fair cross-section of enthusiasts in general lol
Yeah Reddit enthusiasts are the nutjobs. Your local shop is where the real enthusiasts are. My local coop is just happy people are riding and fixing up their bikes
Yeah the people working there are pretty chill, and I'm pretty sure they'd alert me if I were actually riding a death trap!
I just want to see more people on bikes and fewer in cars.
Lovely. Which bikes do you have?
You can never have too many
I'd argue for aluminum only for the resistance to corrosion. I rode through snow and salt all winter in NYC; while I'd rinse the bike off right after, there's still holes and nooks in the frame.
I work in a bike shop and my colleagues like to poke fun at my 13" kids mountain bike that I use to commute. But you know what, over 3 years, even after riding over glass bottles and thorny branches and who knows what, no puncture so far. All I've had to do is change my brake cable, just did a chain and freewheel replacement last week (probably cos I don't wash it as often as I should) and a brake pad replacement cos the ones it came with on the v brake was the cheap sort that screamed.
They keep telling me to upgrade to a aluminium frame hybrid, I'm like, why?
I've just had to change brake pads and tires so far, just because of how much I ride it, but I have it in the shop every year, and so far no major problems.
Before that, I had a cast-off bike from Walmart that my ex-boss gave me when he left, and I rode that into the ground. I still have it and could fix it, but I decided to put the money into something newer instead back in 2020.
Only issues with fixie bikes I have is the strain on your knees and ligaments they make.
I haven't noticed a problem, but then I also longboard a lot so maybe that helps keep things flexible
Strain is there, but you are probably fit enough and use to it for it to not be a problem. My injury was few years ago and I still have to be careful to start slow and warm up well before any strain.
Yeah I can understand that. My husband has a bulging disk, and it makes it hard for him to do certain things too.