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Aluminium vs Carbon?


firewalker

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I am really really stuck trying to decide between an aluminium santa cruz blur lt frame and the new carbon one. are there massive pros to the carbon that would justify the price tag, or would i be better off with the tried and tested aluminium frame? i want it for sort of xc/trail riding, no really big downhill stuff, just a nice stiff strong all round bike that climbs as well as it descends. would really appreciate some advice from those who know more than i do ie probably everyone:)

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Have you read the reviews on mtbr.com?

They all say go plastic.

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seeing that you are asking for opinions:

 

here goes...

 

   (not that I'm a huge expert smiley9.gif)

 

 

 

Sounds to me like you know all you need is this beautiful santa cruz aluminium bike.

 

 

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I recently (6 weeks ago) started to repair bike frames in my spare time and do both alu and carbon.

The tally so far:

1x Raleigh RC7000 roadbike frame (magnesium/allow) chain stay dammage by car accident

1 x cervelo carbon road bike(chain stay) dammaged in fall

1 x Specialized XC Pro MTB (alu chain stay) stres dammaged

1 x Specialized Roubi road bike(4 places) accident dammaged

 

So far I have repaired more alu frames than carbon though I know there are more request to repair carbon.

 

My receommendation is for you to buy the bike that rides best for you. To be frank these days it does not realy matter too much. The majority of bike frames (alu and carbon) are broken during accidents.

 

The new top of the range alu frames can be realy thin in some places for the cross country enduro type of bikes as the manufacturer compete for the weight weeny business that there is hardly much difference in my opinion between Carbon and alu strength wise.

 

Also if your not a super fast race snake then a bike of say 1kg more will not make a big difference to your position in a race. I do allot of mtb riding and have ridden all sorts of bikes.

 

If I was you I would stringly recommend you test ride as many bikes as possible. One of those "Ride before you Buy" organised by Bicycling is great. DONT WORRY ABOUT IT BEING CARBON OR ALU. Worry only about how well the bike rides and bike comfort. A properly dialed and set up 14kg Dualy suspension bike will get you to the finish line much faster than a 11kg badly dialed wrongly setup bike. So dont worry much about weiht and what its made of.

 

Concern yourself with ride quality and component quality more than frame raw materials.

 

Downhill bikes which SantaCruz are famous for should only be metal types in my opinion.

 

 

 If your concern is total break proof then in my opinion it does not matter  If its alu or carbon. The alu is so thin these days in some of the upper end bikes that they can crack just as easily.

 

It has become clear that the majority of broken frames are due to accidents rather than simply breaking due to "riding the bike too ard). We all like to think we are hard riders but at the end of the day most of the above bikes are upper end bikes that broke in accidents.

 

Santa Cruz is a reputable bike manufacturer and any bike  on this end give warrentees on their frames.

Personaly I cracked Silverback hard tail alu which cracked on the weld. The frame was replaced right away without question with a later year model after 2 years of riding. Well done Silverback!

 

Unless you buy used they almost all give warrenties, unless accident dammaged.

 
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if you got the cash... go plastic. I have alu LT2 - awesome bike.

 

 

 

l would build revalation fork, DT240/ztr wheels, X0 or XX drivechain, all easton stem/bar/post & R1 brakes...

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if you got the cash... go plastic. I have alu LT2 - awesome bike.

 

 

 

l would build revalation fork' date=' DT240/ztr wheels, X0 or XX drivechain, all easton stem/bar/post & R1 brakes...[/quote']

 

What does your LT2 weight in at and what build did you go?

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about 13.5kg, but big bike (XL), Pike fork, moderate wheels (DT swiss Enduros) etc. At almost 100kg myself, it does not matter as much. Also have a Blur LT1 which is built up lighter...

 

 

 

 

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if you are tall, there is another option: the santa cruz tallboy. really rides well for XC, trail and marathon type ridingichnusa2010-03-07 14:20:11

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Lucky sod!LOL

Have worked out a light build kit for one but its still not light enough for me to pull the trigger on one.

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Got a Blur XC, want a 140mm bike now.

Tallboy is nice too.

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i'm not tall at all, 1.75, weigh about 73, so i ride a medium. i've been recommended a Fox 32 vanilla 1.5 taper for the plastic lt, with a 15qr. then going chris king hubs, havent decided yet about the groupset, but maybe xtr and xt mixed, i think the direct mount front der is xt? and then rims and tyres will be a whole new sweating decision. and will change over thompson seatposts and stems and some easton bars that i have already maybe. want the bike to be as strong as possible but also ready for longer endurance stuff too. any thoughts ?

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Sounds good, kno a guy that does alot of stage races and he built his LT2 up with XT stuff as he says its just a little stronger and the weight doesnt make that much of a difference.

Like your hub choice, where did u get them?

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perp2010-03-07 04:59:20
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aspire velotech.  tried on the hub for ages...i think i had the highest views to responses ratio ever, not one reply :) that alone speaks highly for the quality of them i think

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Those are nice but a set of wheels I wouldnt mind owning is the I9's.

 

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perp2010-03-07 05:13:32
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i've read brilliant things about them and they look frikkin awesome, i think army green spokes and hubs would look killer on a black blur!

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