Carbon vs Aluminum Components...feedback vote

[Ken M]

The price delta of carbon vs aluminum seat posts, stems and bars has come down dramatically in recent years but I believe the perceived value of carbon is still significant. I simply want to know if most riders would be willing to pay an additional $50 on a new bike to get those 3 components made of full carbon vs aluminum?

Carbon does provide some weight savings vs aluminum but not a big factor for eBikes, but it also improves the ride quality somewhat and some may consider the cosmetic quality carbon of value.

If not worth an additional $50, how much would you subjectively be willing to pay for those 3 components to be made of carbon vs aluminum.

I'm also wanting to compare carbon forks vs. active suspension forks on urban / road bikes but that's a harder question to frame as some people perceive an active front suspension as essential for ride quality. Any ideas on this would add some merit to this thread.

Background: I just bought my 2nd eBike and ended up immediately replacing the OEM aluminum components with carbon components I ordered online but was wondering if my perception of the value of carbon was common with other riders.

 

[harryS]

Carbon is great for weight reduction, but when one has chosen to have a 5-8 pound motor plus a 3-8 pound battery, there's little benefit in reducing a few ounces elsewhere. Some motors weigh 13 pounds. Yikes.

 

[Ken M]

I actually was not focusing on the weight savings of carbon as much a the ride quality improvement. Handlebars and seat posts mode from carbon dampen shock and vibrations far better than aluminum (it's noticeable if you have ever ridden both on the same bike to compare on the same day on the same road conditions).

When the cost premium is so low now for those two components it seems to me to make sense to just go with carbon. When you are paying $2,000+ for an ebike is paying $20 more for those two components to be made of carbon really not worth it?

 

[TntE3+]

I’m not a big fan of carbon, as 99% of the time if carbon fails it’s fractured and catastrophic failure.
With alum it’s a bent Item most the time.
I rather ride home bent then broken.
I also find carbon to be more rigid then alum.

 

[Ken M]

I’m not a big fan of carbon, as 99% of the time if carbon fails it’s fractured and catastrophic failure.
With alum it’s a bent Item most the time.
I rather ride home bent then broken.
I also find carbon to be more rigid then alum.

I would probably not want these components to be carbon if I were ridding mtn ebikes but more and more high-end forks, seat posts, and bars are going to carbon so that must mean they are durable. I was mainly interested in feedback relative to urban bike riding where the likelihood of carbon being damaged or highly stressed is much lower.

As for reliability/safety of aluminum for rigid forks, I know Haibike recently had a recall on multiple models for the possibility of their aluminum forks failing catastrophically.

I have a Haibike Trekking model I recently changed out the active suspension fork to rigid carbon and also change from aluminum on the bars and seat post and the bikes unquestionably has a better ride quality. I can put most of my weight on the carbon bars and actually see some flex so I know they are somewhat actively dampening out more vibrations than the OEM aluminum bars did. Canyon and Specialized have carbon setposts models that have 20mm+ of active flex designed in and they have received excellent reviews for performing nearly as well as active seat posts like the Thudbuster and Bodyfloat at a far lower weight.

I'm really wondering if most riders are aware that some of these components are available in carbon for not much more than aluminum which is skewing the polls results (carbon has a reputation of being very expensive and it still is for rims and frames and active suspensions made of carbon).

 

[TntE3+]

Yea the weld was bad on the forks and there was no penetration and contaminated welds that lead to lower snapping off.

 

[JRA]

Black bike has a carbon fork and the silver bike has an aluminum fork and using the same size tire/rim width at the same psi there is no noticeable difference in the ride quality whatsoever.



Running lower tire pressure has a much bigger effect on dampening out vibrations than most give credit to. And from my experience doesn't affect mileage enough to warrant running higher psi and trying to alleviate vibration with materials that "flex".

My .02