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Buying used: older carbon or newer aluminium?

by Puqq
Sat, Jul 06, 2019 14:53
4

I am looking for a used road bike for my daily commute + some additional cycling. My budget is around £250-350

What should I go for?

  •  A very good aluminium frame, i.e. a few year old Cannondale CAAD or Specialized Allez (Tiagra or 105). What about some others?

  • Older or lower end carbon fibre frame (i.e. ~10 year old Scott CR1 or Planet X, Boardman etc)

  • Wild thought: steel frame? 

In the past I had a few steel road bikes (Raleigh and Tigra Corbo, both excellent), one very old carbon fibre frame (Trek 2300, not very good), and now aluminium (Trek SL 1000, really nice, but want an upgrade)

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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4 comments

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Xenophon2 | 5 years ago
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+1 on the recent alloy frame.  Wouldn't risk used carbon, certainly not if 10 years old without an -expensive and considering your budget irrealistic- inspection.  

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hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
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At that price range, you'd be better off looking at an alu frame - you'll get better components and there'll be more choice.

If you go for a steel frame you'll probably end up with a much older bike as modern steel tends to be more expensive due to less demand. There's nothing wrong with an older bike though, but if I were you I'd be wanting modern-ish index shifting from the handlebars (i.e. brifters) and you're less likely to find that on an older steel frame.

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Mr Pennington | 5 years ago
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Buying a used 10 yo carbon frame can be risky. If it was crashed the surface may look okay, but it's hard to tell if there is carbon damage beneath the surface that could lead to a catastrophic failure.

I owned a CR1 Pro. Rode nice and compliant. Didn't care for the shallow BB drop and xtra wide 9041 BB - took a lot of effort to get up to speed. Also, the rear dropouts were uneven. Lastly, the biggest tire it could take was 23mm; 25mm caused chainstay rub.

As with @Boatsie, imo go alloy.

 

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Boatsie | 5 years ago
0 likes

Alloy..
Maintenance much better. Such is beauty..
Doesn't toxic fill our needed planet after service life.
I like alloy.. Chromoly nice. Steel lovely too. Alloy doesn't seem to pay the weight penalty.
I have 1 bike with carbon forks, maybe handlebars.. Doesn't get used anywhere near as often as the others. Treated gently. Hung when not used. I commute but bikes are left inside alone, away from human traffic. That's damaged. Only minor yet alloy scratches, rather than take chunks.

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