Are aluminium roadies making a comeback? Should they?

Disclaimer: I can't find a thread on this elsewhere on the site, but if you know of one I can close this and move to that.

I've noticed that there are some really beautiful aluminium frames being released now which have changed in design a bit from those of a few years back, so now on paper you get the best of both worlds: slim stays and top tube for some flex (usually + carbon seat post), but mega stiff down tube / BB for awesome power transfer.

And these are seriously light bikes. I don't have the cash to splash on a new roadie at the moment but I'd seriously consider the new Canyon with ultegra or one of the CAAD canondales. Really light, great kit, comparitively great value. Not a bike for chilling on, but for wheeling out when you want to hammer it, they look awesome.

What do you reckon? Last cries of a dead material? Or making a fightback? Or am I the only f*cker boring enough to care....

It would be intereting to see total sales in relation to frame material across the developed economies over the last 20years. That would give you a more actuate gage.

Just from looking at shops/the streets in London I think that bike use has increased, and by extension so has sales. Although steel has made a come back i'd guess a big chunk of road frames bought are still alu.

Its probably happening (and I'd be interested to know from someone in the industry), but as cost of carbon production comes down and demand goes up, I'd guess it would just be cheaper for manufactures to only produce carbon. I don't know enough about how moles work, but I'd also guess you could use the same shape, but lay up in different ways. My TCR composit looks like it's the same as an Advanced, I think its just the materials that ate different.

Overall that sounds like it benefits the manufactures on lots of fronts so I can't see it changing.

Which means alu will just end up like steel and be the preserve of small, custom, or novelty brands.

Well... When I made the swap from alu (Lemond) to carbon (Focus) a couple of years ago I was surprised at the difference in comfort. Having said that I rode a CAAD10 at an Evans event last year and preferred it to a BMC ProMachine that I threw my leg over 5 minutes later.

If I was buying now for short rides and crit racing I'd go for alu and spend the difference on some mega wheels.

Check out the canyon ultimate AL. Loads of changes for the 2012 model inc. full internal di2 cables on the ltd model

Just checked the specs and prices of the various Canyon and Cannondale options and the Canyon with Force and Kysrium Elites for £1600 looks the pick.

Also agree on the decent alu + carbon clinchers over carbon frame and cheap alu wheelset. That said... I'm rolling on cheapie Fulcrum 5s Atm. lame!

I think the frames fall into two camps - 'cheap' aluminium frames at sub £1k prices not currently served by carbon, and middle-ground (i.e. still v expensive, £1.3-£2ish k) frames fitted with high end components.

Haven't seen a vaguely big name carbon frame fitted with Tiagra parts yet, maybe that will be the indication that manufacturers are dropping aluminium for all but niche frames.

The Canyon and CAAD just look like properly engineered weapons. Canyon are making some AWESOME bikes at the moment - check out their track bike, it looks evil. I think maybe I should have gone for the Canyon over my £1200 Ribble carbon, that's such a great deal on those components and it looks like they've pretty much factored out the material constraints around stiffness / harshness.

It would be intereting to see total sales in relation to frame material across the developed economies over the last 20years. That would give you a more actuate gage.

Obviously those figures would show definite trends but they wouldn't tell the whole truth. Much of the resurgence in steel for example, has been old bikes dug out of sheds and put back on he road. It's impossible to calculate but what you would want to see is number of miles ridden by type.

Haven't seen a vaguely big name carbon frame fitted with Tiagra parts yet, maybe that will be the indication that manufacturers are dropping aluminium for all but niche frames.

Back in 2008 my Orbea Onix was bought with Tiagra for £1000 using C2W. Brand new, full carbon bike cost me £550 :o) Wiggle has a carbon Focus for <£1000, depends if you call that a big name I suppose.

I agree with the above about steel, so people see people riding 'thin tubed' bikes so buy one etc etc

Certainly for the near future I think alu will win in the 200 - 1000 sort of bracket. Obviously steel below that, like the ones at tesco and things. Above that people seem to 'expect' a carbon frame on a 1k plus price, with obviously a few exceptions :)

Haven't seen a vaguely big name carbon frame fitted with Tiagra parts yet, maybe that will be the indication that manufacturers are dropping aluminium for all but niche frames.

Specialized Tarmac 2012 - 10 Speed tiagra £1600

[QUOTE=tomd;2659967]Specialized Tarmac 2012 - 10 Speed tiagra £1600

Fair cop, fair dues. I know they've improved Tiagra / added a gear to it this year but I would want 105 at least on a £1600 carbon framed bike, but that's just me. Actually I would want Veloce on it but that's another debate!

Why would anyone "want" veloce?

Or even a "bike" for that matter. Get the bus you lazy twats.

^ the Farce is strong in this one

Why would anyone "want" veloce?

Or even a "bike" for that matter. Get the bus you lazy twats.

Bad night was it?

Bad couple of centuries, TBH.

Specialized Tarmac 2012 - 10 Speed tiagra £1600

And the BMC Roadracer SL01, also similar priced.

And the Jamis Xenith.

Fact is - around those price range, you can get 105, even Ultegra equipped alu bike, or carbon with Tiagra (which admittedly is an improvement from the old one).

I think there is a recognition that Carbon is not magic, and whilst it may be great, other materials can also be tailored to specific uses. Seems like the industry is moving from wonder material (Steel - Al - TI - Crabbon) to a more varied approach.

It also gives companies a niche they can dominate, cannondale and moots/baum etc.

They didn't go away, so no, they are not making a comeback.

Matter of fact, it's still the same as always.

They didn't go away, so no, they are not making a comeback.

+1.

What the fuck is this shit? A 'roadie' is not a road bike. It's the rider of a road bike, or more specifically, one who races on a road bike. FFS. An 'aluminium roadie' sounds like some sort of lycra clad terminator. Can we have some fucking quality control on here again?

to be honest I don't really understand this thread. The 3 main frame materials are steel, aluminium and carbon, they generally go in that order for price, weight and desirability.
Aluminium frames can be really light, but a bit harsher ride than carbon but equally as stiff (depending on how both materials are used).
They tend to fill the £1000 bike bracket and are good entry level road bikes with decent bits as opposed to the few carbon framed bikes in the same price bracket with worse bits. But this can be gleamed by looking at Wiggle for 3 minutes.
What's the confusion?

What the fuck is this shit? A 'roadie' is not a road bike. It's the rider of a road bike, or more specifically, one who races on a road bike. FFS. An 'aluminium roadie' sounds like some sort of lycra clad terminator. Can we have some fucking quality control on here again?

Obviously that's exactly what I'm on about, twatstick. There's been fucking loads of carbon fibre Lycra clad terminators knockin about, especially near dalston superstore, but a trip to London fields turns up a few aluminium retro terminator chancers. Question is whether these old school aluminium terminator bastards are back for good or just a flash in the pan. But thanks for summarising the thread.

to be honest I don't really understand this thread. The 3 main frame materials are steel, aluminium and carbon, they generally go in that order for price, weight and desirability.
Aluminium frames can be really light, but a bit harsher ride than carbon but equally as stiff (depending on how both materials are used).
They tend to fill the £1000 bike bracket and are good entry level road bikes with decent bits as opposed to the few carbon framed bikes in the same price bracket with worse bits. But this can be gleamed by looking at Wiggle for 3 minutes.
What's the confusion?

Fair cop sumo, i don't think I got my opener right to be honest, it is / was misleading but a few peeps commented on it so I thought I'd just go with that flow. Now the thread has Perked up and it is def confusing. My equally dull intention was to find out if other folk on here thought that some of the upmarket / cutting edge alu frames on the market at the moment might actually be better for racing (either pro or not) than carbon.

And re other comment from bmmf I know what a roadie is traditionally but it's also used to refer to road bikes, whether that's widespread or not I don't know, I guess I assumed it was.