Road bike recommendations

Carbon might not be right for big tours but its definitely a great choice for day rides, club runs, cycling holidays (with accommodation) and shorter light/creditcard touring.

Why is carbon a "great choice" for day rides? The weight difference between a modern steel, alu and carbon frame is not enough to make a big difference. Carbon is not even always lighter. Carbon bicycle frames tend to have some different acoustic and resonant properties their metallic brothers but don't ride "smoother". The failure modus, however, of carbon is not the best. Its not easy to tell when carbon is damaged. Catastrophic failure of carbon fibres is also nastier. That's why alu replaced wood in rims.
The biggest problem, however, with carbon is that is quite difficult to detect quality.

Let me quote Pat McQuaid from 2011

"Most of the bikes available today, in the professional peloton, the frames are made in China, by a just a couple of plants.

"And they're turning out thousands and thousands of these carbon fibre or Kevlar or whatever frames, at a cost of maybe $30 or $40 a piece, and that same bike is ultimately being sold as a bike on the market for four or five or six thousand Euros.

"Our problem is, this initial frame, of twenty or thirty or forty dollars, where are the safety aspects? Where are the safety parameters in the making [of that frame]? That's something we're going to have to address with the industry as we move on. We have to bear in mind the safety aspect of the sport. There's a whole change that has happened which is making racing less safe and causing more crashes."

There have been loads of problems with parts and frames in the pro-peleton. Given the current nervousness about sponsorship people just speak less about it.. but the problem did not go away...