Carbon frame cracked - steel/ti recommendations

Hi all,
In a road race tonight I clipped the wheel of the rider in front, I managed to stay upright but the rider behind me cycled into me. My rear mech hanger snapped but on closer inspection my top tube is cracked. I am gutted to say the least, my storck fenomalist gone.
Anyways, to make a long story longer, I am now very very reluctant to reinvest in a carbon frame as the impact appeared to be minimal but frame now damaged beyond repair. I am considering a custom built stainless steel or a ti frame. Has anyone any experience of racing on an 953/xcr frame? How does it compare to carbon as in responsiveness??
Anybody any recommendations of frames or builders I should consider?? This frame would only be used for racing so reasonably lightweight and responsive would be a priority over comfort. A moots vamoots rsl seems to tick those boxes but the cost is prohibitive. Thanks for taking time to read

I have never personally ridden a ti framed bike, but a lot of people round my way use this guy; http://burls.co.uk/index.php

Frames always look awesome, strong and light.

Justin burls is a thoroughly nice chap too, and really knows his stuff, saw him out on the road once and he dropped me up a big hill.

I am now very very reluctant to reinvest in a carbon frame as the impact appeared to be minimal but frame now damaged beyond repair. I am gutted to say the least, my storck fenomalist gone.

They don't do crash amnesty / replacement?

Have you considered a more 'disposable' alternative, such as a CAAD10 frame for racing?

Unless you're really oddly shaped and require custom just get "throw-away" alu. Save the posh stuff for your Sunday cruising bike and beat the shit out of a cheap Kinesis or something.

Imagine crashing a custom build.. not only would you cry it'd take yonks to get a replacement built.

They don't do crash amnesty / replacement?

Have you considered a more 'disposable' alternative, such as a CAAD10 frame for racing?

I have emailed storck to see if offer a crash replacement scheme but I'm prob still looking at a sizeable investment to get a replacement.

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/madison-genesis-volare-953-first-look-36202/

953 race bike. Although I'd agree with ^^, I'd also guess that weeny carbon might not be suitable for racing.

Personal preference would be for Canyon, who are doing a decent sale at the moment, have excellent carbon and alu options, have a great crash replacement policy, and used to give you a discount as a 'sponsored rider' if you were racing on it.

Unless you're really oddly shaped and require custom just get "throw-away" alu. Save the posh stuff for your Sunday cruising bike and beat the shit out of a cheap Kinesis or something.

Imagine crashing a custom build.. not only would you cry it'd take yonks to get a replacement built.

My crash last night had very little impact, I clipped wheel infront or me and another rider cycled into the back of me, I managed to stay upright but it still resulted in a cracked top tube. Steel or ti should with stand such an impact. My reasoning for 953,or ti is that it would have to be fairly serious smash to wreck a frame. A safer/more long term investment than carbon???

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/madison-genesis-volare-953-first-look-36202/

953 race bike. Although I'd agree with ^^, I'd also guess that weeny carbon might not be suitable for racing.

Personal preference would be for Canyon, who are doing a decent sale at the moment, have excellent carbon and alu options, have a great crash replacement policy, and used to give you a discount as a 'sponsored rider' if you were racing on it.

I had seen the genesis race team were on 953 and that's partly what got me thinking along those lines. Nearly bought canyon when I bought the storck so might have a look at their alu frames and not have to worry about having an expensive frame under my arse while racing!!@

I have emailed storck to see if offer a crash replacement scheme but I'm prob still looking at a sizeable investment to get a replacement.

They do, you get a discount on a new frame. Not sure if they vary the discount but I got 30 to 35% off if I can remember and that was when the frame was on the roof of a car and got caught in a tree!

Other option is getting the frame repaired, if its a crack then it could be possible. Try carbon frame repairs, they will give you an honest answer. When I sent mine to him he looked at it and told me he only does repairs if he would be happy for his daughter to ride it afterwards. Mine was so bad that he wouldn't do it but it had a 1cm gap 3/4 of the way round the downtube.

Are you sure the top tube wasn't already cracked? If you didn't even go down it sounds like a very suspect crack. I've binned numerous carbon bits quite hard and not as yet had an issue like this.

Ultralight frame? Manufacturing fault? Was it ever dropped onto an edge? It just doesn't sound like the kind of crash that could break a top tube unless there was already something wrong.

I'm thinking of doing some of the Crystal Palace crits, and for the very reason you started this thread I'm going to pick up an old Allez or similar.

I also suspect that this might make me less of a point-and-laugh target as I get annhilated on the first lap.

It's is a very very light frame, but it was never dropped or anything like that, last night was the first bit of hardship it has ever seen. It was minded like a baby.

Got pics? Are you sure you didn't connect the top tube with anything else? Someone's bars? Anyway, that's Storck off my Christmas list :)

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https://www.dropbox.com/sc/csr1qltyw9qepkc/Z5TpgCzdyh
Hope this works

Dov's Bianchi cracked after it fell over- anecdote for sure, but shows that it can happen.

That looks like a skewer impact or something of similar size.
Swing your bars around - do they come close to the impact point on the top tube?

I had mine repaired.Carbon is not that difficult to fix by someone who knows what they are doing.The repair section can actually be made stronger than the rest of the bike by adding additional layers.Biggest problem is to get the paint to match.

CAAD10 at £1400 or Giant TCR SL2 at £1249?