Great Divide.....Carbon vs Titanium

[stever121051]

Ok!!  start the debate!!

Money is no object and you don't want to run steel on Great Divide.

So  which one do you choose Carbon frame   or Titanium??

thanks

Steve

[bakerjw]

I am building a TD bike and opted for carbon. Money was a factor to some degree.

[stever121051]

Baker,

So what is your frame of choice?

Also in your opinion carbon is less than titanium?

and do you prefer carbon?

Supposedly Mathew Lee rides carbon with Cannondale!

Thanks

Steve

[bakerjw]

I've never ridden on titanium but I hear that it is a great material. In everything where it is used, titanium always seems to bring top dollar.
Since I was building up a bike specifically for riding, not racing, the great divide route next Summer, I looked at a couple of different factors.
Price did come into play. I was originally looking at aluminum as they frames are cheap to find. About the cheapest that you can find a titanium frame for is $1,000 at a minimum.
Since the bike will be carrying gear in frame bags, exposed cable paths came into play as well. Some of the best looking frames that I found had cables running on the outside of the tubes.
Then of course there is weight. I am not the lightest rider and I will be carrying gear so I am trying to be a bit of a weight weenie on this build.

I was in my local bike shop (Piney Flats Bicycle and Fitness) and was discussing frames with them. At the time I was watching a Salsa Mamasita frame on E-Bay. It eventually went for a very good price and would have made a great frame. I was also looking at a Fezzari carbon frame (which came in at $1,000) as well as the Foundry Broadaxe carbon which can be found for around $1,000. My LBS checked and found me a Broadaxe Gen 1 frame for $780.00 so I went with that.

The frame weighs around 2.5 pounds and all of the control cables are routed through the frame. It is a bit more racy that might be preferred and I might end up picking up a different frame in the end, but it seemed to be a good fit for my needs. The deciding factor was the routing of the cables though.

[Area54]

Check out Muru cycles titanium frames (gratuitous plug). Aussie brand, the price is good and even better with AUD/USD conversion.

For me - titanium hands down. The material will put up with way more handling abuse over the long term (flights, train travel, stuff rubbing on it, back of pickups etc) than carbon. Plus the ti option gives you 29 or 29+, belt drive, rocker dropouts, rohloff flexibility to basically run whatever kind of setup you want now, or 5 years time. Future proof investment.

I like that carbon can be designed/engineered and laid up to match load cases for racing - but no-one yet seems to be designing and constructing a carbon frame to suit bikepacking/ultra-racing loads. So the stiffness they build in for racing purposes may be a hindrance for your bikepacking application. The only section of the market that is tuning their bike frame designs for 'packing and racing are the bigger fatbike brands, but moreso for snow racing/ITI/Arrowhead types.

[worntreads]

I'm going through this right now.  I do like the idea of ti for its longevity (especially after billy rices trans am run was cut short)
But then again I'm focusing on as fast as possible and all signs point to carbon for that, plus used carbon is everywhere and affordable. I feel that no matter what I do I'll choose wrong.

[offroute]

Ti.

On a budget I wouldn't hesitate to go CF, steel or alu. I think the material is a small part of the ride quality equation. You can ride any bike on the Divide. Think of what you're likely to continue using, and how easily it sets up for your local riding or trips beyond the Divide.

[SlowRide]

I rode carbon in the TD this year and loved it. With the wet weather TD destroyed a lot of bikes this year, I had no issues with mine other than a worn cog which got replaced when I got in to Steamboat(has nothing to do with bike material). As a testament, my Yeti ARCc now has almost 11,000 miles on it without issue, 5,500 miles of that were fully loaded with bikepacking gear. I beat the living heck out of this bike every day and it just keeps taking it. The only tip I would say to heed with carbon is to put a layer or two of electrical tape(or masking tape/helicopter tape or such) any place your bags will rub the frame.