Trying To Get And Understand Frame Information About The Tubes And Bike As A Whole.

[mtnbikerva1]

I am in the market for a bike. I want to be thorough and educated about my big purchase!
But trying to find ownership and long term reviews has not been productive to this point.
Also all this hype but no common understand of description and comparisons between one frames material and another is quite frustrating and time consuming to this point. I would like to know the actual apples to apples comparison of say trek 600 to 700 OCLV materials and also s-works materials , Pinarellos, looks, colnagos... I do not know how to quantify it and compare real world meaning of what the name on the bike equals to riding a bicycle of one name to compare let alone different names/companies bicycles to each other.
It reminds me of listening to most politicians at the end you feel like you have waisted your time.
Also 99% of the population, we do not have 9/10 of these high end bikes to ride, let alone in a side by side comparison.

 

[oldbobcat]

So much material that goes into a bike now is proprietary or a trade secret that objective comparison based on materials is practically futile. Is the Toray T1100 carbon used in a Dogma F8 better than Trek's OCLV 7? And what about the stuff the BMC spins itself? And then consider the tube joining techniques, tube-to-tube (also called tack and wrap), lugged, and modular monocoque. And then consider the resins that bond the carbon layers within a component and then the ones that bond the components together. And consider that most manufacturers use a blend of different materials in each frame, depending on size and application.

And it changes every couple of years.

Anybody's best plan is to determine your price range and research it, based on fit, ride, brand reputation, and value.

And in case you're thinking about a time and place where you could objectify frame construction, outside of some super-lightweight steel tube sets, that existed mostly in magazine ads and internet discussion groups. Top riders based their choices on fit, ride, the builder's reputation, and often, availability. Or they simply rode what their sponsors gave them.