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Should you choose a steel, aluminium, titanium or carbon road bike? April 2021Your complete guide to bike frame materials — Should you choose carbon, steel, aluminium, titanium?
If you’re shopping for a new road bike, you’ll be inundated with choice, which can make choosing the right bike for you a tricky decision. There are many factors you can use to filter the choice, from price, specification, style of riding, brand allegiance or even colour.
Sometimes the choice can come down to the material the bicycle frame is made from. There are four common materials used to build road bikes: steel, aluminium, titanium and carbon fibre and the material can influence the ride and purpose of the bike, so it's good to know the key differences before you make a decision.
>> Buying your first road bike — everything you need to know
For some people, the material choice is just as important as the list of equipment and the price tag, with different materials suited to different types of riding. The frame is the heart of your new road bike and it's where the majority of the budget goes, and the material can play a big part in that, so it pays to choose wisely.
>> road.cc Bike of the Year 2020/21
Here's a look at the key attributes of each material to help you make the right choice.
Aluminium
Aluminium is the most common material and it's used primarily for road bikes at the affordable end of the price range. It's ideal for bike frames as it provides a stiff and light frame. For a long time aluminium frames have been unfairly branded as providing a harsh and uncomfortable ride, but stiffness is a function of its design - the latest aluminium frames dispel the harshness myth and offer smooth rides.
While aluminium might be reserved for entry-level bikes by most of the big brands, there are plenty of premium options so don't discount it just because it's used for entry-level road bikes. Just take a look at the super light Kinesis Aethein (pictured below) or the Trek Emonda ALR as examples of the potential for high-end performance aluminium.
It's fair to say aluminium is enjoying a resurgence of interest at the moment. Some manufacturers have been pushing the material to achieve impressively lightweight frames, and smart consumers are realising that you get a lot of performance, and equipment, for your money. Just take the iconic Cannondale CAAD13 (and previously CAAD10 and CAAD12) as an example, and there are plenty of others. For value for money, aluminium is tough to beat.
Buy aluminium because you’re on a budget or you want a light and stiff frame for racing, or you want the best specification for your money.
Read more: The best aluminium road bikes
Steel
In years gone by steel was the only frame material choice so buying a new bike was relatively easy. Steel still has a place in this day and age, it is famed for its smooth ride, which is why touring and Audax cyclists still lean towards it, but the latest steel tubesets have given birth to renewed interest in high-performance steel road bikes and even for racing, as the Madison-Genesis proved a couple of years ago with the Volare 953. Steel isn’t used by large scale manufacturers these days, but the fact it is easy to work with has made it the material of choice for the UK’s burgeoning bespoke industry. If you want a customised frame, steel is a good option.
Steel tube manufacturers, such as Columbus and Reynolds, thankfully haven’t given up on steel, and in fact, the opposite has happened, they've been investing in new tubesets. The latest steel tubesets which include the latest stainless offerings, are now lighter and stiffer than anything Eddy Merckx used to race, and a viable alternative to carbon and aluminium.
Buy steel because you want a bespoke frame or favour a smooth ride quality and don’t mind a bit of extra weight.
Read more: The best steel road bikes and frames
Titanium
Titanium is a highly desirable material due to its fabled ride quality, supple and bump-absorbing. It's also lighter than steel, stronger than aluminium and its anti-corrosive properties and the fact the surface can be polished means it should last a lifetime, helping to offset the high price tag the material still commands, though it's nothing like as expensive as it used to be a couple of decades ago.
Titanium can be used to build a high-performance race bike, and we've ridden some good examples over the years, but it’s often reserved for sporty Audax and year-round bikes, designed to promote comfort for long distance cycling with or without luggage, and it's currently undergoing a renaissance as a material for gravel bikes like the Van Nicholas Rowtag below.
Most titanium frames are made from 3Al-2.5V tubing (where titanium is alloyed with 3% aluminium and 2.5% vanadium) and 6Al-4V, a harder grade of titanium, is seen on much more expensive framesets. Because it’s hard and expensive to make 6Al-4V into seamless tubes, it’s often used for machined parts like dropouts and head tubes.
Buy titanium because you want a bike to last a lifetime and value the light weight and smooth ride.
Read more: Terrific titanium: the loveliest titanium road bikes we've ridden
Carbon fibre
For many cyclists, there is no choice other than carbon fibre. It’s the dominant material in the racing world, it’s the lightest and stiffest of the four frame materials, but it can also be the most expensive. That said, frame prices have dropped dramatically in recent years and you can now buy a carbon bike for not much more than a grand.
Carbon is the most flexible of the materials and offers designers huge scope to tailor the way the bike rides, they also aren’t limited by tube shape, with aero road bikes being a good example of this versatility, like this Trek Madone.
Carbon fibre frames aren't all equal, though. There's a huge difference between cheap and expensive carbon fibre, down to the type of fibres used, how it's manufactured and other important factors that make a big impact. Carbon fibre can be relatively easily manipulated by designers to create frames with the particular balance of properties they want, whether that's low weight, comfort, stiffness.
Buy carbon if you want the lightest and stiffest road bike money can buy, or because you want to go aero
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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49 comments
Just as I was weighing my options, this article pops up again.
Should I get a mason resolution or go down the carbon route? Not doing any ultra-distance stuff, just plain and simple road bike training on tarmac and a lot of climbing. Is carbon worth the dough?
The mason bikes bikes look good, the van rysal is great valve. Decathlon stuff is good, but I fly the flag for Halfords too. Not being turned off by larger companies and badges. Decathlon have developed and in the past supplied pro teams.
If just enjoying the ride try a few, materials, guess frame and wheels are the starting point. Check out Epic cycles, they have a few popular brands, some British, with wheel up grades.
For climbing - probably carbon has both a weight and aero advantage. You wont get a non-carbon bike as light as a carbon framed one for the same price. The 105 resolution is 8.9kg and £2.8k, and a super six evo is £3k and over 1.5kg lighter and probably more aero too.
I suspect the Resolution has a lot more soul, depends if you skew more towards the pleasure of scoring achievements on your bike versus the sheer pleasure of owning and riding the thing. Head vs heart and all that.
I'd probably agonise and lean toward the Resolution and making sure I poo'd before a ride but you probably didnt need to know that.
Aero designed frames will offer you ZERO advantage when climbing because the speed is to low to take advantage of aero shapes. Lightweightness is great for climbing though. So do you want to climb well? then get a less expensive aluminum bike and don't worry about the aeroness that CF can provide.
I have seen quite a few Aluminum bikes that for the money were actually lighter in weight then a similar priced CF bike. There are CF bikes out there that weigh 20 pounds, there are steel bikes out that weigh 13.5 pounds, so to say that CF is the lightest material isn't true, it's only true to a point as the price tilts toward the upper mid range and higher. That is why aluminum is a great deal.
However neither the AL bike nor especially the CF bike is a lifetime frame, if you want a bike to last a lifetime, then steel or titanium is the way to go, but TI is expensive. If CF breaks on you it will be sudden without warning and be catastrophic, if a AL bike breaks on you it won't be sudden nor catastrophic; however CF, AL, TI, and some steel bikes will come with CF forks, so in todays world you can't avoid CF forks entirely.
I do know of sob stories, I had a friend who was riding with his club, and something broke, no one was sure if the fork broke, a wheel broke, or maybe part of the frame, he went down hard and the bike broke into pieces and he was in a coma for 3 weeks, and he can't recall what happened, this was last year and he's still not riding, not sure if he ever will. Another guy was heading towards me when suddenly I saw him nearly go over the handlebars when he crashed into a row of bushes, other than scratches he was fine, but the his CF handlebar broke in two, it could have been a lot worse. The bike shop head mechanic is in his late 50's, he has seen more broken CF bikes than any other material he's dwelt with since he was a teenager mechanic. So, yes, there is more broken CF bikes than the industry wants people to know about.
I have a lot of saved websites about problems with CF, if you want me to post them I can.
CF, AL, TI, and some steel bikes will come with CF forks, so in todays world you can't avoid CF forks entirely
I was a little concerned about this when I bought my Ti Merlin in 2002. However, the CF forks still look fine
Pretty much all steel and Ti bikes have carbon fibre forks these days, at least if they have disc brakes.
Surlys have steel forks, of course.
There are others available out there.
Not normal these days, and would require money and effort.
Heavier, mind. But may have more lugs and bolt holes. Can be vibration absorbing and there is more confidence around longevity. As long as the insides are treated though.
I'm thinking of a Surly Bridge Club frame/fork as the start of my next build. I've only ever bought ready built bikes and am close to the max limit on the aluminium ones I have now. No way I'd touch carbon as I'm very heavy and it would be an e-bike conversion.
I've got so many cycling friends who have 'carbon sob stories' I think I'll give it a miss; leave it to the pros who can just get another bike handed to them.
OTIO
I don't know anybody with a sob story about carbon. Cracked aluminium frame yes but carbon no. I bought my first carbon framed mtb from Koga Miyata (Skyrunner) in 1995. I put over 20000km on it, practically all off-road and many rides in really rough terrain in the Alps and rockies. I sold it in 2003 and, two weeks ago, met the person who bought it and they are still riding it. I rode my 1999 Colnago C40 for 17 years and replaced it with a C60 and never regretted for a second getting either. I sold the C40 to someone who reported back that they were amazed at the ride quality compared with their previous bikes.
Last year I decided to try a gravel bike and titanium was the only material I had not tried (Genesis Croix de Fer Tl) and so far really pleased with it. A bike made with any of the 4 mentioned materials can be dangerous if poorly constructed but aluminium is the only material that I have seen become dangerous with age.
I'll give a Carbon sniffle story. My one and only Carbon bike has chipped to buggery, everywhere top tube, chain stay, down tube. Not sure if its the carbon or just the paint/finish. What I do know is that its the 2nd newest and worst used looking of my bikes. YMMV of course.
Carbon or good columbus steel for me, I don't do titanium, don't like the ride.
Agree with the ride from titanium, too soft seems to absorb all bumps and all effort put in. I can see why people like it but not for me. Guess it is really comfy for a trip. But I would go with steel.
It's not the material that dictates the "feel" of a frame. You can build overly stiff titanium frames, carbon frames that fold like paper, or aluminium frames that ride like clouds **
As always, this is worth a look from someone that knows the odd bit about bicycle frames
https://www.madegood.com/mike-burrows/#one
** probably not actually clouds.
I'm often surprised by how good my Alu bike feels to ride, vs a newer carbon frame. Lively, zingy feel.
A well designed and built frame will feel great whether its metal or carbon.
A much bigger determinant of how a bike feels is geometry, yet you hardly ever see anyone ask about that.
having ridden varieties of Al, Steel, Carbon, at different levels of quality, I can easily say Carbon for me on and off road, with Al second for cheapness.
David Arthur,
given that Dave Atkinson just created a stunning example of one, what about bamboo?
Steel or aluminum frame, with a round seat tube all the way to the bottom bracket without any front derailleur attachment so I can install a big 46 or even 44 triple chainring in it.
After reading many articles, and their comments, like this, I have learned one thing for sure; no matter what frame material you have chosen, that choice proves you are a genius. People that have made the same choice as you are also geniuses. Everyone else is an idiot.
I treated myself to a Passoni last year. It is simply the best bike I have or ever will own
IMG_5477.JPG
I don't ge the bit about non-durability of carbon frames. I've had more steel frames break (2) from fatigue, irreparably damaged due to crashes (2), and more aluminium frames irreparably damaged due to crash (2) than I have lost carbon frames to fatigue (0) or crash damage (1). Carbon frames have been shown to have almost no measurable fatigue life, and are very repairable, whereas Aluminium's achilles heel is that it has an almost non-existent young's modulus, so work hardens badly, and steel, although tough dents readily; and I know of more titanium frames sent back under warranty for breakage (poor welding) than (per capita) any other frame material. Personally the bike I've loved the most is my current carbon frame, and the next best was a Ti MTB frame from the 90's. In my experience, carbon is as durable, and more repairable than the other materials. To all intents and purposes Al is irreparable, and Ti shockingly expensive to repair.
I could quote almost the opposite, it comes down to personal experience and preferences.
Shame Cielo has stopped making bikes
Somebody above has already mentioned it, but the only bike you can love is your titanium one.
But I love all my bikes - 1 carbon and 2 aluminium.
Hummm... is that cos i don't own a Ti bike yet
?
I'll just leave this here -
http://wittson.com/handmade-titanium-frames/titanium-road-race-frame-set...
The current object of my lunchtime lustings!
The only one of my bikes which I come close to "loving" is a steel tandem, and that is because of the fantastic memories I have from touring with my wife.
The Ti bikes are nice, but not the same level of attachment.
Like (almost) everybody else go for the "at least one of each"
- Aluminium, cheapest option for an everyday bike, although these old Principia frames might feel rather stiff. Such frames can be found s/h at 200 quid.
- Steel, modern frames offer a good balance between comfort and power transfer thanks to tube design combined with a carbon fork a frame set is about 2.2 kg, which is almost one kg lighter than the old frame sets with steel fork. Current project will be based on a Condor Fratello steel frame.
- Carbon for lightness, comfort and image
(city cycling is not about going fast - but looking good!)
- Titanium for the winter cross bike, compfy, robust. And if you divide the cost by the years of use this 2006 Kocmo is a clear winner!
I wote for aluminium! They can look as good as carbon frames.
Often people are asking me if my Cannondale (CAAD10) is carbon.
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