Carbon Vs Aluminium | What's The Difference?

The majority of popular mountain bike frames are made of one of two materials, carbon fibre, or aluminium. There are of course pros and cons to both materials, including strength and durability, weight, price, features and compliance. Neil and Rich saddle up on Canyon Spectrals, one carbon and one aluminium, to discuss the differences between the ride characteristics and practicalities of both of the frame materials on offer.

⏱ Timestamps ⏱
00:00 - Intro
00:24 - Price and Costing
02:01 - Comfort & Feel
05:01 - Bike Weight
05:39 - Frame Stiffness
07:08 - Durability
8:52 - How Does That Translate To The Ride?

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What material is your frame made out of? Why did you choose it? Let us know in the comments! 👇

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[nucleardwarf]

5 to 10 years for an aluminium What are you doing to it Rich, whacking it with a hammer every time you ride?

[Frorideism]

The main difference, in fact, is that they are not the same material.

[Shralps]

Had a quick search. This is the 7th Carbon vs Aluminium video GMBN has done.

[WaechterDerNacht]

Let's be honest: most people buy carbon bikes because they have the budget and because they look clean without weld lines.
To justify the expense to themselves they talk themselves into believing they feel the difference despite spending too much time in their office chair and not enough on the bikes...

[peterdewey]

I would rather have an aluminium frame with top end components and also save myself a few hundred pounds which can go back into suspension service and riding kit.

[markgeorge]

I don't know what aluminium these guys are riding but being a mechanic for over 30 yrs I've seen aluminium bikes last as much as 20years and carbon crack in less than 5. True, carbon has gotten better but aluminium is tried, tested and proven.

[rinky_dinky]

I've ridden steel hardtails for the first 7 years of my MTB journey, this is my 8th year and i came into a bit of money and got myself a brand new santa cruz nomad, can't say i can feel the carbon since its all suspension, but i love it .

[benjy]

Only 5 to 10 years from an alloy frame? who told you that?

[CyberneticArgumentCreator]

Wait - did you just say aluminum lasts as little as 5 years while carbon fiber lasts 20? Maybe in a garage, but attrition has eaten most of the carbon fiber bikes from less than 20 years ago and meanwhile half the bikes on the road today are aluminum ones from 12+ years ago.

[Bluntbdx]

This is just my humble opinion : If you can afford to have 2 mountain bikes -> One XC type of bike (full sus or hardtail) with carbon frame, so light and stiff - and the 2nd one more trail or enduro in aluminium, a bit heavier but with more flex (full sus or course). That's quite a budget but at least you can do racing with one and go in the alps with the other.

[bitumen]

1:38 problem here is that a decent amount of bike companies dont make high spec alu models, but only high end carbon models.
Basically they want you to buy top end models or expensive ones...

[outsidefootdab]

He is not clear on it. But he is talking about gradual stressing of the alloy over time. Micro tears that eventually fail. Carbon doesn't really get that because of the material properties but a very hard impact could get a sudden catastrophic fail.

[nickpethan]

My bikes have been slowly been going back to alloy. I don’t hold on to a bike for probably more than 5 years. Saves me money to sink upgrades into the bike, especially carbon wheels. I’ve seen no performance decreases when switching back to an alloy frame, but I did see an improvement when switching to carbon wheels

[gemshiddenhistories]

My first thought when Rich said aluminum frames last only 5-10 years was "He doesn't know what he's talking about." as I have two aluminum bikes from the 1980's and 1990's that are still going strong. But then I realized that the way Klein and Cannondale made frames back then is totally different than how they are made now. Then they took oversized tubes of 6061 aluminum and specially welded them into frames. Now with hydro-forming, the aluminum is stretched and thinned and shaped before welding, leading to some very thin walled sections, something the old aluminum frames didn't have. I can see how they would fatigue and possibly crack at those thin sections with only 5 to 10 years of riding.

[DerKaktusAvant]

You know what carbon is? A fashion statement. I still use my 10 year old YT Capra (fully aluminium apart from the upper section of the rear triangle), and guarantee I will still send it harder than all these other guys on their fancy carbon bikes.

It’s like 1kg heavier than the carbon bikes, it doesn’t explode on its first drop, no stupid £500 29inch rims that fold on a slight bump, and it’s been with me round the world. Never getting a new bike unless it snaps.

[TheSamwhyte]

I do most riding up Scottish mountains. Occasional (big) tumbles happen.
Aluminium frames bend or dent and I can ride down - CF breaks and I’m lugging the thing home.
AL all day.

[lisapet]

For most of us, especially in case of MTB, the difference is in price and frame longevity.

[ASOMAX]

I am a newer rider who did buy into the carbon hype after compulsively obsessing over bikes n parts etc for my first 2 years. I ended up with a Pivot 429 (alloy wheels) purchased from a friend. The bike is great and the Pivot frames are top notch. They only produce carbon frames. That said I could have easily saved $1, 000 and still ended up with a bike I’d probably enjoy just as much. Oh well..

[rethridermtb]

As a larger rider I used to think that carbon fiber mountain bikes weren't durable enough, so I didn't even consider it, but after cracking the frame (no crashes involved) multiple times, I switched to carbon fiber and haven't had a frame failure since. That was about 8 years ago.

[deividas_kimontas]

I love my Vitus Sommet in carbon! 🔥 Had it for 3years and not a single problem with the frame! It's such a playful bike, running it on 27.5 Assegai tyres! 🤘