Hi everyone I've been doing my homework on framesets. I started looking at steel/carbon frames and alum/carbon frames. The steel/carbon frames are the Bianchi Virata, Fondriest Status Carb, Jamis Eclipe, Marin San Marino and the Orbea Ultrafoco Carbon. The alum/carbon frames are the Abici V1, Fondriest Carb level, Fuji Team issue, Jamis Comet, and the Salsa Canpeon. Tough choice, also found a Look KG461 too. What to do? Thanks for any input.

Rick

check out the van dessel. al/c at 600.00 its a great bargin. i have an eclipse and this frame is sooo much better in everything, maybe will not last like steel. im 220 and 6-3, though i didn't get the alpha fork and went with look hsc3. colavittan was racing until this year on it now they have felts. its light 16.5, climbs well is much stiffer, al and wishbone, and yet is smooth. carbon fork and stays. good luck.

check out the van dessel. al/c at 600.00 its a great bargin. i have an eclipse and this frame is sooo much better in everything, maybe will not last like steel. im 220 and 6-3, though i didn't get the alpha fork and went with look hsc3. colavittan was racing until this year on it now they have felts. its light 16.5, climbs well is much stiffer, al and wishbone, and yet is smooth. carbon fork and stays. good luck.

I'm going for the Fondriest Status Carb, frame weight is 2.8 lbs for a 54cm. Going to build it up with Campy Centaur 10spd. with proton wheel set.
Thanks
Rick

Easy,jamis eclipse hands down. Ready to go out of the box and it doesnt need anything but the engin.

all I can say is that I am very happy with my Buenos Aires, but I have no experience to make comparisons with those other frames...

I cant find a Jamis Eclipse to look at, I do hear thier great. I saw a Raliegh Al-carbon bike at the Chicago Bike show and that was some great looking bike. Tommasini also makes Al-carbon and steel-carbon frames.

It has steel head tube, down tube and chainstays, mated with carbon top tube, seat tube and seat stays. One difference between the Jamis and the LeMond (aside from the Jamis being built in Taiwan and the LeMonds being built in Wisconsin) is that they have a steel lug at the junction of the carbon tubes, where the LeMonds use a carbon lug like on the Trek carbon bikes (same carbon...). That design is really nice, the best of both worlds. In fact, the TI versions we sell, the Victoire and Tete de Course, are especially sweet riding. Very responsive, smooth, stiff. They took sales away from our Litespeed line last year (and it's starting again this year too).

Bob

It has steel head tube, down tube and chainstays, mated with carbon top tube, seat tube and seat stays. One difference between the Jamis and the LeMond (aside from the Jamis being built in Taiwan and the LeMonds being built in Wisconsin) is that they have a steel lug at the junction of the carbon tubes, where the LeMonds use a carbon lug like on the Trek carbon bikes (same carbon...). That design is really nice, the best of both worlds. In fact, the TI versions we sell, the Victoire and Tete de Course, are especially sweet riding. Very responsive, smooth, stiff. They took sales away from our Litespeed line last year (and it's starting again this year too).

Bob

I see very little similarities between the bikes. There designs are very different. The Lemond is a very out of the box design. Ingenuitive, having a lower steel spine and a upper carbon monocoque cockpit.
The Jamis is more like a steel lugged carbon bike. I too is unique, in that it tries to retain the steel feel of the bike while reducing weight, and killing some road noise. The Jamis looks like and old school bike with a new twist, the Lemond seems like a whole new step. Whether the splin design construction continues (probably not) will be answered by the publics acceptance and other producers copying Lemonds ideas (S-works Tarmac is the only other bike that I can think of that is using this concept.)

It has steel head tube, down tube and chainstays, mated with carbon top tube, seat tube and seat stays. One difference between the Jamis and the LeMond (aside from the Jamis being built in Taiwan and the LeMonds being built in Wisconsin) is that they have a steel lug at the junction of the carbon tubes, where the LeMonds use a carbon lug like on the Trek carbon bikes (same carbon...). That design is really nice, the best of both worlds. In fact, the TI versions we sell, the Victoire and Tete de Course, are especially sweet riding. Very responsive, smooth, stiff. They took sales away from our Litespeed line last year (and it's starting again this year too).

Bob

I see very little similarities between the bikes. There designs are very different. The Lemond is a very out of the box design. Ingenuitive, having a lower steel spine and a upper carbon monocoque cockpit.
The Jamis is more like a steel lugged carbon bike. I too is unique, in that it tries to retain the steel feel of the bike while reducing weight, and killing some road noise. The Jamis looks like and old school bike with a new twist, the Lemond seems like a whole new step. Whether the splin design construction continues (probably not) will be answered by the publics acceptance and other producers copying Lemonds ideas (S-works Tarmac is the only other bike that I can think of that is using this concept.)

I have one it rides great. Stiff bottom bracket but also has a nice comfortable ride. Overall I have absolutely no complaints about the bike and would buy it again in a minute; the look is a bit out of the ordinary. The price is much better than when I bought mine in 2002.

Easy,jamis eclipse hands down. Ready to go out of the box and it doesnt need anything but the engin.

I second the Eclipse. I can't find anything on mine that needs an upgrade . . and I never see anybody with my bike. You should be able to find a 2004 version for a good deal. Try Performance.

The Orbea Spirit (steel) w. Columbus Muscle CF seatstays is the one I'd pick.

but i'd definitely vote for steel, if you aren't shooting for a 15 lb bike, i think steel is the best all around experience for riding. and I can recommend lemond--don't own but have ridden them.
expensive: loved my pinarello opera (EOM 16.5 with carbon stays) which i had to sell.
possible bargain: moser tk1 (zero HT) which you can still find NOS occassionally
at www.repartocorse.com : coppi genius carbon (columbus genius tubing with carve stays)--has good feel and pretty light for steel.

have heard good things about the fondriest status and status carb.

have fun deciding
jim

Status Carb for a year now, the EOM 16.5 is one of the best riding steel around. I love the
way it handles going down hill (faster). The carbon seat stays with the carbon fork really
help dampen the road vibration. Can't complain about the weigh 17.9 lbs, it's the riders fault it can't go up hill faster :( Have a good ride Rick :)

Hi everyone I've been doing my homework on framesets. I started looking at steel/carbon frames and alum/carbon frames. The steel/carbon frames are the Bianchi Virata, Fondriest Status Carb, Jamis Eclipe, Marin San Marino and the Orbea Ultrafoco Carbon. The alum/carbon frames are the Abici V1, Fondriest Carb level, Fuji Team issue, Jamis Comet, and the Salsa Canpeon. Tough choice, also found a Look KG461 too. What to do? Thanks for any input.

Rick

can't complain about it at all. best handling bike i've ever been on. it's scandium, and it rides much better than regular old aluminum. very stiff, very light, paint is very durable, very smooth feeling, and...well, just an all around nice ride. i swapped bikes with a guy so i could try his carbon blingcycle, and he gave me back my bike and said: "you can't buy a better bike than this, (refering to my salsa), you can buy a different bike, but not a better one."