My LBS has a demo day for the new Enduro and the Levo on Saturday, I have booked myself on to ride one of these bad boys.

On one hand I'm really looking forward to seeing what its capable of, on the other hand I think I'm going to have to hide my credit card...

Honestly it's an itch I need to scratch, I know I don't need a longer travel bike as my Stumpjumper Evo 29er just swallows everything I can throw at it and is far more capable than I am. I'm really hoping that the Enduro is a lot of fun on the descents but feels a bit compromised in general riding due to the longer travel. Otherwise I'm going to have to start a serious charm offensive on the missus!

Well the enduro is an absolute ripper! I wasn't a fan of the tyres, in those conditions they were just too slippery but the bike was hugely confidence inspiring. Nice and pointy for a big wheeler and damn fast with loads in reserve too. The big surprise for me was how capable it was on the climbs, it feels no different to my Stumpy going up which is very impressive considering how much more travel it has. Let the charm offensive start!

How much are they? I'll be looking to get a full suspension bike next year

That one was £3700 as its carbon fibre and a fairly high spec, the enduro starts at £2600 though.

Is carbon fibre a good choice for off roading?

Carbon fibre is a great choice for mountain bike frames. You can lay it up to make it stiff where it needs to be yet compliant enough to damp out unwanted vibrations. It can also be used to reinforce the frame to protect it from impact damage.

Most top level race bikes are carbon now, including downhill and Enduro World Series bikes where the chance of serious impact damage is very high.

What about cracking from crash damage?

What about it? If you crash hard enough to crack an aluminum frame then the chances are it will not be repairable due to its properties with regards to fatigue loads.

A well designed carbon frame will be stronger than an aluminum one and will resist impact damage better. If it is damaged in a crash then there are companies which will cut a section of the frame out and bond in a repair.

Road frames use as few layers of carbon fibre as possible to get it very lightweight, mountain bike frames are built up with much more material to get them as strong and stiff as possible. Weight is a secondary consideration for most mountain bikes, especially gravity oriented ones.

Road frames use as few layers of carbon fibre as possible to get it very lightweight, mountain bike frames are built up with much more material to get them as strong and stiff as possible. Weight is a secondary consideration for most mountain bikes, especially gravity oriented ones.

 

Ah ok, this was where my concerns were as I've heard a few stories about crash damaged road bikes.

Something to bear in mind with road bikes is that when they crash they're almost always going to hit a very hard surface and often at a high speed as well, they're also far more vulnerable to being hit by cars.  Mountain bikes on the other hand can obviously still hit something hard but a lot of the time they're likely to have a softer landing and put less stress on the frame, there's also much less chance of being hit by a car.  I'd also suspect that a higher percentage of road bikes are carbon than any other material when compared to mountain bikes where there's many other costs particularly with suspension so if a road bike is damaged there's a much higher chance it's carbon.

 

Although carbon fibre has a reputation for being weaker but I've never seen anything to suggest that's accurate and I've seen plenty broken steel and aluminium frames as well as carbon.  I think one issue with carbon is that there are some very cheap and nasty frames and parts out there, usually fakes of a major brand which look visibly fine but in reality are too weak and will break in normal use.

 

No interest in carbon myself, not enough benefit to just the cost for my use particularly as there's a good chance the frame will get damaged and at least an aluminium one is cheaper to replace.