Carbon or Titanium... the impossible choice.

[Lhatch4]

Steel and Ti are the only ways to go. I have an old Zaskar LE for sentimental value but it doesn't get ridden. My steel bike is probably ridden more than the titanium unless it's winter.

 

[Markybeau]

Can a carbon frame be repaired and trusted to the same degree as ti?

Would you?

 

[clubby]

Can a carbon frame be repaired and trusted to the same degree as ti?

Would you?

Yes. I’d trust a carbon repair done properly over a re-welded ti frame.
Been riding over 30 years. Off all the frames I’ve had, never had a problem with any of the carbon ones. I’ve broken steel and aluminium and I’ve bent a ti seatpost. Had to throw away one carbon seatpost but that was because of failure of the metal clamp components, not the carbon part.

Lots of the perceived problems with carbon are due to execution, not the material.
Consumers expect carbon to be the lightest and manufacturers follow. Road bikes especially get the thinnest possible cost of paint to save 50g, it’s no wonder they look scabby quickly.
Done properly, carbon can be laid up in various thicknesses for different results. With metal tubes, you have butting and tube shaping but it is a lot more difficult to achieve results similar to carbon.

It’s not the perfect material for every application. After seeing the way my friends carbon saddle rails snapped, I’d never buy a carbon tailed saddle. (To put it in perspective, he was 100kg at the time and put an xc saddle on a full suss bike, but the rails broke catastrophically and looked lethal in an area you don’t want penetrated!) I’ve still no problem using reputable carbon components though. I crashed my Ibis Mojo HD hard enough to break my collarbone, but the bike didn’t even have a scratch.