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styles of carbon frames

have found a bargain but says it has,"A Frame consisting of Carbon Tubes and Carbon lugs" how is this better/different/worse than a monocoque contruction? Thanks

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  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    In theory monocoque should be better as, as the name suggests, it is made in one piece and has no joints - joints = weakness. However some riders and designers prefer lugged carbon frames (tubes joined to specifically made joints or junctions, modern lugged frames use carbon lugs, older ones used aluminium alloy lugs). The pros of a lugged frame are : more sizes available/ability to get it custom made, more comfortable; the lugs acted as dampers, and it is thought that they were better built as muchof the old steel lugging expertise was transferred across to carbon lugging. The cons are ...those joints = weakness. The pros of the monocoque were that it had no joints, but the cons were they had to be overbuilt (it was a new technology and they erred on the side of caution - to avoid lawsuits) so were heavy and they were expensive. Today as a result of great advances in composite technology in terms of materials, tooling and engineering /build methods monocoques (isaac, cervelo et al) have taken the lead, but having said that great lugged carbon frames also are available. At the end of the day any post 2005 carbon frame will be good lugged or monocoque. I personally would go for the monocoque construction. WOW what an answer!
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