Before you purchase a road bike, it's important first to determine your riding style, goal, and budget. If you've already bypassed the most common bike frames – the steel and aluminum types, and don't have the budget to get a titanium or hybrid bike frame, then you might want to consider the carbon fiber-made bike. Although the market is filled with many types of bikes in various designs, a carbon bike is an excellent choice for road or track riding.

Great importance and emphasis should be given to the bike frame material to get the best quality and comfortable riding experience from whatever road surface a rider decides to take. As each type of frame material has its distinct pros and cons, and so will behave and perform differently and uniquely. In this article, we'll take a closer look at the Carbon Fiber biker, or Carbon Bike, compared to the other bike types.

Today's many bike makers make use of a non-metallic material called carbon fiber because of its impressive qualities in producing and designing lighter, stronger, and corrosion-resistant bike frames. More expensive than conventional steel and aluminum bike frames, it can be customized and molded into any desirable shape, fine tune its tube strength vertically and compliant laterally, or vice versa to absorb heavy pedaling forces. This feature is not found with other metal bike frames and can only be done with a carbon fiber bike.

A carbon fiber bike is the frame of choice for many bike enthusiast and racers. Stronger and lighter than steel and aluminum, a well-built carbon fiber bike offers greater increase in performance on the road or track. Custom-built carbon bike frames can be designed with individual tubes stronger in either lateral or a vertical direction; a characteristic absent in other metal frames, for optimum stiffness and flexibility to fit a rider's riding demands.

The only disadvantages of a carbon bike are fatigue and damage issues associated with long-time and prolonged use and from crashes and mishandling. The resin that holds the tubes together makes for a very stiff adhesive that isn't really able to handle severe over flexing or bending of the tubes. This characteristic makes it prone to structural failure resulting in a complete breakdown of the bicycle frame, thus giving it a much lower fatigue life, and thus a shorter lifespan.

Getting a carbon bike for whatever riding goals are on your agenda is relatively easy to achieve with all the brands being sold in the market nowadays, online or from your local bicycle shop. Just remember to choose the model that fits your needs and size, and you'll surely be biking in pleasure for a long time.