In reply to Lord_ash2000:
Here's my two cents, in support of aluminium.
1) It's cheaper, you will be able to afford nicer wheels and groupset for the budget. Nicer wheels will make a big difference to how it feels. Getting it under 8kg and without compromising on frame stiffness is possible (though maybe discs change that..).
2) You won't notice the difference performance wise. When I was racing, some of my best results were on a PlanetX aluminium frame. I also did hill and flat TT efforts, and compared my performance on that, and my Giant TCR (carbon), and found no difference. Some people say aluminium gives a "harsh ride feel" whatever that means, but I've never had an issue with it, and suspect it to be bike industry marketing twoddle.
3) As cycling isn't your sole obsession, aluminium has the benefit of being a) more robust to knocks, and b) cheaper to replace if you do crash and destroy the frame.
I got out of the obsessing-about-bikes game about 4 years ago, so this may be out of date, and I have no idea how disc brakes factor into the above (or why they are even necessary on a road bike ). I recall the MODA frames were pretty nice for the money, and stiffer at the back than a PlanetX or similar.
J
Post edited at 09:28