In a word: No.
But you also don’t NEED an iPhone. Or 800 satellite TV channels. Or cars that go 150 mph. But once you have them for a while… it can be hard to live without them.
Carbon bikes have been around since the late 1970’s… and became a bit more available in the 1980s… then became fairly common in the 1990’s… and finally started becoming affordable and reliable enough in the 2000’s to become the defacto standard in mid to high-end road bikes.
And yet, well into the mid-2000’s, every major bicycle manufacturer was still making extremely high end aluminum road bikes… and many still do today… (as well as steel framed bikes… and titanium framed bikes).
The truth of the matter is that–depending on your skill LEVEL and your BUDGET–and the type of riding that you happen to be engaging in–carbon fiber may NOT be the best choice of frame material for you. In the pre-owned bicycle market there are still plenty of EXCELLENT used aluminum, steel, and titanium bikes out there that are easily as good–often better–than many of the carbon fiber bikes in the same price range.
Would you rather have a stock Toyota? Or a stock Porsche? Or a Toyota with a Porsche engine? or a Porsche with a Toyota engine? Because that’s kind of the same decision you need to make when buying a bike. If your budget is “x”… maybe you can get an aluminum bike with Dura Ace / SRAM Red / Campy Record components… or a carbon fiber bike with 105 / Rival / Athena components. The aluminum bike might have a slightly stiffer, buzzier ride… but shift and brake and spin flawlessly. And the carbon bike might have a smoother, more comfortable, ride… but shift a little rougher and stop a little weaker. But it’s virtually impossible to quantify one of those bikes as “better” than the other…. They’re just different.
Another thing to consider is the ecological impact of buying new anything when there are plenty of perfectly good pre-owned options to choose from. Because manufacturing a road bike–like manufacturing everything else–has a measurable impact on the environment. Steel, aluminum, titanium, carbon, rubber, etc–all have to be mined and extracted out of the earth and converted into usable commodities. The forging and assembling of the frames and components–not ot mention shippig them all over the planet–all require vast sums of energy–which means burning some type of fossil fuel. And all of the above + the retailing of the end products–all require large amounts of human labor at every step along the way.
Curiously, however, the vast majority of people who contact us say that they are looking for a carbon framed road bike–regardless of their skill level or budget. I think this is mainly a result of marketing from the big bicycle manufacturers… who would rather sell you a $2500+ carbon bike than a $1500+ aluminum bike–with the exact same components on them. But it’s impossible to know for sure where this quest for carbon is coming from. The bottom line is that most weekend warriors and casual riders don’t NEED a carbon fiber bike… they just want one. And if you can afford it… why not? And if you can’t–don’t have frame envy… just train your ass off on your aluminum bike and go blow the doors off all those rich guys on their fancy carbon bikes. 🙂
More food for thought on this topic:
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/cannondale-caad12-2016-first-look-44620/
http://2012.feltracing.com/USA/2012/TT-TRI/TT-TRI-Series/B16-.aspx
http://www.outsideonline.com/2062606/aluminum-making-bikes-affordable-again