its strong, light and looks pretty. but hit or scratch it and and you have had it. those mini seats look awsome and is a great example of where carbon can be used well. those spaces look pretty wicked too...always wondered if anybody made them. using carbon for chain tensioners, thats just daft. a nice lovely ti would would be pretty cool. they do.. trek project one for example. the mes effect you talk about is often simply a thin sheet of weaving purely there for cosmetics as underneat there can be different weave patterns, depending on production i.e trek inject their frames i believe hence the whispy effect on their 'nude' frames