Colorado Kid

I just bought a new/used bike with a Carbon Fiber Fork. Given all the bad news about CF. then passed few years, should I replace the fork with a steel one or not?

Colorado Kid

I know that many commuters have replaced their C.F. bikes with Steel or Alum. I have a new/used bike with just the folk that is Carbon Fiber. Should I replace folk with steel or Alum.?

Trakhak

Funny - I was just thumbing through an old Quality Bicycle Products catalog today, not having looked at it since the 1990's, and stopped at the page showing road bike forks. The catalog was from before the era of aluminum or carbon steerers. Depending on the models, the differences in weight between the carbon forks and the aluminum forks ranged from 15 to 0 grams. The steel forks were quite a bit heavier.

If you're determined to replace it, either steel or aluminum would probably be fine. Some people believe that steel forks give a pleasanter ride, but I've never been able to tell any difference, and I've owned maybe 15 high-end steel racing bikes (including one with an aluminum fork) and several aluminum racing bikes, two with aluminum forks. For what it's worth, my favorite race bike has an aluminum frame and fork.

It would probably be a good idea to determine the rake of your present fork, as well as the length of the steerer tube, before buying a replacement. And the fork should be compatible with the bike's front brake and wheel, obviously.

Trakhak

Just replied in your other thread, which has a slightly differently worded version of the same question.

Answer to the question posed here: I wouldn't bother. The percentage of failed forks must be tiny, or the manufacturers would have been motivated to stop using carbon by costly lawsuits claiming that all those failed carbon forks failed because they're inherently unsafe.

Steve B.

There’s no such thing as all the bad news about carbon forks. They are used on a million bikes with no issues. Touring bikes with steel frames are likely to see steel forks because they are easy to install eyelets and rack mounts. If you have no eyelets and need them to mount a rack, by all means get a steel fork. I would get steel before I would use aluminum. No point in changing because of poor understanding of carbon forks,

Darth Lefty 

Really?

Trakhak

Let me answer that question with another question.

abikequest

So, why is the news all bad on carbon? So far I havent seen any issues with any of my carbon bikes and its pretty rough around here in Colorado.

I did just visit a friend in Tennessee and he was saying he wouldnt want to ride a carbon MTB because he was afraid it would fail so maybe this is just misunderstood?

Darth Lefty 

I am no spring chicken, having come to this bbs in my mid thirties some eleven years ago. But even then, "Is carbon ok?" was a stale old Usenet chewtoy

cb400bill

Merged duplicate threads.

veganbikes

Unfortunately poorly made components of any material can fail. However carbon is generally not an issue. As someone who has 4 carbon fiber forks and has commuted on them I would not replace them. Two of the fork are from Whisky Parts Co. One is ENVE and the other is Specialized and the Specialized fork is the oldest followed by the ENVE and have had a lot of miles on them under a heavier rider with no issue.

The carbon I would worry about is really old carbon and really cheap stuff from unknown sources but if properly laid up from a known source nothing to worry about.

grolby

No, it’s fine.

noglider 

Carbon fiber is prone to abrasion. Watch for that, though it's a danger mostly in crashes, not everyday use.

cyccommute 

I had qualms about carbon forks when I got my first on a Salsa Las Cruces in 2006. I put that bike into retirement in 2021 but over the intervening 16 years and 22,000 miles, the fork is still as good as the day it went on the bike. Don't worry about it.

e0richt

yes, I was just watching a youtube that talked about the "ring of death" dealing with the headset where you need to keep it at the right tension otherwise a worn spot can happen to the carbon fork.

now with that said, I do have a bike with a carbon fork and have not had any problems.

bbbean 

What bad news is that? It's too light, too responsive, too strong, too repairable, too common in virtually every type of cycling? Is it because F1 race cars, aircraft, and space vehicles use CF as a common material? Could it be that a few decades of testing, improvement, and use isn't adequate?

Leisesturm

It really should be stressed in more follow-up posts than just this one, how important it is to get the right fork as a replacement. I personally don't think it is even possible in a lot of applications. For MTB there are all kinds of shock forks and suspension 'corrected' rigid forks available on the aftermarket and something can be found that can work. For touring and racing bikes, the fork design is more integral, and often the only practical replacement is no replacement at all. TL;DR: live with the bike as is or get another that does not have components that cause worry.