aliasfox

For anybody who's still following, I have an update.

- Bike shop tore down my front end and submitted my warranty claim to ENVE sometime in the last week
- I got an email yesterday saying that ENVE has approved the warranty claim, and should be sending out a replacement fork today
- Additionally, the shop had to destroy the old fork and send ENVE pictures for proof

Personally, I would've loved to be part of the "old fork destruction" experience - would have wanted to clamp a stem to the steerer and just bear down to see how much torque it could handle before deforming. I've asked them to send me pictures anyway.

All in all, a good experience all around so far. Shoutouts to both ENVE and Palo Alto Bicycles for providing prompt communication and resolution. I won't get my Lynskey back in time for this weekend (71F and sunny on Saturday. in FEBRUARY... if I were back in New York I'd still be running on a treadmill in a basement for at least another month...), so my Bianchi will be on-duty, but fingers crossed, I'll get some good saddle time on the Lynskey before Levi's Gran Fondo in April.

elcruxio

Then again carbon fiber works best when it can act against something that can handle compression. A tube works, but it's not optimal as the only thing CF has to pull against is the thickness of the tube. Put an incompressible piece of metal inside the tube and tighten it against the carbon and you've got a pretty darn strong piece of tube. The expander can essentially be tightened to pretty ridiculous torques and the steerer won't break as the carbon is working with its strengths. Not so with a stem and outside compression.

Camilo

A big FWIW.

I recently asked Lynskey if a new plug I was looking for would have to extend below the stem bolts. The replied the only critical thing is that the stem be torqued carefully to the correct spec. Other forks I've bought come with short plugs. I guess the major concern is to follow the fork's specs and instructions.

SoSmellyAir

Camilo So are you going to use a short or a long expander plug with the new ENVE fork?

aliasfox

I had a call with the shop yesterday, and they've installed a longer Whisky expander plug for my new fork, along with a new stem that he believes is better designed for clamping a carbon steerer. He's not charging me for the stem, so I'm willing to try it, but I can't imagine FSA, being both an OEM and aftermarket supplier, would have stems out there with major design faults. It's not like there aren't any FSA Omegas (my old 100mm stem) or FSA Energies (my 110mm stem) out there...

Going for a ride on my other bike today (67F? yes please), so hopefully grabbing the Lynskey tomorrow. Just in time for the weather to drop 15F on Saturday...

Camilo

I didn't get a new ENVE fork - that would be aliasfox I was asking about my original, standard Lynskey fork that comes with the GR300. Because (a), the one I have really doesn't work well And (b) I'm actually not sure if it's the one that came with the fork originally, probably but not sure and don't like it anyway. Although the guy from Lynskey told me the critical thing is the torque on the stem bolts, I happened to order one (Origin 8) that will support the full length of the stem, but also with much more of the surface being knurled. If that makes sense.

All my other CF forks (4 more in the family), I just use the plugs that came with the forks, most of them are short, some are longer, and just torque the stem bolts to whatever the spec is or even a little less, or 5 NM or less if it's not evident.