noodle soup

10 years ago there were a few very popular aftermarket forks available(Easton, Reynolds, Alpha Q, Kestrel/Oval), but now it seems like ENVE is the only game in town. I know Whiskey and Ritchey exist, but few framebuilders spec their forks.

Are there any other fork manufacturers that I'm missing?

redfooj

thm, 3t, control tech

noodle soup

Thm forks

They obviously don't want to sell many forks.

Senrab62 

Nashbar doesn't have their house brand any longer?

Elvo

Easton, Ritchey, 3T, PRO

noodle soup

I'm sure they do, but I was thinking of known brands.

Who are the big players in aftermarket carbon forks?

noodle soup

Easton is out of the road fork market now.

gsa103

Niner (although more for gravel/disc). Lynskey sells house brand forks.

PepeM

Columbus makes some.

rpenmanparker 

Yes, Columbus is a valid source.

But Ritchey is right up there for best bang for the buck. Three levels starting at Comp. I would put their Pro and WCS up against anybody's top two models.

noodle soup

I'm surprised at how many forks the have in their lineup.

I wonder why so few framebuilders use anything other than ENVE?

noodle soup

Sadly they don't offer a tapered version(at least not on their website).

Marcus_Ti

Fyxation, Rodeo Labs (more gravel), Niner....not a whole lot in town now.


Industry has consolidated a bit and devoured those aftermarket companies.

Seattle Forrest

Well known name. They work closely with frame builders. I'd bet they go out of their way to make it easy for them.

noodle soup

This probably has a lot to do with it. My frame builder uses their tubing(like many custom frame builders), and I know he gets a great price on their components.

I only asked the question to see if there's a "hot" new fork manufacturer out there for tapered road forks. Other than Thm, it doesn't look there's anything new and exciting.

rpenmanparker 

There are always the no-names.

noodle soup

You won't find many buyers of custom frames that want one of those. When spending $3-5k on a custom frame, why gamble on an unknown fork?

rpenmanparker 

You never said anything about custom. I think the market is too small to interest Ritchey enough to make the wide selection of tapers and rakes needed. And Easton must have felt the same way, enough to just exit the market. Most steel and Ti frames can generally be accommodated with straight, no taper steerers. The big brand guys make their own forks as do the no names. If you need a replacement, you might as well just go back to the source of the whole frame. It is just the custom carbon market left, that's pretty small, and Enve has that. The world is spinning properly on its axis.

MidTNBrad

Wound Up Composites

Marcus_Ti

Easton was bought out by a vulture capital company "Fenway Partners"....same people who own Bell bike helmets. Same people who own Riddell (makers of NFL football helmets). You ever see a commercial for "1-800-CONTACTS", Fenway used to own them too. Unsurprisingly the bean counters know where the money is--and it is not in aftermarket cycling products or OEM cycling components.

rpenmanparker 

Sure. That is consistent with the thought process I was suggesting.

noodle soup

I never stated anything about custom builders in my original question, but the market for aftermarket forks is very small. The true big boy manufacturers use their own fork(or one they relabeled as their own). Aftermarket fork buyers are now 3 different groups.

1, those upgrading a stock fork.
2, those replacing a damaged fork.
3, smaller frame builders that are supplying a matching fork.

The 1st market is very small, and the second one is usually handled by the big manufacturer(for the 1st few years).

My question is really about the 3rd group. What is available for the high end fork buyer?

So far it looks like ENVE, and Thm.

trailangel

In your mind it looks like ENVE and THM. It took you 15 post to actually say you are looking for a tapered steerer.

datlas 

I have a Ritchey WCS on my Habanero and it's fine. Agree that market for forks is small but there are several choices.

noodle soup

I already knew that ENVE was the big player in this game. Thm is new to me.

Tapered steerer tubes are the new standard for forks(sorry if you weren't aware of this). I didn't mention it in my original post because I though that most people would assume that I was asking about the current standard.