luevelvet

We have carbon forks on all of our bikes (gravel and road) and they’ve held up without any issues. I wouldn’t worry so much about that to be honest. Get the Ribble, seems like a decently spec’ed bike.

Bonzo Banana

Carbon forks are handmade and can have inherent faults that takes time to manifest plus they are brittle and you can damage them with an impact that on face value looks ok but internally a crack is appearing. Worth checking out Luescher Technik on youtube he is a carbon fan and expert but shows the issues with carbon frame and forks.

The reality is the carbon forks will probably be fine but steel can be seen if there is a fault, can be felt that a fault in imminent are of course is robust and can be abused for decades and still be fit for purpose. Given your concerns I would probably replace the fork for steel but why not just try the carbon for a while and see what you think. I wouldn't have a carbon fork on a touring bike but for it sounds like the bike is for more general use.

According to Luescher Technik it is carbon forks that are more likely to fail and cause injury than carbon frames but the sort of forks he mainly see's are exceptional low weight performance carbon forks which are a little more prone to failure. It's amazing how many frames and forks that look fine are actually faulty when he scans them. He also cuts up unrepairable frames and forks up to see the construction and some of it is so rubbish in construction and we are talking seriously expensive carbon too.

I'm overweight so don't even consider carbon myself because I like to have some clue about imminent failure of my frames and forks. I don't want to be going down a steep hill at 35mph when my carbon fibre forks decide to go on their own separate journey away from the rest of the bike. I'm not the sort of weight that will land well at high speed. Being overweight bicycle weight is of only vague concern but admittedly the increased comfort of carbon fibre does appeal.

Flip Flop Rider

buy the bike. ride the bike. if later you want to change the fork or anything else do it

Koyote

Good grief. At this point, cf is hardly "new tech."

A cf fork is an upgrade.

But if you're a nervous nellie, by all means, buy an inferior bike.

bakerjw

A few years back, I built up a bikepacking/gravel bike on a Lynsky titanium frame. Wanting to keep weight down, I picked up a cheap no name Chinese carbon form with 15-100 through axles. The fork was indestructible. It had a lot of flex on gravel and wasn't too bad. Then I got on some chunky jeep trails with a lot of larger embedded rocks and ruts. The damned thing shook me to death.
I then built up a different frame with a Lauf fork and that became my go to bike for bikepacking or all day gravel riding.
A carbon fork will be fine. My Giant TCR is all carbon and is a great ride.

indyfabz

fify

****

AlmostTrick

Great points! Especially the part about how fun it would be ordering a custom, just for you fork. Plus, the OP can offset some of the cost by selling the new CF fork to someone who discovered a tiny nick/scratch/hair line crack on their CF fork after it got bumped in the garage.

TimothyH

This is a good summary.

Phil_gretz

The 1x Apex version? It appears to check all of your boxes. Carbon fork? Eh, it's likely to last as long as you own the bike. Very likely. And it has the clearance you'll need for wider tires.

As long as they engineered the fork for the forces imparted by disc braking, you'll be fine. I've read of Chinese forks that appeared to lack the engineering design, so when they came out in disc compatible models, they snapped under braking forces. There are reviews and photos on the web. Not to imply that this is the case here, at all.

I have carbon forks of similar quality level on two of my bikes, my daily commuter (disc) and a steel race bike (rim brakes). I never concern myself with their integrity. Of course, I do inspect them whenever I have the bike on the rack for service.

Good luck. I wouldn't hesitate to buy the Ribble 725 CGR for your use.

Kapusta

I would not think twice about carbon from a safety perspective. I think there is a lot of misconceptions out there these days about CF.

And if it is really a problem, just swap it for a steel fork.

Retro Grouch 

I think that you worry too much.

Bikes equipped with carbon fiber forks have been common for over 20 years. Everything has a failure rate so I suppose there have been some carbon fork failures during that time just as I'm also sure that some steel forks have failed. If, however, there had been a rash of failures with either material during that period of time, I'm sure I would have heard about it.

There are a lot of bad things that might happen. Most of them won't.

Wilmingtech

86az135i

I would stay away from carbon fiber. I once had a bike with just a carbon fiber bottle cage. First ride out, the whole bike took off under me, ran an old lady over crossing the street and then into a bus full of school children which then exploded.

I can only imagine what would have happened had I had more carbon fiber. Never again.

PepeM

Personally, I would avoid all crabon, unless you want your bike to asplode. Iron bicycles exclusively for me.

indyfabz

So what you are saying is that you are an ironman.

PepeM

Now that you mention it, yes, that is what I am saying.

bcpriess

My Lemond Tourmalet is aluminum with a carbon fork and carbon seatpost. It handled day to day city abuse well for the five years it was my main ride - including all kinds of rough surfaces, several minor crashes, etc. I wouldn't worry about it. Also, look up the Lemond Spine bikes which were a carbon/steel hybrid road frame. https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-m...ine-bikes.html

AlmostTrick

Safety First!

I'd like to see someone try to asplode an iron bike:

PepeM

Hot.

Slightspeed

Carbon, smarbon, no big deal. I bought a Specialized Allez in 2002, aluminum frame and fork. The fork beat up my arms, so I changed it to an Easton carbon fork. Transformed the ride. Besides the Allez, I have two other carbon bikes now, 2007 Roubaix, and a 2013 Culprit with carbon frame, fork, seat post, wheels, bars, even water bottle holders, both road bikes. I have thousands of miles on them, yes, a couple of crashes. I got beat up, but the carbon lived to ride again. Beware the carbon whiners on here. I love my old school steel, but carbon can be every bit as loveable as steel, and its lighter, too. 😉 No worries.

subgrade

Regarding the durability of carbon fiber and it surviving the crashes (or not), I recommend to watch this video. It's in German, but I think you'll get the gist even if you don't understand a word. Skip forward to 18:00 to see the action.

woodcraft

How is this not a zombie thread?

indyfabz

So what you are saying is that it's a hot iron.

GailT

You should get the concrete fork. I hear it's very compliant.

jambon

How much do you weigh if you don't mind me asking ? I am heavyish by cyclist standards at 220lbs / 100KG , this is partly why I'm a bit hesitant about the carbon fork .

Thanks for the replies my intention wasn't to open up the carbon v steel debate but it's interesting reading.

I suppose I could change it to a steel fork down the line , the only issue there is I don't think steel forks are available with tapered steerers , I could use a headset adapter but then a straight steerer fork looks kind of odd in a tapered head tube and I'm a sickler for smooth clean lines on a bike , also would I ever be able to match a new fork to the color of the frame ?

Both of my current bikes are steel , one a 1972 Peugeot converted into single speed and an early 80s koga miyata touring bike, so a carbon forked bike will be very new territory.

I'm just after discovering this bike , a ragley trig adventure bike , all steel , bit over budget but might be a contender

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/ie/en/ragley-trig-adventure-bike-2019/rp-prod176557?gs=1&sku=sku672219&pgrid=55940684541&ptaid=pla-672782160450&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=PLA+All+Products&utm_medium=base&utm_content=m kwid|s9QCXV3pa_dm|pcrid|294740729972|pkw||pmt||prd|672219IE&gclid=Cj0KCQjwn8_mBRCLARIsAKxi0GKWKIFxxh CfuSrAEJZ-C2NnjgDfaCBedBhvf0ayWmlZBdIBcR-sy4MaAvFtEALw_wcB