owenmyers

I am looking into a carbon fork with an aluminum steerer tube for my 1988 Cannondale r500 criterium series. Would i need a 1" or a 1" 1/8 fork?

Puget Pounder

1"

Booya:

https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...2_174894_-1___

hueyhoolihan

got one of those nashbar's on the way for my 85 trek 310. (not available in 200mm until april 1, 2012, however).

RFC

Another vote for the Nashbar CF fork.

RobbieTunes

If you found me the right exchange fork, I could come up with a C'dale Slice...

mtnbke

Fellas you all know I'm a huge fan of upgrading Cannondales...so that being said:

Please be careful using any fork that has an aluminum steerer (or carbon for that matter). They do fail.

Wound-Up will always make anyone who wants one a carbon fork with a steel steerer (or carbon/aluminum if you like living on the edge and light).

repechage

Why you gotta have carbon?

For a carbon fork, I think unless the frame is designed for a tapered steerer, go carbon as in carbon steel for the steerer.

Otherwise, may your life be defect free.

thirdgenbird

the "can" fail but what bike part cant?

RFC

OMG! A new C&V paranoia. Steerer tube failure!

abarth

Please be careful riding any frame that has aluminum tubing (or carbon for that matter). They do fail.

RFC

Sorry, what horsesh*t.

abarth

That sounds better.

Henry III

If Nashbar is on backorder for awhile. You can always find them on eBay brand new for right around the same price.otherwise Performance used to have a 1" under their Forte brand. I had both brands. One is available with a curved leg while the other is a straight leg.

MrEss

What is the advantage of the Nashbar carbon fork over a common steel fork?

I always thought carbon-anything was about weight, but the Nashbar carbon fork weighs about the same as my early-70s Columbus steel fork.

(Note: I've never rode a bike with a carbon fork, so I'm genuinely asking not flaming.)

rat fink

You've got this backwards. Full carbon forks are less likely to fail at the steer tube than forks made with dissimilar materials.

Henry III

They also have both threadless and threaded 1" carbon forks. Every once and a while you can find a nice full carbon 1" fork on eBay but they pull a nice price(100-200).

It can go both way for threaded vs threadless. A threaded carbon fork will swap right over and you can use everything you have right now...headset, stem and save you some cash. Though you just get a little bit of a weight loss but still get the nice road dampening characteristics carbon has to offer. You still have the heavy quill stem compared to a newer threadless stem.

While the threadless would need you to get a new threadless headset, stem, shim and maybe bars. But definitely loose some weight going this route and open up your options for stems, bars choices to modern stuff. Plus your bike won't look goofy if you ever want to use a threadless stem over a threaded setup and need to use a adapter. I have a 1" threadless fork on my custom frame and it doesn't look out of place. You probably wouldn't even notice it's a 1" threadless over the standard 1-1/8" fork/headtube/headset. You just need to pick up a 1" to 1-1/8" shim which are pretty cheap at most LBS. Plus headsets are still readily available and relatively cheap depending what you want...Dia Compe Aheadset, Cane Creek, Campy, Chris King.

rat fink

Carbon fiber is a very tune-able material. With it, you can achieve similar structural rigidity to parts made of steel or aluminum with less mass, as it's capable of being stronger ounce for ounce. But that's doesn't mean that just because a part is made out of CF instead of steel, it will indeed be lighter. In order for it to be lighter, it would have to be designed efficiently. If the maker uses greater wall thickness, an non-butted steer tube, carbon wrapping, heavy bonded dropouts, rather than using more time, higher quality materials, and greater precision in manufacturing, they can cut costs and make the end product inexpensive. When those cost saving measures are taken with carbon, you get a heavier product because it takes more R&D and more precision to build reliable lighter products.

What are the real world (usage) implications of this? Cheaper parts are cheaper parts. Things like weight, fit and finish, fashion, and possibly ride wont be there. By ride, I mean that since a fork nearly always have a noticeable impact on ride qualities, cheaper carbon forks tend to ride different than expensive forks. The main difference, is often similar to the difference between two steel forks, one high end (like a early 70's Columbus fork) and one low end (like a low priced unicrown fork): The inexpensive fork rides a little stiffer, like less smooth over rough pavement, stiffer. They (cheap forks in general) lack the suppleness that say, an SL or 531 fork might have.

To me, the real reason to buy carbon is because it inherently dampens vibration well. Kind of like steel, but more so when applied with it's characteristics taken into account. Problem is, just like steel, it needs to be tuned well to do a very good job of it. Something like that Nashbar fork will probably absorb buzz nicely, but a nicer fork may absorb more vibration and be supple enough to bounce a little over bigger shocks. A carbon fork (even an inexpensive one) can make for a nice upgrade over most stock forks on mid level road bikes, and be a lot better than most low end steel forks but I wouldn't be as quick to trade it out if I had something like SL fork my old Colnago came with. Just the same, that Nashbar fork isn't going to ride the same as something like an Easton EC90 would ...but neither would a ~$70 Tange fork ride like a Pinarello fork.

MrEss

Rat Fink: That makes sense to me; sounds like it's just another reason for N+1 disease. Maybe I'll put together such a bike and try it out some day. :-)

abarth

Most aluminum steerer tube carbon forks use an aluminum fork crown. The chance for an aluminum steerer tube to separate from the fork due to dissimilar materials is very little if any.

I had a Specialized Epic with a 1" Easton EC90 fork for about 2 years. It has carbon steerer. I kept the fork when I sold the bike. The fork is very light but the lack of stiffness of the 1" carbon steerer worries me. I currently have a Nashbar carbon fork with a 1" aluminum steerer on my Trek 2200, it is a little heavier but stiffer steerer tube makes me worry less.

RFC

Thanks. Now it is in the correct order.

RobbieTunes

I've tried carbon forks on several steel bikes.
I always returned to the original steel fork.

I've tried carbon forks on several aluminum bikes.
I always stuck with the carbon fork.

On one bike, the CF fork I had was perfect, needed 5/8" more threads and then cut off.
Machine shops here wanted me to buy the die, pay the labor, and they keep the die.
The closest frame shop is 70 miles away, so I stuck with the OEM fork, no biggie.

Weight savings are minimal. I like CF forks vs. aluminum forks.
I can't really tell a difference between them and the steel forks on my bikes.
5lbs of air pressure seems to make as much difference as anything.

owenmyers

Okay, thanks for all of your answers. I will most likely get the Nashbar one, if not, a nice full carbon one on ebay. The Aluminium/Carbon combo seems more likely to fail on me. PM me if you have the fork i need.

Puget Pounder

More likely to fail? yes. Likely to fail unless you crash or do something stupid? nah.

RFC

Nonsense.

C&V CF fork paranoia is an social disease spread on internet sites such as this one.

I have a number of bikes with old CF forks (Time and EMS) and newer CF forks (Performance and Nashbar, below). They are all very robust. I have cracked / broken two steel forks, but have yet to break a CF fork. Probably just the luck of the draw.\

whatwolf

I've never ridden a bike with carbon anything. I have a frame on the way (Gimondi mystery steel) that lacks a fork. From what I've read above, and from looking for a relatively inexpensive lugged chrome threaded fork with limited success, I'm tempted to spend the $100 or so on a carbon fork from nashbar rather than go the cheap steel route. Would this be a reasonable investment?