Carbon Fork: Cosmetic or?
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Carbon Fork: Cosmetic or?
Looking for a 2nd opinion on my new frameset's fork. I was about to trim my fork's carbon steerer to length when I noticed a few visible anomalies on the finish.
Pictured are these linear "gouges" and a small divot that look like a tooling tip grazed the exterior. One of them is diagonal to the length of the steerer. Another runs along what appears to be a manufacturing "seam". If i had to guess their depth, it would be around 0.5 to 0.75mm deep.
Do these look purely cosmetic, or is there a potential for structural failure?
Pictured are these linear "gouges" and a small divot that look like a tooling tip grazed the exterior. One of them is diagonal to the length of the steerer. Another runs along what appears to be a manufacturing "seam". If i had to guess their depth, it would be around 0.5 to 0.75mm deep.
Do these look purely cosmetic, or is there a potential for structural failure?
#2
Occam's Rotor
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 7,248
Mentioned: 61 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2366 Post(s)
Liked 2,331 Times
in
1,164 Posts
My camera always makes stuff look worse, but it looks like new fork day to me.
If it is indeed new, I would put away the saw and see about warranty replacement.
If it is indeed new, I would put away the saw and see about warranty replacement.
Likes For Cyclist0108:
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Posts: 2,880
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1461 Post(s)
Liked 1,485 Times
in
870 Posts
If it were me, I'd take it into a qualified shop and have them look at it. You'll get a bunch of opinions on the internet that may or may not be right, but without seeing it in person I have no idea how anyone could determine if it's a potential concern or not.
I wouldn't take a chance on a steerer and now feel the need to pull my bike apart and inspect mine.
I wouldn't take a chance on a steerer and now feel the need to pull my bike apart and inspect mine.
#4
Senior Member
Thread Starter
If it were me, I'd take it into a qualified shop and have them look at it. You'll get a bunch of opinions on the internet that may or may not be right, but without seeing it in person I have no idea how anyone could determine if it's a potential concern or not.
I wouldn't take a chance on a steerer and now feel the need to pull my bike apart and inspect mine.
I wouldn't take a chance on a steerer and now feel the need to pull my bike apart and inspect mine.
I've contacted the distributor, who then contacted the company, and they both say they are superficial marks and part of the mfg process/within quality spec. But I feel the need to do my due diligence because of all the framesets I've built/worked on, I've never come across a carbon steerer tube this imperfect.
Likes For Pactin:
#5
Sunshine
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Des Moines, IA
Posts: 16,614
Bikes: '18 class built steel roadbike, '19 Fairlight Secan, '88 Schwinn Premis , Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross V4, '89 Novara Trionfo
Mentioned: 123 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 10963 Post(s)
Liked 7,490 Times
in
4,189 Posts
I dont manufacture forks, but those marks go against grain and i don't understand how they are made, based on what i understand from carbon frame building.
Odd.
Odd.
#7
Occam's Rotor
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 7,248
Mentioned: 61 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2366 Post(s)
Liked 2,331 Times
in
1,164 Posts
Likes For Robius:
#9
Senior Member
That doesn't seem safe to me. But I'm not an expert.
I wouldn't ride that fork.
I wouldn't ride that fork.
Likes For Amt0571:
#10
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2019
Posts: 262
Bikes: Trek Madone
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 98 Post(s)
Liked 76 Times
in
54 Posts
Hmmmmm, cameras exaggerate things a bit but even that looks suspect to me enough I would return it for a new one. If mail ordered I would ask the vendor to shoot pictures of it to send me so I could decide if the replacement is good. I am not saying that the one you have is bad so to speak as I am not a carbon fiber builder/engineer < although I majored for a while in college for mechanical engineering, but those imperfections look a bit too much to me.
#11
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 786
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 338 Post(s)
Liked 408 Times
in
252 Posts
Looks better than my fork except that diagonal mark (mine has more seams). Sent pictures to the shop for warranty, in a bit of back and forth between the shop and manufacturer now.
I rode on mine for 6000km, only noticed the poor workmanship pretty recently and rode over some good bumps along the way and no externally visible cracks, delaminations or whatnot occurred on the not so well glued areas, so mechanically it's acceptable, but of course it bugs me to see a poor job on the fork and I want it replaced, and such imperfections are a weak point.
I'd return it if bought new but it is probably fine. Here's what I found on mine:
Seams on the fork clearly visible
I rode on mine for 6000km, only noticed the poor workmanship pretty recently and rode over some good bumps along the way and no externally visible cracks, delaminations or whatnot occurred on the not so well glued areas, so mechanically it's acceptable, but of course it bugs me to see a poor job on the fork and I want it replaced, and such imperfections are a weak point.
I'd return it if bought new but it is probably fine. Here's what I found on mine:
Seams on the fork clearly visible