Fork materials
Searching the archives is problematic... mostly salad and recreational posting. Hence I'll summarize what I learned/read.. to date.
After hashing this thread out.. what I meant to focus on is the FAILURE MODES of different fork materials. Common internet platter is thrown around like male cow dung on the subject.. to date I have NOT found a good read on this.
When bike people of experience such as FBinNY question the durability of carbon steer tubes.. that to me is of note. This matches concerns I've found with other bike repair/avid riders of long experience.
Reason for my interest in this subject was to talk myself into a carbon fork with alloy steer... from a brand via a name discount bike online store. I could find no record online of anyone having performance issues with them. Contacting another online source raised a red flag to my way of thinking-- Warranty issues.. details of which were not given when requested. From that.. I take it to mean if one has issues your then attempting to deal with someone who fabricated said fork from over the pond. Good luck there.. so it seems.
I'd offer even going out for a bike ride is likely more dangerous than mounting almost all of the carbon forks (w steer steer tubes) manufactured. Yet the failure mode of carbon forks most often gives no warning.. your down. Yes other fork materials fail.. but the postings of carbon failures is so numerous around the net. Steel forks for instance have been around for a century.. on millions of bikes.. those failures are seldom found looking over the net. Just seems to me.. carbon failure is percentage wise too high.. for a 235 lb rider like myself. Bike riding means risk of injury.. adding a carbon fork is just one variable I'll avoid.
Marketing.. is today's world. The hype and nonsense of websites.. saying allot.. often meaning little. Another item is the testing of components with said manufacturer paying for.. or doing that testing. That testing is nearly meaningless for me. I've no doubt some are interested in brand promotion.. the integrity of their name and products. Yet per unit cost.. the bottom line rules.
http://www.pardo.net/bike/pic/fail-001/FAIL-164.html
Last edited by SortaGrey; 01-24-13 at 07:40 AM.
Reason: Salad bar edit.