Originally Posted by i_r_beej

Yes-- the carbon CX forks are not just road forks with canti studs laid in during manufacturing. They are more "built up" and thus stronger.

A carbon component, when the same weight as metal component will be many times stronger. A carbon component just as strong as a metal component will be significantly lighter. Most carbon composite components fall somewhere in the middle-- stronger than metal alloys and quite a bit lighter.

One final problem that i have with current carbon composite components is that there is an industry shortage. Carbon is in high demand for airplanes (Boeing alone uses more carbon than the entire bicycle industry) and other "industrial" applications.
A common technique is to combine carbon with other composite materials-- NOT carbon fiber-- to create something that looks like carbon fiber on the outside but ismade with weaker materials on the inside (like fiber glass). The killer is that it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to tell in the final product without actually destroying it and carefully analyzing it. So this is kind of an issue within the bicycle industry-- "Is it really really 100% carbon fiber??" Only the manufacturer can tell and they're keeping it a secret. Besides which-- auditing manufacturers is extremely difficult.