Road Cycling - carbon forks, safe through potholes???

I was just wondering how strong these carbon forks are..

These forks have a little flex which is very good in dampening bumps..

But my question is, can these carbon forks sustain potholes? My steel and aluminum forks can sustain these beating.. And I'm not to sure about my Carbon fork.. Or perhaps I'm just scared because of the flexing.

I'm not saying that I drive my bike into a pothole.. But it happens, since some asphalt roads do have potholes, sometimes you just can't steer away, especially at high speeds...

I kinda wonder the same thing. To refer to the other thread about the frame taking a beating, I always think that with every bump something is going to bust in half. I am not going through huge potholes, but there are so many bumps and drops and stuff. When I hear my chain hit the bar I just cringe. It seems like this happens hundreds of times a ride. At this rate i imagine my bike lasting about a year.

If you figure cyclocross bikes and tandem's come with carbon forks they must be able to take quite a beating.

Sometimes I forget that I'm riding a roadbike with carbon forks and not my MTB (which also has carbon forks) and will hit a pothole pretty hard. My forks seem fine.

My old Kestrel EMS was pretty darn tough. It took an attack by a wayward Oldsmobile sedan to do it in. This also toasted my frame:

Time for some destruction testing on that remaining fork leg. How much effort does it take to crack.

Originally posted by MichaelW
Time for some destruction testing on that remaining fork leg. How much effort does it take to crack. It's long gone, sorry.

CF is pretty tuff, formula one cars with CF suspensions bounce of curbs at over 200 miles per hour, they fail sometime but not often, so forks can probably take a pothole here and there. :)

Depends on the brand. I can say all the top brands are very good. I seen a few bikes with torn headtubes and fork to be intact.

Beware of inhouse brands that are sold cheaper. Will not mention names. These are usualy really cheap forks sold to atract sales. These usually get recalled and consumers are never aware. That is why Reynolds, Columbus and all the top brands are more $$$. You not only buy service but you buy peace of mind.