Road Cycling - Carbon Forks on Aluminium Frames

Just a quick question on fork upgrades. Is replacing an alloy fork on an aluminium frame with a carbon fork worthy of the cost involved? Does it reduce either weight or road vibration significantly? Any opinions greatly appreciated.:beer:

I'm in the same situation as you are, Jonah. Just a couple of days ago I asked a wrench if a carbon fork would give me a softer ride and he answered that it would give me a smoother ride. So, all I ccan conclude is that it would be better, but I am not totally sure how.

Rich

I have heard that the compliance of the carbon in comparison with that of the alloy is what makes it softer. If that is the case, then why aren't carbon framesets spongy to ride?:confused:

I have Vola Carbon fork by Pinarello, it really absorbs the road vibration , and if your upgrading your fork to a carbon fiber, its worth it, specially you have an aluminum frame, man your ganna be flying, you will have lighten your bike by about 3 lbs...,

So it is worth the money?

A carbon fork is totally worth it. I just Had a Profile brc on sale for 65.00 at pricepoint.com put on my bike. It replaced the alloy fork. I dont think I gained a huge weight advantage but it does dampen a lot of road vibration. So in my opinion it was worth it.

Originally posted by Aussie Jonah
So it is worth the money?
It worth every penny or dollar you are going to invest in it!!!!, you'll have a much smother ride with those kind of fork

Thanks guys I really appreciate your input.:beer:

Hey, wonder if any of you knows about Litespeed's carbon meshed with titanium fork? Does the damping qualities of titanium combined with the carbon make a really good fork?

I have a Profile all-carbon threadless fork on a Trek 2200 Alpha Aluminum frame. It originally came with a threaded carbon fork with chromoly stearer. Aside from the huge drop in weight, I have noticed a smoother ride, and it feels more responsive too.

if you were concerned about road vibes why did you buy an aluminum can to begin with? ting!

Carbon fibre components like forks and frames are made of a carbon fabric, laminated many times over in an acrylic resin over a skeletal form usually made of aluminum. Manufacturers can use the weave of each laminate and the composition of the acrylic resin to control certain properties of the component -- making it stiffer or more compliant, or stiffer in one direction and more compliant in another. Using the same materials, a manufacturer can create a bicycle frame that is stiffer than granite or as wobbly as a wet noodle -- or a frame that is laterally stiffer than aluminum and vertically as compliant as steel. It's still not quite a mature technology, but for road forks, I think it's definitely there.

Carbon gives a smoother ride because all of these criss-crossing laminate weaves tend to cancel out and dampen vibrations much more efficiently than aluminum. Put more accurately, and I'm sure the engineers here will be able to explain it more effectively, aluminum [and, to a lesser extent, steel] is a much more efficient conductive medium than carbon fibre. Carbon essentially impedes energy transferred from road bumbs which, I presume, is released as heat, though I doubt your carbon fork would heat up that much. How efficient is aluminum? Well, if you've ever tried to locate a noise on an aluminum frame, you know that vibrations seem to transmit at equal volume from anywhere on the frame.

No, I am not an engineer. So I may have some details wrong.

Because aluminium bikes rock and the package I got was excellent value for money. Upgrades may then make it more comfortable, but as far as performance goes nothing else I have ridden even comes close (not even a pinarello galileo with 10 speed record).

I have a very stiff aluminum frame that has a carbon fork and a carbon seat post. While I have'nt ridden a gaggle of bikes, out of the 1/2 dozen that I have ridden, this one is the sweetest of all. I am able to stay on the bike for 7-10 hours without feeling like I have been beaten up.