Winblows

Hi guys!
I am about to mount this carbon fork on my frame. I wonder and read on the internet a lot about reliability of these forks.
It looks like it is like a ticket on lottery, whether you get a full filled fork or not. (?)
Does it only apply to very light (thin) forks ? or is it a general issue ?

AnkleWork

Looks fine.

FBinNY 

Carbon forks as a general class are comparable to metal forks in overall reliability. They hold up fine under normal riding conditions, and may fail in a crash. One difference is that in a high energy crash, a carbon fork is more likely to break, whereas a metal fork would bend.

Of course, this assumes that the fork is well built to prevailing standards. These days there are many forks coming from unreliable and unproven sources, and/or sold out the "back door" of factories, and there's no way of knowing the quality of construction, or even if they're rejects.

So I'd say that if you're buying a CF fork from a reliable source, you can ride it in full confidence, otherwise it may be OK, or it may not.

Andrew R Stewart 

Agree. The real life use of carbon forks is not filled with many failures or lawsuits. Although I would stay away from off brand internet sales. Andy.

alcjphil

I remember a few years ago talking to a guy who worked in a bike shop. He told me that a particular brand of carbon fork had had a large number of warranty failures. The company I worked for was the Canadian distributor for that brand and as far as I had seen we hadn't had any failures of those forks that warranted a replacement. Sometimes, stuff you hear falls into the category of urban legend

Blue Belly

Depends on testing & Quality Control. Research, research, research....

chriskmurray

Just remember the amount of liability a company takes on when producing a carbon fork. If there were to be a catastrophic failure even under "extreme" use the company would have a nightmare of a lawsuit on their hands so chances are if you are buying from a reliable source the fork will be significantly overbuilt for "normal" riding.

bradtx

Specifically those forks or CF forks in general? I can't answer about the pictured forks, but CF forks (trusted brands) have performed well for me and currently I have one bike with a 16 year old CF fork that has had no special considerations regarding the riding conditions it has survived.

Brad

HillRider

I've also had absolutely great results from the carbon forks I own. Two of them are all-carbon, are 9 years old and have 31,000 and 34,000 miles respectively of PennDot's finest potholes. Another with carbon blades/Cr-Mo steerer is even older but has less miles. None of them have shown the slightest hint of problems. That said, these are well known brand name forks backed by solid established companies. I'd be very hesitant to trust an e-bay no-name.

Kimmo 

If there are no defects, it's almost certainly going to be stronger than a steel or ally fork.

superdex

exactly what reading gives you the notion it's a lottery ticket of doom?

GravelMN

My road bike has a cro-mo frame with CF fork. I've weighed as much as 255# and ridden it on some rough roads. No problems so far. I belong to a couple of cycling groups and have lots of cycling friends and I've only heard of one incident of CF fork failure not related to an incident that would have taken out a cro-mo or aluminum fork as well.

BTW, I wish people would quit using the term "alloy" interchangeably with aluminum. There are many aluminum alloys, but not all alloys contain aluminum. Chrome-moly steel is an alloy.

Winblows

for example this

Kimmo 

Duh...
My portmanteau of aluminium and alloy.

cale

Sudden carbon failure syndrome.

Winblows

I am probably overreacting, but these days, internet shopping is sometimes confusing.
Thank you all for the attention

Kimmo 

Pretty paranoid stuff.

Yeah, right... a few people get killed by lightning so we should all wear lightning rods?

You can check the integrity of your fork by sitting on the top tube, holding the front brake on, and pushing the bike to flex the fork. Investigate any creaks (most likely to just be steer/stem stem/bar interface).

If the paint/clearcoat is damaged, best to touch it up with something since carbon needs to be protected from UV and moisture, which cause it to gradually deteriorate.

FBinNY 

This is a holdover from the phrase "light alloy" which was used for decades in the bike world. Consider it context specific in the bicycle world to mean "aluminum alloy".

Another context specific use of the word alloy comes from the steel industry, which divides steels into three major categories: carbon steels, alloy steels, and stainless steels, along with a bunch of niche groups. By general definition all steels are alloys, but in this context alloy means steels with one r more alloying elements (besides carbon), such as chromium, molybdenum, manganese, boron, etc.

So if a steel man says "alloy" he means something like chrome-moly, and when a bike person says alloy he means aluminum alloy. Not a big deal, since you know what's meant from the context.

Winblows

^ "alloy" goes for food cans, not for precision equipment, right?

jimc101

My Planet X SL Pro is a Carbon Tech frame/forks going by the sticker on the fork which is just like the one in your photos, The fork is the same, less the colorways. I have 10000+ km on it, and expect it to do the same and then the same again and on. Add to that, this bike model/frame is incredibly popular (does help they are dirt cheap for carbon & have been around for years, I've had mine about 7 now, and they had been out a couple before that) thinking that I would have heard of issues with this fork long before now.

Winblows

This REALLY warms my heart!

rydabent

The thing to remember is that carbon forks and frames are really plastic parts with carbon fiber imbeded in it. When stressed to failure, they shatter rather than bend. IMO what makes them worse is the fact that they are produced to try to save weight, and are made as light as possible. That mean their strength is questionable. Again IMO go for a name fork that is maybe a little heavier and stronger, if you feel you need one made out of CF.

jimc101

Pretty sure that the fork is branded (has the name on the sticker, just not in big letters on the sides)- Carbon Tech, they are a big OEM supplier XDS CARBON- TECH (SHENZHEN) CO.,LTD.

fietsbob

So why not replace it every couple years ?

gregf83 

Incorrect.