FBinNY 

I too have Litage forks on both my road bike, and my mtn bike/commuter. I've also ridden top end steel forks from Reynolds and Columbus for decades, and can say the Litage road fork rides as nicely as the steel ones in every respect. (I don't have a decent basis of comparison for the mtn/commuter fork, but I've very happy with it.

I have about as much concern for their safety as I do stepping into a Boeing aircraft.

3alarmer 

...for some strange reason, aluminum steerer tubes still show up in production bikes and cause some issues:

Felt Bicycles recalls road bikes due to aluminum steerer tube failures - VeloNews.com

https://www.specialized.com/OA_MEDIA/...ug%202012).pdf

fietsbob

Had 2 Italian AlAn supers.. 100% aluminum , they go in collectors desired lists even now..

CX racing it was The Bike .. a while ago .. world championships won riding them ..

JohnDThompson 

To be fair, the problem with the Lambert/Viscount fork wasn't the aluminum casting, but rather the means by which it was attached to the steel steer tube. As noted elsewhere above, proper design can make an aluminum fork as safe, comfortable, and reliable as any other material.

gsa103

Older (~90s) Specialized Allez and Trek's had Al forks standard. It wasn't until the mid-2000s that Al frame + CF fork became standard for entry level bikes. There must have been millions of forks sold like that. Total non-issue.

Shimagnolo

My '94 C'dale M700 has one of those.
I bought it new, and at this point the frame, fork, and handlebar are the only remaining original parts.

drturf

Both of your quotes/articles are 5-6 years old. Haven't seen any problems since then from any manufactor. Might be some but doesn't seem to be a problem now.

3alarmer 

...no offense, but where do you think all those problem bikes went exactly ?

I see aluminum steerer tubes that come in on used bikes infrequently, but enough to worry about them.
And the second link stated that the bikes in question might have been sold up until 2012.


Again, I realize this is teh Biekforums, and you score points for this kinda stuff. I'm just trying to get the word out.

SkyDog75

There are TONS of bikes out there whose carbon forks have aluminum steering tubes, two of my bikes among them. If there was a widespread problem with aluminum steering tubes in general, I'm confident there would be some awareness of the issue on these forums. In the meantime, I plan to keep riding mine worry-free.

3alarmer 

....good for you.

Jed19

Yeah, I bought mine new too. The only original parts still left are the frame, headset and the cantilever brakes. Everything else has been changed. i have a real sentimental attachment to the bike. I think I paid either a little bit short of or a little bit more than a thousand dollars for it, and I just can't bring myself to sell it. Was once offered $250 for it.

The real interesting thing is that it was not the bike I wanted at that time. I really wanted Cannondale's Delta V (which had a rear suspension), but the price was just more than I wanted to spend. Now that I use my killer V hardtail as a kind of leisure/picnic bike, I thank serendipity for making me chose the Killer V, as I could have stretched a little bit to buy the Delta V. And a bike with dual suspension is just not gonna work for the purposes I now use the bike for.

leob1

I had a fork break at the steerer tube, it was a steel fork, and steerer. It was a cheap deptment store bike. I now have a bike with an AL fork, and have never given it a second thought.
My neighbor is an automechanic. He sometimes works on his buddys ARCA race car. I was shot the breeze with him one day, and saw the drivers seat frame. I asked if it was cro-mo, figeuring that would be the best material in the drivers last line of defense. Nope, it was AL, very thick wall tubing. And it was pretty heavy. Even with the thickness of the tubing, it was still lighter than steel, and offered the same protection.

Wilfred Laurier

fear of a bike just because a certain part is made from a certain material
comes from ignorance
and nothing else

the myth that steel always makes a part stronger is just that
a myth
but it is often repeated
and so often believed

but in the real world
almost every bike from bsos just above the bottom end
to bike shop bikes just below all carbon
are now made from aluminum
and have been for fifteen years or so

the fact of the matter is
thousands and thousands of bikes have full aluminum forks
or forks with aluminum steerer tubes bonded to something else
and there simply has not been a rash of broken forks