boze

i just hit a car on my commute home yesterday and while i escaped with a big thigh bruise and a sore forearm, my bike was not so lucky. the front wheel and cheap carbon fork snapped right off (see the attached pic) and the wheel while not a complete taco shell is likely too bent to be trued.

so what should i get? i was hoping to get a full carbon fork, but i don't make much money and i haven't kept abreast enough to know what a good value would be. plus my bike is huge (64cm c-c) and the headtube is really long.. will any fork be long enough? it's 1" threadless - a viner competition from gvhbikes.com

and about the wheel.. i wonder if i should upgrade to a nicer wheelset - something like an ultegra set or similar value? how much would that cost and where should i shop?

i've read threads about custom made wheelsets, but i can't seem to search here anymore and anyway i work nonprofit so i wouldn't want to spend more than like $400-500.

thanks for any advice, and be careful out there!!

(ps - i couldn't figure how to delete this thread from road racing, where i posted it by mistake. sorry)

alanbikehouston

Talk with the guys up at your corner bike shop. Most shops stock some tough, durable front wheels that are ideal for commuting, and they are often very low in cost. I've bought some nice "old stock" front wheels for under $50.

Likewise, a good shop can get you a steel fork. A steel fork is superior to carbon for commuting, as it will soak up road shock better. Under the stress of a minor collision, a steel fork will flex, then instantly return to its normal position. Under a hard collision, a steel fork will bend, but seldom will break. A good shop can then realign it.

I was at a bike shop when a guy brought in his bike for repair. He was riding with five or six guys when they all ended up in a pile, on top of its other. After a quick alignment of his steel fork, his bike was as good as new. His buddies were not so lucky. Carbon forks shattered. Carbon downtubes shattered. He needed a $50 repair. They needed new bikes.

Because chinese factories are churning out carbon forks at wholesale prices that are goofy low, a good steel fork now costs more than a cheapo carbon fork. But, your health and your life are worth something. A "bargain" carbon fork is cheap for a reason.

Ritchey recently was featured in a news article about their dispute with E-Bay. On E-Bay, someone was selling carbon forks that appeared to be Ritchey forks. They were in fact, cheap "knock-offs" of a fork that Ritchey had rejected during testing for having a high failure rate. Ritchey switched to a supplier that could supply forks that could pass Ritchey's rigorous testing procedures. The factory making the rejected forks began flooding the market with "bargain price" forks....buyer beware.

DrPete 

I'm a little concerned that I'm writing this, but I kind of agree with ABH. Carbon Fiber is an interesting material, and unlike Cromoly or 3/2.5 titanium, there are a lot of potential variations in manufacturing. The problem is that even the "cheap" CF parts are more expensive than materials like CroMo, so most consumers think they're getting something better or of higher quality, when really they may just be buying the defective forks that ABH refers to.

So I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you should avoid cheap CF. If you really want a CF fork, buy from a solid, reputable manufacturer like Easton, Wound Up, Alpha Q, Reynolds, etc. You'll spend more money but I think the end result is a bit more peace of mind. It would seem that spending $100 on a CF fork would be a lot like spending $10-20 on a steel fork. Do you really want to do that, knowing what the potential result of a fork failure is?

DocRay

If you hit a car at speed and bend a wheel that badly, any fork would either snap or bend to become unusable.
You cannot underestimate the forces of hitting solid something at even 10mph.

CrimsonKarter21

Did you get the plate of the car? They should pay for it, not you.

boze

thanks everybody..
i'm mostly just looking for shopping advice. i think it was at least half my fault - the traffic situation was hard to describe but i was zipping up the middle of the road on the dbl yellow and a car pulled left to cross over to an on-ramp. i'm pretty sure it's a legal turn and that i shouldn't have been split-laning.

carbon vs. steel though.. i'm torn.. my fixie has a steel fork and it's a nice ride but my steel roadie is on the heavy side as is. and i wonder if the way it broke like that might have spared the frame?

when i said cheap for a carbon fork i was just thinking <$300.

anyway, i'm just about the shopping ideas now - what to get, where to get it and why.

no wheelset recommendations? i mean yeah i commute on it but i also do 50mile rides on weekends and stuff.

thanks again.

terrymorse 

Well then, you can get an excellent Easton fork for less than $300.

The EC90 SL is on sale for $240 at Performance. And they have the 1" version in stock.

I have the EC90 SLX and love it.

SSP

You should have your bike shop inspect your frame too...with that much damage to the fork, you may have damaged your frame too (lugs, alignment, etc.).

badkarma

Why do you instantly think it's the fault of the driver?

Sea Green Sky

I got a set of the $299 Neuvation R28 SL2's awhile ago. Very nice wheelset, very light but sturdy, very happy with them, great price, and awsome service. I had a problem with the rear derailleur just barely "ticking" the spokes in the lowest gear and John *FedEx'd* me a new rear with the spokes laced inside on the drive side and sent me a check for the cost of shipping my existing wheel back ( wow!). I was really impressed by the level of service from Neuvation would buy from them again in a second.

CrimsonKarter21

Why is the sky blue?*










*- Please don't answer that, it's rhetorical

WD_40

The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air.

However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue.


Oh... rhetorical question... my bad.

daytonian

I'd like to know of a good ti road fork too.

operator

https://www.chucksbikes.com/store/forks.htm

K we're done here. Or get a steel fork. The steel fork would've bent instead of ripping the legs off and depending on the severity you might've been able to rid eit home. That's moot now.

dekalbSTEEL

A little above your range, but cool looking

https://cgi.ebay.com/WOUND-UP-ROAD-FO...QQcmdZViewItem

Ryleeryno

I've heard good things about that fork. Now how about the Reynolds Ouzo Pro?

Talewinds

I knew there was something about you that didn't jive with me. Ahhhh, I get it now...

"It occurs to me that there is an increasing separation between two distinct groups of people in this country, one group that takes responsibility for and accountability for his actions and the actions of his family. And then there's another group... a group who believes that the things they do and the bad things that happen to them over the course of their lives is exclusively the fault of someone else."

my58vw

Rayleigh scattering... I perfer Raman scattering, but that is just me

terrymorse 

Titanium fork? Not very common, it's notoriously hard to work Ti into complex shapes. But if you really want a Ti fork, it usually comes in a set:

DrPete 

Oh, come on now--that's too heavy. For the ultimate in light weight and cool utensil-ness, you need the titanium spork: