dem219

I'm just curious really. I've seen alum, steel, and carbon forks. And I've seen TI used just about everywhere else. But I don't think I have ever seen TI forks. Any reason why?

barba

I think there were some TI forks out there. My guess is that the expense of them couldn't keep up with carbon.

bonechilling

Ti forks existed, but like aluminum, they're mostly relegated to the bike shop back-room dustbins of history.

I don't think that anything can compete with carbon's two-fold lightweight and road-dampening properties. It's the reason why even high-end steel bikes come with CF forks now.

barba

Aluminum forks were beastly.

asmallsol

here's one...

ekimeno

Boom, boom.

531Aussie

alu forks are fine. I have two of these threaded 1" forks (steel steerers) on 2 of my old steel bikes, and they ride very good. If anything, I'd like them to be a bit stiffer. By the way, they're not Columbus.

I'd happily use all-alu, threadless forks if they're were easy to get.

Nessism

The popular aluminum forks from back in the day, like the SR Prisim and Kinesis, were soft to the point of being noodly. In no way were they harsh in the least. The early Kestral carbon forks were WAY stiffer - thus rode like a truck in comparison. Beastly...NOT.

Shifty

Titanium is expensive and hard to work with, that's the bottom line. Carbon can be molded in large quantities, so is cheap to produce by comparison, Ti is very labor intensive and is hard to form into fork shapes. It would make a great fork, it would cost more than the frame to make.

merlinextraligh

there are a number of Ti forks still available. One problem is they tend to be flexy. And also as stated above harder to work with.

So it's hard to make a sufficiently stiff, light, competitively priced Ti fork.

Stallionforce

I did some research on this and found that there were two companies offering titanium forks: Sibex (Russian, offers a CX fork) and a Czech company called Morati who make road forks I believe.

https://www.tufonorthamerica.com/newsletters.php?action=display&id=23

They're incredibly expensive, however, as you might have guessed.

operator

In other words, even if you had a load of money to spend on a Ti fork, it'd be functionally inferior to a much cheaper carbon fork.

operator

What a terrible website. Couldn't even be bothered to make a hyperlink to the correct page in their "newsletter"?

Good luck.

dekindy

Carl Strong's bike at the NAHBS this year had titanium seat stays, carbon top and seat tubes and fork, steel everywhere else.

Very interesting!!!!

rufvelo

Because Steel, Carbon and Aluminum offer sufficient options.

Patriot

I noticed Sibex was mentioned above. You'll still see Titanium Forks used a bit on some Ti Cyclo-Cross bikes. Mainly because of their incredible strength, and when extra rigidity is also needed for the conditions. Specifically Sibex. I love their CX frame. Too cool.

531Aussie

ooops, I forgot to post the picture

Campag4life

Partly cost...but mostly material property driven. Some love their Ti frames but the reality is CF has a better strength to weight to stiffness ratio compared to Ti. Ti is whippy compared to CF at the same weight and strength...reduced modulus of elasticity. That is why you see mostly full CF bikes at the elite racing level.

rapidcarbon

lots of ti fork for mtb crowd out there, but I haven't seen a ti fork for roadie yet.

gurana

How difficult is it to get a Ti steerer cut?

Patriot

It cuts, if using a heavy duty pipe cutter. Even a smaller tubing cutter will work, if it will fit. Use it very slowly and gently. Make VERY small turns (~1/8 turn) on the tension after every two rotations. It makes a perfect cut. It takes time, but the results are fantastic.