modmon

i bought a soma rush frame with matching fork and a friend of mine has had it over his shop, slowly building it up. stopped by there last night, had a few beers and talked about the bike. he asked me if i wanted to put a carbon fiber fork on the rush that he had laying around. its an echolon? carbon fork. he said he'd be willing to swap it out with the rush fork even.
think this would be a bad idea? the rush is going to be my commuter so im wondering if a carbon fork would be a bad choice. its a nice looking fork and it is painted and matches my frame...

pitboss

https://www.bikecult.com/works/parts.html#hs
(under forks)
Generic road straight-blade forks $55.00, 1" threaded, chrome, chomoly tubing, sloping crown, no eyelets

modmon

i already have the soma rush fork:

https://store.somafab.com/sorutrfr.html
" Lugged Track ForkLugged crown. CrMo construction.
28mm rake. "

would be an even trade for the echolon carbon fiber fork my friend has. im just debating between those two options. the soma fork is rad but the carbon fork will smooth out the ride a little more and will weigh a lot less than the steel one.

commander_taco

Very personal choice. I believe you have a black soma, so look wise, a black carbon fork will not stick out. Mount it (or place it next to the frame) and see if you like it. Wide blade ones do not look very good on a steel frame IMO. I liked my carbon fork I had on IRO, and it did a great job of smoothing out the roughness. Beware, it is hard to go back to steel fork once you are spoiled.

skitbraviking

I agree that carbon ain't such a good idea. I witnessed a rider take a spill during the CCC here in Chicago last weekend. It wasn't even that bad of a spill and his fork, a pricey Cannondale I believe, had two cracks in it. Now consider all the curbs and RR tracks and other misc sh*t that will be stepping in your path... whatcha think now?

cyclorat

Ya speedy jose's fork got jaaaaaaacked but hes still hittin the streets with it everyday...didja see him go down? I know how fast that cat can ride, how fast was he going?

Just hope it doesnt fail on him during messenger duty.

pitboss

He was hauling ass (as usual).
Skitbra and I saw that at the Damen/18th Mass race finish...rough. But he was fine. But the fork is cashed.
He even did the TT#2 and got best time - 6.31 min
hardcore

skitbraviking

He wasn't going his fastest. As a matter of fact he was slowing. It happened right in front of me and I still can't figure out how it happened. Nothing but a crack in the sidewalk.

Bikkhu

I'v got a "Pro" brand straight carbon fork on my Soma Rush, works fine, costs around 100 euros or so.

commander_taco

This is unusual. Are the cracks in the epoxy or that the carbon fabric is chaffed? It is a common knowledge that cracks do not spread in carbon fiber as easily as they do in metals. In any case the above example is not a definitive argument for getting a steel fork over a carbon fork, because, in a similar situation a steel fork could have bent out of alignment or cracked, hard to tell, since we do not know how exactly the accident affected the fork.

pitboss

The fork leg on the left side is cracked about 1/3 up from the bottom. The seam at the crown is a clean break and the carbon has separated at the seam. That is pretty much what I can remember. He did win the Mass Start, 1st rider in

kurremkarm

Use the soma fork and see how you like it. Can always change forks later.