I've had some close calls with squirrels, but never an actual impact. Does anyone know how an aluminum fork would hold up to a squirrel? I have a Cannondale Silkpath 500.
Why wouldn't it? It's not like a boulder came rolling down a mountain and struck your front wheel!! Every squirrel I hit (about 3 maybe 4) just shook the bike and the squirrel kind of bounced off and ran back from where it came. I don't think I've ever killed one.
I've also ran over rattle snakes sunning themselves on mountain roads at high speed. They don't have time to strike because your coming to fast. Not sure if they die from that or not because I figured I pissed them off I'm not going back to check their condition. I'm kind of mean with those guys, if their stretched out I use to run them over on purpose, but not if their coiled the coiled shape could make the bike unstable. Sometimes I hit them because I had no choice.