Originally Posted by
volvostephen
Well - I went down on a bike with a carbon fork. It was on a wet wooden bridge (of course I fell) and the front wheel smashed into the side of the bridge. The front wheel was a reinforced strong wheel and it bent something fierce but my carbon fork was fine - no signs of trauma. If that was steel, it would have for sure at least bent.
So - although I don't care either way - I don't buy into the myth of carbon breaking but I also don't think it is so much smoother. J bend is the way to go. If you have straight forks - then that is likely what you want to avoid regardless of carbon aluminum or cromo.
I like carbon fiber, but it does tend to hide damage from the type of fall you described, that only shows up on x-rays. Damage to metal is usually more apparent.
It is a myth that a J-bent fork is more flexible than a straight fork. They will both flex about the same for comparable dimension forks.