Originally Posted by
monza
At this point I need a bike, but I’m having second thoughts about carbon fiber in general, and Trek in particular...
First, VERY glad to hear you are recovering well from this horrible accident with the snapped fork. Very few people survive to tell the story and those who do are normally left paralyzed. Do contact Trek immediately or seek an attorney if you don't even know where to start. Smaller bike companies would rather work in good faith directly with the victim instead of getting lawyers invoved. Trek, however, is a huge company and their legal department can crush you very quickly. Do not publish anything else in the forums in regard to the accident.
As far as options for a new bike, there are some very nice all-steel framesets out there. If you can afford going custom, consider a road bike from a mfrer like Rodriguez that come with steel fork. Non-custom steel options include bikes from Surly, Salsa and Rawland.