Originally Posted by
UberGeek
I would say a $100 would be worthwhile to drop on the bike (Biased opinion and all).
Not on a carbon fork. Because
1. CF does not magically remove vibrations, let alone big thumps - fork geometry and stiffness simply varies, and you can have forgiving forks in any material
2. I'm really against selling CF frame components to non-racers. Racers can reasonably be assumed to know what they are doing and to read the tech docs - and if they don't, it is their own fault - but most of the people here, no. A CF fork or frame can take quite a minor (or major bang) and look fine afterwards, then shatter an instant under minor stress - this is because of delamination, and inspecting for it is difficult even if you know what you are doing. A fork or frame could also take this stress while locked if someone tries to steal it or just runs into it. The result is a bike looks fine, you ride it, then you maybe hit a small pot hole and
I'm not saying that CF is super-dangerous, but delamination is a real risk, and the material does not have the magical properties the marketing people brainwash some consumers into believing in.
You can also get delamination without accident damage on poorly built cf components - I'd never buy a $100 cf fork unless it was a $250 from a manufacturer like Cannondale and on sale. A cheap cf fork on a road full of cracks and potholes is just asking for trouble.
If I was going to spend $100 on making that bike ride better on bad road then I'd buy wider rims and tyres - adding in the money from the sale of the old ones.