I toured for three weeks in Europe with carbon forks and I wouldn't do it again. I spent most of my time throwing myself in between them and every other object they were in danger of coming in contact with or hovering over them ... just in case something came close to them.

I had been told that if I nicked them, that would be the end of the road. Well, believe me, when you tour, you run a much high risk of nicking your forks than if you just ride around the block or in your local Time Trial. Bicycles are loaded into baggage cars of trains and busses without a second thought to their condition. Bicycles fall against trees when you are trying to load your panniers onto them. Even if you do manage to stand beside your bicycle on a train, people with heavy suitcases will come in and bang those suitcases against your bicycle. Machak bears the scars of many such occurrances.

Then there's the thing about installing a front rack ... I couldn't with mine! That meant that all the weight of my load went on the back of the bicycle which is the wrong setup. Even if there had been eyelettes, I had also been told that it would be extremely dangerous to put a front rack on because of the direction of force.

I changed my forks out to steel ... a decision I have not regretted.


....... especially after seeing the damage to a fellow cyclist's face after his carbon forks failed on him on a steep descent .....