Originally Posted by 79pmooney

But there is one very significant difference had this been a steel fork. Virtually certainly, the rider would have noticed a bend in the fork after that first crash. Would have needed to straighten it. And therefore been fully aware the fork had been stressed.

When I crashed my Mooney in its 4th year, I had a framebuilder straighten the forkblades and placed an order with Peter Mooney for a new fork, A year later, the framebuilder painted the frame and new fork. To me. that is one of the joys of steel forks. Being able to straighten and ride them, while knowing that the fork is no longer a "keeper". Yes, passing that fork off to someone else as a good fork would be very unethical to say the least. But I still have it in the garage and would use it tomorrow if I had to ride and couldn't use the new one. (For a short time.) And it is likely that if it did start to fail, there would be cracks to be seen or loss of stiffness to be felt BEFORE the fork actually snapped.

I say this but put out as a caution: There is one thing you should NEVER do with a quality steel fork! Never, never nickle plate it and not do the approved heat treat afterwards. (Nickle plating drives hydrogen molecules into the grain of high strength steels. The correct heat treat drives off those molecules.) I learned this when I had the fork of my ti fix gear nickle plated to look close to the ti finish. The plater skipped the heat treat and did not mention it. Three years later, cracks developed around the edge of the fork crown. Very fortunately, I decided to back off and ride 2000' of descents that ride very gently (for an entirely unrelated mechanical issue). Down on flat ground, the bike started shuddering violently ever time I touched the front brake. Got home and bent the fork tip out 8" with about 4 ounces of force. Someone was looking after me.

So, with that caution thrown in, I will close by saying I love steel forks. I love that they give second chances and tell you when they have been compromised. Plus, done right, they have a beauty that isn't there with CF. And good steel forks have such a sweet ride.

Ben