Originally Posted by
DiabloScott
My Klein road bike has carbon fork with aluminum steerer and it's bonded to the headset bearings; proprietary and I can't replace it. I think about it once in a while but I don't worry about it.
How does your wooden pin help though? If the steerer breaks your handlebars are going sideways even if they don't fall off... the resulting crash is going to be the same.
There's a big difference between losing steering, if you do, and having the front wheel disappear from under you.
The second is a 100% absolutely positive faceplant. There's also the possibility that there might be enough friction in the safety pin to help steering enough to either stop or lay the bike over. I'll take road rash or even a broken collarbone over a face plane anytime.
In thinking about risk, I factor both likelihood and consequences. The likelihood of a steerer failure, even with aluminum is very low, but the consequences can be extreme. Of all possible catastrophic failures, I rate steerer failure at the top, and consider even low risk unacceptable.