I don't want to derail this thread, but one reason I will not own a CF frame is that I don't care for three characteristics of CF, all related to failure modes. One, real damage can remain completely hidden. Two, ultimate failure from that hidden damage is often very sudden, without warning and a complete fracture. The last is the fact that it absorbs very little energy in crashes, quite possibly meaning that my body has to make up the difference.

I have lived through a material failure that checked all the boxes. It was completely life changing and not for the better. I will now only ride ti or steel bikes and forks. I like the ride of ti over rough roads a lot more and see little downside outside cost. (After I had my eyes opened to ti's ride, it was 15 years before i was in a place where I could justify the expense. I may never be able to again. But I have two that should last my lifetime. (Both have steel forks, a really nice match for ti's ride.) I have had five steel forks fail on me. Three in hard crashes (from other causes) where they absorbed a good deal of energy while bending to unusable. Two failures from cracks. One was used fork of unknown history. Blade broke midway while riding. I rode it home (since I had already ridden it an unknown distance and the bike rode fine). The other was scary and a lesson in metallurgy. A Columbus SL fork cracked around the crown, both blades, because it was nickle plated and the plater failed to heat treat the fork after plating. (He knew but chose not to say up front that the heat treating was required and that there was a $30 fee for it.) After that fork started to shudder from the front brake, I nursed the bike home 5 miles. Scary, but box two did not get checked.

Ben