Old 10-14-18 | 01:36 PM
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79pmooney
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Joined: Oct 2014
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From: Portland, OR

Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder

I've talked to Dave Levy, TiCycles, about this. Ti forks are quite doable, but to get adequate stiffness, the blade diameter has to be a real step bigger than steel and they will look a little clumsy. Also, at the moment, that tapered blade would need to be custom drawn, not a cheap option. He has built a ti MTB fork that is super light. Thin ti blades and even thinner front blades running to and tying into the stem to form a triangular truss. Radical. Limits what you can do with the stem. But really light, really stiff and strong.

It is my opinion that steel forks match ti frames feel-wise really well; that the twice as high modulus of elasticity (material stiffness) for the unsupported fork matches the fully supported ti frame tubes near perfectly. (Said as the owner of two steel forked ti bikes. I did a quick spin on a steel forked ti bike almost 30 years ago and my thought was "This is it! Make this a custom road bike for me and it cannot get any better." Had my doubts many times after I plunked down my money and waited for my first custom. But first ride? "Yeah!!" 10 years later and another ti bike, same answer.

Ben
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