Yeah I remember when the Oregon framebuilder's org, (OBCA I think) made a fork-testing jig to the European standards for Oregon FBs to use. They tested a perfectly good steel fork made of, I dunno, Columbus SL or some such. The kind of fork that typically goes 70 years or more of continuous riding and which has won all those Tours de France and every other race, has been used for loaded around-the-world touring etc etc. Needless to say the fork bent on the first "wham". Carbon forks pass that test, but we've all seen the pictures of those forks with both blades snapped off while JRA, so the test is not useful IMHO.

Here's one of my favorites,


Adam Yates in a solo breakaway in a Classic, ~1 km from the finish and almost guaranteed to win, crashed because his fork snapped from hitting a pot-hole. Yes, the fork breaking preceded and caused the crash, not the other way. Being a true pro, he couldn't talk about it, but I can imagine what his opinion was of that maker!

Mark B