Originally Posted by
dosco
Good Q about the frame material. Mine is Columbus MS steel tubing ... the lugs in the picture look exactly like mine ... wouldn't surprise me if the OP's bike is made from Columbus steel tubes.
Don was, as I recall, not super stoked about crit geometry, thus the relaxed head and longer wheelbase.
I tend to have the rear wheel in the forward-most position in the dropout, and there's still 3/4" gap to the seat tube.
He installed a Sakae aluminum front fork on mine ... which will be replaced in 2 years when my younger kid graduates college. I'm a bit concerned it will randomly fail one day (I've heard bad things).
-Dave
I think Don knew what he was doing.
Yes, there are vaguely worded "bad things" said about aluminum forks, but never a documented report of a non-crash-related failure; I've never seen any, anyway.
Koga-Miyata, one of the most respected European bike brands, offers only aluminum or carbon forks for their loaded touring bike models.
And after decades of selling its 520 touring model with a steel fork, Trek switched to an aluminum fork a year or two ago. Given the conservative views of the average American purchaser of touring bikes regarding innovation, that was a bold move. Trek's literature says that the aluminum fork is both stronger and stiffer (against torsional forces) than the steel fork it replaced.
IOW, I wouldn't worry about the aluminum fork on the bike. I don't worry about the aluminum forks on the three bikes I own with those forks, including a Schwinn Peloton racing bike I bought new in 1995 and rode hard for years.