Originally Posted by
geoffvsjeff
Steel is stronger than aluminum - no arguement there. I do take some issue with the idea that aluminum is stronger than carbon. It depends greatly on how each product is make. Carbon will probably cost you a little more, but there are some OK carbon forks out there that aren't too expensive. I am not into tricks at all, so I can't really help you out with product reviews there, but I would guess that for materials, steel is best, carbon is next, and aluminum is last. Really, I can't think of a worse material to make a fork out of than alumium (OK, that's not true, but you get the idea). I would stay away.
Also, you cannot powdercoat carbon. Sorry for being suck a buzzkill.
Based solely on my experience hand bending aluminum strips to make a drop handle for my camera, I would agree that aluminum is very weak. But at the same time in the description leader gives for their aluminum fork they make it sound superior to, at least their carbon model. And 6061 aluminum is what sugino messenger cranks are made from, so it a quality material.
We needed to make something beyond durable as well as all weather for the roughest of road conditions. We could have made any alloy fork. Fork100% made of pure hardened heat treated 6061 T6 aluminum. We chose to add extra welding on the fork crown to make it as strong as a BMX fork. We then added the benefit of the full aero bladed like our carbon I806 fork. this make this super strong lightweight aluminum fork both beautiful as well as functional.
And not a big deal to not powder coat carbon, just wondering. I have a spray gun and auto body paint. I just add a little more hardener to the mix and it's pretty strong and looks nice too.