I do light (credit card) touring on a Cannodale SR500. It has served me very well. Plenty of heel clearance and a comfortable ride with the panniers.


On my last tour, Fedex must have tossed the bike off of the back of the truck. The box was crushed at the fork end. The fork protector was snapped in half. The bike must have really been dropped hard.

One of the drop outs was bent in slightly. Enough that I could not get the wheel back on, without splipping it over the end of the axle.

I have filed a claim with FedEx and it looks like they are going to pay for the damage.

Now I guess I should invest in a hard case for the bike but with one way travel (as this trip was), they can be a real pain and expensive shipping the empty box ahead.


So I have to replace the fork. Considering the potential for catastrophic failure of carbon due to incidents like mine. Would I be better off with steel or should I stick with carbon and try to protect the fork a bit better next time?