THis is an example of the evolution of material science and manufacturing technology
through the '90s. CF has been used in frames since the '70s, usually with poor
results until monocoque frames began to be widely made in the mid '90s. In 1990
forks could only be made of steel, with cro moly blends being the high end alloy here.
A typical fork would weigh 650-800grams. Aluminum shaved 100-200gms off this
weight but it is harder to make a good Al fork and in this area of very high stress
Al was more problematic than in the rest of the frame. CF forks started showing up
in the '90s as high dollar replacements costing 5-10x what steel would cost, getting
weights down to the 500gram range. As manufacturing technology advanced, glues
got better the price of the fork drifted down. Trek switched to CF forks in their OCLV
frames in '95-'96, the previous forks being Al. The Taiwanese tackled manufacturing
and have pretty much booted the US companies out of the market, making CF forks for
<$100 so that they are cheap enough to be put on almost all road bikes costing more
than $600-800 retail. Steve