Hi, certainly going to get this looked at but I had a low speed crash recently where I went over the handlebars. I took most the impact.

bike in surprisingly good shape (from what I can tell) but the front wheel no longer runs true. Put another wheel on the bike and can confirm the wobble is due to the wheel only.

however, I did find this small hairline mark about 1.5cm in length. It’s on the dropout of the fork, on the side that didn’t have any impact. It’s hard to notice without the light and I don’t think I would have noticed this if I hadn’t been looking over the bike carefully.

its on an edge but I do catch my nail on it ever so slightly. The tap test sounds fine.

Initial thoughts on cosmetic mark or potential crack?

I suspect the mark is a superficial scratch and not the start of a crack. But none of us here in the interweb world will be able to tell for sure without a better ability to examine, as the fork being in hand.

One could return the fork to the seller/maker for their assessment.

Me I would ride it and routinely check it out for growth. Andy

I would be more concerned about the missing front brake rotor.

Welcome to bike forums. Sorry for your accident.

Depth of the 'scratch' is what matters. Completely thru the paint? Was the fork clearcoated before paint, giving extra scratch depth?

On the upside = the white paint allows for easy inspection.

Butt, ... if the 'crack' appeared after a front-ender AND there are no other scratch marks in the vicinity (from the fall) - I would be suspect. A suspect fork is a bummer. Not good that the 'scratch' originates at the edge of the thru-axle, which may have received a sudden twisting impact.

An experienced wheel builder who trues/repairs wheels at your LocalBikeShop may see a lot of carbon forks that have your concern. Ask that person - probably no cost for a hands-on opinion, when getting wheel repaired.

edit: my guess, if you were to investigate with the manufacturer, is that the recommended solution is a fork replacement, following a front impact collision sufficient to propel rider over the handlebars and damaging front wheel.

This is key. Mark both ends of the "crack" with a Sharpie and watch it regularly. Just eyeballing it is not precise enough. If it grows at all, you have your answer.

Thing like this are better left for the people that can see it in person. Low speed crash is not likely to be a issue for any frame or fork. Unless it was into a brick wall and the total weight involved in the crash is excessive. <grin>. If so, I'd be looking at the down tube more closely too.

I thought the same thing, but perhaps this is the second wheel he installed to check the wobble of the first one (Second sentence in the original post)?

Thanks all. I’m uncertain if the mark was there before or after the crash but will be having it looked at anyway. Just wanted some opinions from those more experienced than me.

and yes, it’s the second wheel - it’s not an oversight that there is no disc break 😆

I took my post crash CF bike, pretty bad crash, into 3 local bike shops for inspection - including the corporate store for the brand - they all said the exact same thing.

"Throw it in the trash". No visible signs of damage... but they didn't want the liability. Took me a while to get comfortable on the bike, but I still ride it 5 years later.

Hidden damage is the problem. Only a CF repair shop/inspector can really tell 100%. And that may not even be 100%...