I would get an aluminum track bike fork. There's some nice ones out there.

That type of corrosion is galvanic, and is common where aluminum is bonded directly to carbon because they are incompatible conductors. Water forms an electrical path between them and the aluminum rapidly corrodes where it contacts the carbon. Colnago rear dropout are rather famous for this.


I think the main thing that I took issue with your post was that you ascribe aluminum fork failures - which don't appear to be incredibly common, to the ride of the fork. But I think it is fair to say that SR Prism forks were incredibly common, not stiff, and didn't fail with any regularity - which would seem to suggest that the rule you've proposed isn't accurate.

Aluminum is not the toughest material in the world, but fork fatigue does not appear to be much of an issue or failures of older forks would be common enough for there to be a reputation. But you are really the first person I've ever heard that thinks that the common aluminum road forks are problematic compared to carbon or steel.

Indeed, as I alluded to it's made worse due to our climate, and likely why we see more such issues than people from other places.

Perhaps I didn't articulate myself well enough, you know how it can be with typed words in isolated posts rather than a free flowing conversation, but to call it a 'rule' is somewhat overstating my point, which is that in general (stress generalisation, not absolute) Alu forks are often either hasher or weaker than could be in alternative material and that if looking for a C+V fork for your Ti ride, you might be best served looking elsewhere at the more abundant options unless you know what you're looking for and why you're looking for it, whatever 'it' is, as the OP still hasn't told us what he wants form his fork other than 'not carbon'

And I certainly wasn't attributing failures directly to the ride, but that the overbuilding of Alu forks, which is very common, especially in cheaper examples, leads to a poor ride, and that I think the reason for the overbuilding is that it is hard to make a good one that rides sufficiently well whilst being as durable. The result is that many are overbuilt, the ones that aren't are fewer, and in some cases not as durable. Added to that, anecdotally I have seen more failures of Alu forks that I would expect given the number in distribution. My sample size is still small, statistically speaking, but i's enough to pique interest.

Well for clarity I think they are more problematic, a subtle but important distinction. I do not think they are problematic, I think that compared to alternatives you'd need a fairly convincing reason to be looking for one in preference. But 'I want one' is as convincing a reason as any.

For sure my thoughts are influenced by my experiences though, as it is the same for all of us.
I do find such discussions interesting though, especially to hear the experiences of others and discuss them, and let me be clear, not because I disagree, you can't disagree with an experience, but to understand why experiences can be so different. Sometimes it's sample size, sometimes it's environmental, sometimes it's just plain good or bad luck!

I get that, but what I was pointing out is that the type of galvanic corrosion you're talking about doesn't occur if the two halves are the same material. Aluminum tubes don't corrode where they are bonded to aluminum lugs or crowns. It is a carbon/steel, aluminum/steel or aluminum/carbon issue.

FWIW, I swapped out the Kinesis carbon fork on my '98 Litespeed last year in favor of a Tange Prestige curved blade model. My reason for the change was my size plus rough roads; I got nervous thinking about a snapping sound every time I jarred across a cattle guard (irrational, I know, but it wore on me). After a season aboard the steel fork, I could not tell a difference in the feel of the ride, better or worse. The only drawback is, I don't think they make a 1" threaded version.

The world is littered with 1" threaded steel forks of all quality levels. But you can take any steel steerer fork and thread it with bicycle shop tools.