fietsbob

# 1 is Ribble a real bike shop and will they ship you a steel fork that is compatible with the rest of the bike?

Or just a invoice printer and a warehouse shipper , that charges your credit card. ?

Wattsup

Carbon (plastique) forks are fine. Just be sure to always carry a spare.

86az135i

I'm 200lbs and have a full carbon cyclocross that I've taken on single track trails before. The bike has taken some serious hits. Same with many many other bikes. If carbon fiber was such a huge issues, you'd see failures everywhere.

Hiro11

Sheesh. 3 pages talking about this? I'm surprised that carbon is still controversial.

Bent Bill

I weigh 265 pounds and I havent had any troubles with my bike which is all carbon fiber and I have run thru numerous unavoidable large/deep pot holes over the years with it

bike is my avatar

Teamprovicycle

just add another point , most serious cyclist put more miles on their full carbon race frames and forks in one month ,
than you probably will in 6 months to a year ,
these guys are doing 1000 plus miles a month on carbon bikes with little to no issues .
the only thing i really dont get it carbon rims ,
im sure they are great for race day but pretty much worthless any other time you are not doing a serious race or event !!!

Bonzo Banana

I'm right on the limit what many regular bikes are certified up to take about 135-140kg there abouts. A few years ago when I did a lot of research on bicycle materials for heavy people like myself steel came back as the most suitable material by far for heavy riders. Not necessarily because of the actual strength comparison just because imminent failure of components had some warning and wasn't instant. At the time it seemed no carbon components were rated to take my weight generally and was told that carbon fibre was strong but had little capacity to be overloaded and could instantly fail and crack where as aluminium would have accelerated fatigue and steel accelerated but still slower fatigue than aluminium if overloaded. So at the time when I was actually heavier I ended up with a rigid steel mountain bike and that bike served me very well without issues and is still fine today about 15 years later.

I feel someone like myself taking cycling to the extreme end of rider weight clearly has to be careful but honestly at 100kg I'd have no concerns about riding a reputable bike with carbon forks. You should be well within the weight tolerances of the bike. My only concern really with carbon fibre is I like a bike I can generally abuse, it may be locked outside shops, fall over occasionally, a few minor accidents here and there and might get a hard life. I'm just not so keen on a bike that needs a little more protection from such abuse. I saw an old chap the other day riding an old 3 speed bike from the seventies. It sounded mechanically perfect and cycling was clearly keeping him active and healthy. I'm a big fan of engineering that lasts many decades I just have a negative feeling about carbon fibre and our wasteful society, it's just an issue I personally have. I know that will probably change in a few years as newer carbon fibre will be recyclable from what I've seen and hopefully the industry will adopt that but I hate products designed with landfill in mind, every other bike material is fully recyclable.

jdsyachts

Some time ago I saw a test of carbon vs aluminum handlebars. Carbon came out well ahead in cycles before failure. Load carrying capabilities were about the same. You can get all carbon forks or carbon with aluminum steerer post. Strengthwise carbon performs very well.
I like the dampening you get with a carbon fork. Just my opinion.

tagaproject6

Define "treated well"?

Too much handwringing. Not something to worry about.

indyfabz

Dinner, a movie and cab fare home.

notwomamils

There are a lot of options in Reynolds 631, 725, 853 in the UK. Genesis make several, the Croix de fer, equilibrium, fugio, some with carbon, some streel forks. Sonder Santiago, Fearless Vulture, Temple Adventure disc. Steel framed steel forked adventure/touring /gravel bikes are really common over there

Reynolds 

CF would be a great material for bicycles if steel didn't exist.

sputniky

My bike couldn't be made from steel so I'm glad that CF exists.

Reynolds 

One can have an all steel bike (except for tires and saddle top) but not an all CF one.

sputniky

Non sequitur.

My bike couldn't be made from steel so I'm still glad that CF exists.

mstateglfr 

...or buy one of the readily available steel forks off the internet and receive it in a few days.

So it's chase unicorns, spend $400 on a custom fork, or spend $100-150 on a quality steel fork.

mstateglfr 

What is this supposed to show? Honestly, you think someone who orders from ribble cant then order a fork that works from wherever in the world sells it for cheapest?

There is a good chance I could order and receive a fork of my choice faster online and for less money than if I asked any of the local bike shops to order it.

Of someone can completely buy a bike from to be, with aambout 10min of reading they can search for a fork that meets the specs they want.

Cyclist0108

Sorry, I didn't see that until just now.

In my case, the frame was custom, which I think is easier to do with steel.

Also, I don't think carbon is inferior, but the (very few) frames I have tried were too stiff for my personal tastes.

I think with forks, especially those with disc brakes attached, stiffness is an asset, and also the carbon fiber has high-frequency vibrational dampening properties that make it more comfortable.

ColonelSanders

Firstly, I am not necessarily expecting you to answer the following questions, this is more just me "talking out aloud" and wondering about things.


If carbon can simultaneously be stiff in a fork for disc brakes, but also have dampening properties to make things more comfortable, why does this work for the fork and not the frame?


Is it not possible to build a stiff and comfortable frame with carbon, but it is possible to do that with a fork?


It just seems totally counterintuitive to think that one(out of carbon and steel) is more comfortable for frames and one for forks.


I've just taken possession of a Surly Troll and unless my mind is playing tricks on me, it seems notably more comfortable than my aluminium framed Merida Hybrid/Mountain bike and just as stiff in the bottom bracket when I ride hills, so I'll score one for steel being more comfortable than aluminium, albeit at a weight penalty.


I mention the above to show that I am a fan of steel framed bikes, but I suspect a carbon frame bike should be able to be made more comfortable and just as stiff.


It seems like most carbon frames are made to be as stiff and light as possible, rather than comfortable, even though it doesn't have to be that way.


My biggest concern with a carbon frame is that they don't tend to have a super heavy rider in mind when they make them, whereas many steel bikes appear to take the Clydesdale into account, or it is just a happy accident that they do.


I'd also be worried about a carbon framed bike being dropped or tipped over and copping a whack on the side of the top tube.

Rowan

Yep... and I have bought stuff from Ribble in the past that has been totally satisfactory and shipped to the other side of the world. Seeing it is an English company, it suggests to me that the products it sells are as described and as good as suggested, which is more than can be said for some other countries.

Korina

Have you actually spoken to someone at Ribble, to see if they would put on a steel fork?

Also, as a recent convert to Steel is Real, I figure if it's good enough for Richard Schwinn of Waterford Bikes and Georgena Terry, it's good enough for me. They make some very good points about modern steel and why a flexible frame is a good thing in their fascinating conversation 10(!) years ago here.

Cycle Tourist

I had a steel fork fail, (my only major crash. I still ride em.
My advice is "don't worry bout it." Modern CF is not gonna let you down. Get your dream bike with it's, (gulp) carbon fiber fork.

Duragrouch

Damping.

Damp = dissipate energy
Dampen = to wet, moisten

Duragrouch

Any material can be durable if the object is designed for the material. But there are performance and weight differences.

Aluminum has poor fatigue life (flexing within the elastic limit of the material), so for durability, aluminum frames are designed for very little flex, with large diameter tubes, which it can do without excessive weight or too thin wall thickness because aluminum is 1/3 the density of steel. Good for torsional rigidity (precise handling, less inadvertent upshifts), bad for longitudinal flex (bad ride). Perfect example is 1989 Cannondale 3.0 criterium frame with 2" diameter down tube.

High-strength steel has good fatigue life, so you can let it flex for good ride. But to get the torsional rigidity of aluminum, a larger down tube will have thin wall thickness, so be susceptible to dents, and very hard to weld without burning through.

Titanium has superb fatigue life, and is 1/2 the density of steel, so you can design a frame with good stiffness for handling and good flex for ride without wall thickness getting too thin. But the material is isotropic, same strength and stiffness in all directions, so you accomplish this by finessing the geometry of the tubes, like the tapered seat tube on a Litespeed.

Carbon fiber (with a high carbon fiber content, not tons of resin), is great stuff because you can tailor the direction of the fibers to give you the stiffness/flex you want. Down tubes are wrapped at 45 degrees to the axis in both directions for best torsional rigidity, but better longitudinal flex. Composites of carbon fiber and even fiberglass can be designed for infinite fatigue life below a certain stress level. Fiberglass composite transverse leave springs have been used on Corvettes in place of steel for over 30 years, they are both lighter and superior durability. But you need to shield the resin from UV light which will damage it. The Corvette C6 ZR-1 had a carbon fiber roof panel that was clear enough to see the carbon weave, cool looking, but the clear coat was reportedly $60,000 a gallon. Or you could use... wait for it... (opaque) paint. But then no carbon fiber bling. Carbon fiber also has virtually no plastic deformation before *snapping*, but that breaking point is usually much higher than comparable materials. Metals, on the other hand, to varying degrees, have a more "graceful degradation mode", above the yield strength of the material, they will plastically deform (dissipating energy and possibly reducing load) before ultimate failure (breaking into two or more pieces). Unless it's something like spring steel, very hard, and almost no spread between the yield and ultimate strengths of the material.

Gconan

thanks!