How much abuse can a carbon fork take?
 

I just built up my first road bike (after a few years of riding a hybrid), and it has a carbon fork. A Kestrel EMS Pro OS with an aluminum steerer.

I'm wondering how I can treat this fork. On my hybrid, with a steel fork, I would just ride off curbs and over speed bumps without thinking twice. I always make an effort to "ride light" when I do that sort of thing, but I'm wondering if a carbon fork can take that kind of riding.

The other day I rode off a curb with it by accident (after my headlight died...) and everything was fine, but I half expected it to snap like a twig.

I'm probably nervous for no reason, if carbon is good enough for cross, it is probably tough enough for the occasional curb or speed bump.

So how much can these forks actually take?

A lot.

+1 No problems here either...even with a CF steerer.

Short answer: nobody knows:
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...08X05209&key=1
But Sukhoi makes jets, not bikes, so it's probably fine.

It takes a head-on collision at about 25mph to break one. Don't ask me how I know.

how do you know?

I would worry more about my wheels than my fork if I was jumping curbs. Don't worry about the fork, especially with the aluminum steerer, you will be ok. Nice bike, congratulations!

No worries; though I don't make it a habit, I do go up/down curbs on occassion. No explosions yet.

my buddy commuted on a track bike with carbon forks for about a year and had no problems...
till he did a wheelie two weeks ago and landed with the front wheel perpendicular and cracked it. he wasn't going that fast either.

They make full carbon mt bikes. They make full carbon cyclocross bikes not to mentionn full carbon being raced in the pro pelaton. I dont htink a drop off a curb is going to hurt anything.

It wont last you as long as a steel fork but it should be fine. If you crash then that should raise concern.

Carbon fiber won't last as long as steel. It won't take a hit like steel, but you can abuse it...Just don't crash it. If you crash it then it could be damaged.

That remains to be seen.....there are alot of factors that will destroy steel faster than CF...ever seen CF rust?
This is misleading....CF is very strong, i'm not a materials engineer but i suspect it can take the same, if not more, force as steel, steel just happens to let you know before it fails by bending. I also suspect that a large number of CF failures have more to do with their particular construction process rather than the material itself.

whatever you do never leave CF in the back of a car on a hot day, you're likely to destroy a whole city block

strong, but brittle.

Thats poppycock.

A steel fork is just as vulnerable in a collision as carbon because it can bend. Carbon has similar flex it will just crack.

To the poster... I've been hit by a car 3 times on my road bike. Had my carbon components tested each time and all are within spec. But again... it depends on the situation. Although... all 3 times were pretty good licks.