I have a Trek 1000 Alpha series frame that is all aluminum. I'm not so concerned with saving weight but if I upgraded the fork to carbon would my ride be dramatically smoother?

nope....

thanks! lol

A friend changed his... no difference.
Lower the PSI in your tires.

I agree. I think there's more in fork design than material. Save your bucks for a new bike down the road.

Switch to slightly larger tires if you can fit them. Lower the pressure in your tires. Don't replace your fork unless it's a safety hazard (deep rust, cracked welds, crash damage, etc). If you do replace the fork eventually, stick with steel unless you're trying to save weight.

When I switched from aluminum to carbon, the difference felt very much the same as removing 5 or so psi from my tires. I would not recommend upgrading for a more comfortable ride.

Despite the postings so far, the majority of people here feel a CF fork makes a difference in ride and comfort. Do some searches and you'll get a better feel for what people say and think about CF forks. Just about every new road bike sold now has CF forks, including frames made of Ti, steel and Al.

if you are going to switch, make sure you get the same rake. or get a different rake if that is what you are looking for specifically.

Should be a little smoother for the hands, but not any kinder to your butt. Hopefully, it will be an efficient weight savings too.

How much is real vs. how much is placebo is impossible to tell. I'm generally skeptical, but I believe in the CF fork...

Good evening

When I was at school I saved my paper round money for a long time to change from 27 * 1/4, an old UK wheel spec, to tubulars and I couldn't tell the difference.

This was a change from wide and squishish to narrow and hard, but go on and try to bend a fork, steel or CF and then press your front tire. There is so much compliance within the tire that the fork's construction really doesn't matter.

Bye

Ian Smith

aquateen, Just to add emphasis to most of the above, I have two aluminum bikes that have nearly identical frames, the same tires, but different forks, one CF and one aluminum. They're very much the same WRT smoothness.

You don't need to run tires at max pressure, my 190 lbs. works just fine on 23C tires at 100 PSI.

Brad

obviously, if you ride on super smooth roads, there won't be a huge difference between a CF and a steel/aluminum fork. likewise, a CF fork will not help much if you encounter massive potholes. however, for general urban/street riding where the street surfaces are somewhat degraded or inconsistent, the difference for me was night and day (keeping the same tires, psi). i agree that similar comfort enhancements may be achieved by changing to larger tires (e.g., from 23 to 25 or 28) or lowering the psi (beware of pinch flats, especially if you are a bigger rider).

Depends on how bad your ride is now. Carbon will absorb some vibrations.

just need to be aware that absorbing vibrations (ie road buzz) is significantly different than the shock induced from potholes, road cracks, and etc... the buzz will get better with carbon fork, but it certainly isn't a cure all... personally I wouldn't do it...

You can upgrade your stem, seatpost, psi changes, handlebars. Any and all changes would be as good or not specifically better for you.

Take a deep breath, think, and try saying that again

Carbon might be slightly better but I agree with the guys telling you to run less pressure and het fatter tires. I'd get a set of 25mm GP4000's and rub them at the low end appropriate for your weight. Save your pennies for a new bike down the road (with carbon fork).

Putting a cf fork on your bike would be a waste of money and effort. Softer riding tires should do the trick.

I made the change to a carbon fork from an aluminum fork on a vintage 91 Cannondale R400. The difference was significant. Much smoother, less vibration with less stress on the arms (due to less vibration). But, it's important to note the fork came from a 2.8 Cannondale that had the same rake as the fork I removed so the handling of the bike was not affected by the change. As was stated before, it didn't help my butt with the stiff ride of that frame.
I just added a carbon seat post to my Cannondale SR500. I didn't expect much of an improvement, it was in the parts bin so I made the change. I was wrong, after 50 miles I could feel the difference, the carbon post stays on.