benajah

My biggest fear is waking up in hell or heaven, but hospital is a close second. Seriously though glad you are okay. A 2003 for, probably no warranty but I don't ride treks so I'm not sure. But glad you're okay.

benajah

Well put. I don't ride carbon (okay AL frame but carbon fork, seat post, etc) but I have a carbon fiber prosthetic leg. Carbon is tough stuff. I rely on mine for everything. Climbing mountains in the Sierras, hauling heavier loads than an amputee should, snow skiing where I crash more than I should, and bike racing where I protect my socket with nothing more than 3 rubber strips epoxied to the side that hits the ground. Perfectly suitable for a bike frame, as has been proven time and again in grand tour races and local.
but like any material, it fatigues. It's good stuff, but riding a 2003 bike in 2012 might be pushing it a little when it comes to carbon and let me explain why, using the expertise of a person for whom a significant part of their body is made of carbon fiber....
When carbon gets some age in it, it needs to be inspected very carefully to make sure there are no cracks in the resin. The carbon doesn't break the resin does...think bricks. The resin is the clay and the carbon is the horsehair and straw. I inspect my legs with a magnifying glass.
carbon fiber does not fatigue. However, carbon is only part of the equation. The resin that holds that carbon together is the other. That resin is both fragile, and there are a bunch of them of varying qualities on the market.
carbon fiber materials, and the resins used will not fatigue through stress or vibration. But the resin can crack through impacts...sometimes very small impacts. My daughter broke one of my legs simply by knocking it over onto the concrete floor of our garage.
when looking at a 2003 bike, the question you have to ask yourself is "can I account for every time anything has impacted this material". For a bike, that gets tough, and exactly why I don't ride carbon frames. I can baby my carbon legs, but I don't baby my bikes.

benajah

Or even surly, so not so fancy, but point is steel forks are out there in force.

renton

The magnet on the spoke seems to be facing the broken arm of the fork and not the other arm where the sensor is?

Golfster

Warranty is good for the original owner, per Trek's published warranty statement. The lifetime portion does not pertain to forks, which is two years. The bike was already several years old when the OP purchased it, so it may not be covered under Trek's warranty at all. Maybe they will still do something for him, but based on their warranty info below, it does not appear they are obligated to do so.

At any rate, I wish the OP a speedy recovery.

LIFETIME

Frames for the lifetime of the original owner (except forks, the Session, Scratch, Slash, and Ticket model frames, and the swing arms on all full suspension bicycles)
5 years

Swing arms on all full suspension bicycles (except the Session, Scratch, and Slash model frames)
3 years

Session (aluminum), Scratch, Slash and Ticket model frames and swing arms
2 years

Session (carbon) model frames and swing arms
RIDE+ motor, controller, & battery pack (or 600 charges, whichever comes first)
All original Bontrager forks, parts and components (except consumables such as tires and tubes)

lazerzxr

Not a bad opinion really. Any engineer worth his salt would ensure that the moment capacity of the steerer is significantly greater than the capacity of the two fork legs combined and has a higher factor of safety against failure. Simply becasue the steerer cannot be inspected. Invisible parts are often designed with a higher factor of safety - it is good design practice. In addition the development length of the carbon fiber strnads is such that the failure is in fact likely to occur some distance down the fork leg, rather than in the zone of highest moment since that is where the effect of additional fiber layers used to reinforce the steerer connection diminishes.

StanSeven

Makes perfect sense

lazerzxr

Indeed it does
Still have no idea why it failed, but then, how could anyone from a picture