ive heard of the riddle of steel... but the riddle of carbon fiber? a friend of a friend had a carbon fork snap on her and she had to medevaced out w/ a concussion. i love the idea but do not trust it enough; microfractures and snappage top my freak out list- no plastic and no aluminum- steel, ti and magnesium are all ok?

I thought that carbon is littereally fibres that are epoxied together...in which case, cf is cf. carbon reinforced plastic/nylon is a different material.

infact, i have some carbon reinforced nylon in my house on some rc equipment...i also have some carbon fibre chassis for that same rc car...and their properties and look are different.

i'm probably wrong by saying this but...isnt carbon fibre a pure form? ie) fibres layed and bonded together? and therefore is *not* a composite?

wouldnt saying cf being plastic be the same as saying fibreglass is plastic? they are just bonded fibres, no?

I've been riding my road bike (also carbon) w/ a kestrel carbon fork for over a year with no problems, I’m not the hardest street rider with that bike, so take that into consideration, however…
I do have a Easton EC70, carbon fiber blades, alloy steerer, on my fixed steel frame that I’ve been happily blasting over pot holes for the past couple weeks without problem, my real question is...

How does cold effect CF? I assume earth temps aren't going to kill it, but is there too cold, or too warm for carbon, I’d like to drive this guy all winter but am a little worried about it sitting outside all day in the ice storms.

I have a carbon fork on my road racing bike and it's been through 3 crashes one of which put a gash in the side from the warped wheel coming around into the fork. Since no fibers are showing I still ride it. People use carbon forks in cyclocross, while I will not do it, they go through hell and I have never seen one break. I have however seen several carbon seet posts break so I have steel fork on my cross bike. I also have steel on my fixed too. The weight savings in carbon is signifigant but since a track/fixie conversion is so light to begin with there is no harm in using steel. The steel incidentally is a great shock absorbing ride, better then carbon I think but at a weight penalty.

nashbar carbon road fork

has taken quite a bit of abuse from me, and shows no visible signs of wear. it is true that when carbon fails, it often does so catastophically, but most of the times i've heard of this happening, it's been a situation where there was visible wear. if carbon forks just randomly snapped, people wouldn't ride them.

i dident read the whole thread beacuse im lazy but its way funny how people hate on carbon forks its not like were doing 10ft drops or nothing (at leats im not)theres crazy roadie guys out there who ride on the same roads as all you guys with carbon forks just fine.I would go carbon man if ya hit a ****ing building going 20 your dead anyway so might as well be a dead pimp whith the "fancy plastic"

Especially when its bright outside and the sun hits some black CF at just the right angle...

Almost like crystal.