darkarcher

For those of you who have spent some time on both, compare and contrast a quality steel fork (725 and the like or better) vs a carbon fork. Ok we can skip the "carbon fork is lighter" comments, its the less obvious things I am curious about. Assume this fork is attached to a nice steel frame.

GhostSS

*ignores lightness arguments*

Carbon forks absorb a bit more road vibrations, enough so that there is an obvious difference. Carbon won't rust. From what I've seen, most of the carbon forks don't have as much rake.

That's all I got.

seau grateau

Carbon is less real.

Wspsux

Carbon isn't as pretty as a nice steel fork

UltraManDan

Mumonkan

to be honest, i dont notice any difference in feel or vibration absorption, between my steel frame with a crabon frok and my steel frame with a steel fork, other than the fact that its lighter.

TejanoTrackie 

That chart is for crushing of materials, and is totally irrelevant regarding the vibration damping capabilities of different materials in their elastic range.

UltraManDan

The chart shows that carbon can absorb almost twice as much energy as steel. OP wasn't specific about what he wanted to know other than not wanting to hear that "it's lighter". So there ya go. It has a much higher energy absorption potential.

TejanoTrackie 

So, a fork made of carbon fiber will absorb more energy in a crash than a steel fork. Wow, that's really good to know.

orangeology

i have a Columbus Minimal, a 'full' carbon fork that also has nice rake curve like steel ones, on Masi 3V steel frame.
haven't been able to tell a big difference between a steel fork and it. both outlook and feel. except color. unless painted, it's black.

darkarcher

Thanks for the feedback everyone. This basically confirms by theories. Any comments on lateral rigidity? I am 190lbs lightly clothed so when I get up out of the saddle I don't want a lot of sway, I want the best energy transfer I can get. Is that carbon or steel? Assuming both are of good quality.

TejanoTrackie 

Energy transfer to the rear wheel is determined primarily by the stiffness of the frame, cranks and rear wheel. The fork and front wheel play a very small part in this, which is why front wheels with low spoke counts and radial lacing work fine. If you are throwing the bike side to side a lot when you get out of the saddle, then you are just wasting a lot of energy that could otherwise be used to propel the bike forward.

bbattle

I'd go with a nice steel fork for a nice steel frame. I haven't noticed that much of a difference in my bikes to make me want to switch all my forks to one or the other but if you've got a nice steel frame, go for a nice steel fork.

GhostSS

I think it's odd no one seems to be able to tell the difference between steel and carbon for road vibrations. I've ridden on (Fuji) Molybdenum alloy, (Giant) Chomoly alloy, and (Retrospec) hi-ten and none of them are feel as "soft" as the carbon fork when I switched it out.

JamesCraps

steel looks nicer, probably easier to make your steel bike frame, cheaper, reallll