Carbon Forks, how fragile?

So, views on carbon forks - they make the bike lighter, but more fragile - or are they really fragile? What is your view?

For bonus points, would you commute on a carbon fork? Yes/No?

Most pointless poll ever?

Boring.

Everyone has a right to their own opinion I suppose.

So anyone actually gonna be helpful?

What you planning to ride Belgian? I know people who commute/cycle instructors with carbon forks who haven't had a problem. Frankly, I don't think they're necessary. There was a study with a guy who rode two bikes (one lighter modern frame and one old steel frame) alternately on his commute and either the difference was negligible or the steel frame was actually quicker. I'd look it up but I'm meant to be busy working!

carbon forks are perfectly adequate for commuting on ,steel takes the knocks better and will outlive carbon

Belgiangoth: I ride with Carbon rigid forks on my Mountain bike. I ride Cannock Chase 2 or 3 times a week. They have handled there and I have riden trail centres in Wales and in the Lakes. I have had no issues. Many of the guys I rride with have Carbon rigid forks and have had no issues. With that said I would say that you would be more than ok on the road. Have a look on ebay and the tinternet for trigon carbon forks for more road / cycle-cross forks. Also check out http://www.carboncycles.cc/index.php A few of us use these forks for MTBing.
I hope to have a new commuter built up with the carbon cycle forks by this time next week. You are more than happy to check it out if you are interested.

Carbon is king

Carbon isn't king, it's just a material. Some forks are built to be light, some are built to be strong. This goes for all materials.

Those carbocycles (mentioned above) are plenty strong enough to rinse down Welsh mountains. Yet I'd not want to do a set of stairs with a steel NJS fork.

The OP needs to ask a different question.

Have you ridden much carbon?
Only you can answer your own question adequately-so ask you local bike shop for a test ride.
Commuting on carbon is fine, unless your commute takes you up the Soho road.

I vote you commute on these carbon forks.

Borrowed a Carbon MTB and found it very harsh and unforgiving...proper aches...

Your right.

It was all a massive mistake. Burn your bikes!

:)

Carbon is the best material for forks. Get some.

(unless your dirt jumping or something)

There was a study with a guy who rode two bikes (one lighter modern frame and one old steel frame) alternately on his commute and either the difference was negligible or the steel frame was actually quicker.

I think I know the thing you're talking about and it absolutely was not a study. It was a lighthearted 'piece' by a GP (who should have known better). Purely anecdotal and didn't isolate variables let alone try to minimise them.

Power to weight ratio decrees that a lighter bike is faster. (Assuming other things are constant). If you stop/start a lot or its hilly, even more so... Whether or not it's necessary is a whole other (personal) argument.

As far as carbon goes - my understading is that it's far stronger (for a given weight) than any metal, until it's stressed in an un-predicted way, cracked, fractured etc. Then it's totally unpredictable. For me, that makes it useless for heavy duty applications like commuting and touring, but if I had more money, that wouldn't be a concern. So long as you're willing to replace it (or take the risk) after a crash, then fine...

I'm still baffled why they use Carbon on MTB frames..

A man called Chris demonstrating carbon vs hammers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_O9PLorYPA&NR=1

Do not run carbon...madmen chasing you with hammers!!!

My bad, I should check my facts! On a funnier note, I heard one of the festival directors telling people to look at my 'cool fibreglass wheels' tonight. Then everyone wanted 'a go'. Brilliant..............

Carbon forks are fine for commuting. If there was any significant problems with the longetivity of them, we'd of heard about them by now.

I'd be worried about a pair of carbon forks after crashing in to something (and with steel forks), but then I'd imagine that would be the least of my worries.

Even if you carve your forks out of T-Rex teeth, stolen from the local museum. As soon as you crash them they will need replacing.

One of the worse failiures I've ever experianced, was with some previously crashed steel forks.

Carbons weakness is clamping torque. Focused torsion can make it fail.
Steels weakness is rust. Hidden rust can make it fail.
Alu weakness is fatigue. Over time it can crack and then fail.

Shit breaks.

I have commuted everyday for around a year on my carbon forks and HED3 and have yet to have any issues.

Even if you carve your forks out of T-Rex teeth, stolen from the local museum. As soon as you crash them they will need replacing.

One of the worse failiures I've ever experianced, was with some previously crashed steel forks.

Carbons weakness is clamping torque. Focused torsion can make it fail.
Steels weakness is rust. Hidden rust can make it fail.
Alu weakness is fatigue. Over time it can crack and then fail.

Shit breaks.

Yep, but the drawback of carbon is that very often you can't see any surface damage. With steel and aluminium you can see creases, rust, damage to the welds... Also, steel usually bends before it snaps, giving you at least some warning.

My fear is crabon fork users who may have a 'slight' accident (crash into a kerb, low-speed car door etc) and decide that the fork 'looks okay' may then hit a pothole at some point in the future and their fork explodes on them.

'Commuter friendly' bikes below £500-600 routinely come with crabon forks these days, and I reckon 90% of their users don't know about the need to replace crabon bits post-crash, even if they look fine.

What you are describing there^ is what happened to the steel forks on my beater, many moons ago. Slight crash, thought they were fine (little bit of bending). Bigger crash, and both fork legs parted company with the crown.

I'f your ignorant enough not to replaced crashed carbon forks. I doubt you'll the type to discover hair thin cracks in alu, or internal rust in steel.

Unless you're talking about a very specific person, that is not quite careful enough to replace crashed carbon, but just careful enough to check for cracks. That has a very specific crash that would internally damage carbon, but not metal. Followed by another to make it fail.

Carbon is the best material for most riding types. Replacement cost is the only reason I can see not to use it, and that is getting cheaper all the time.