Tech Q & A: “I’ve Been Afraid of Carbon Forks”
Jim’s Tech Talk
By Jim Langley
You may have noticed that we’ve added a nice feature to the end of a few of our columns recently: a form that makes it easy to submit questions to the writer. A reader named “Keith K.” used it to send in this week’s technical question. He has another query about forks, which were the topic of our last Jim’s Tech Talk, too: Will Changing The Fork Ruin Jo’s Ride? But Keith’s has to do with whether all fork materials are equally safe, which is a great question and one that some of you might have too.
Keith wants to know
“Regarding the post about swapping forks, I was hoping you would address replacing a carbon fork with a steel fork. A friend had a serious accident a few years ago when his carbon fork failed (he was going fast). He had no issues with his titanium frame. Ever since, I’ve been afraid of carbon forks.
I’m considering purchasing a new bike, but most (even titanium, steel, and aluminum frame bikes) seem to come with carbon forks. I get that carbon has some nice properties and is easy for manufacturers to shape as they like, but I’m leery of their fragility.
Can I swap out the stock carbon fork on a new bike for a steel fork? What would I be giving up, other than a few ounces?”
Steel forks
To get an expert’s take on the availability of a custom steel fork to take the place of a carbon stock fork on a bike, I called my friend and framebuilder Paul Sadoff of Rock Lobster Cycles here in Santa Cruz, California. Before he went into framebuilding, I worked in The Bicycle Center with him where he was another mechanic at the time (1980). He’s been building custom frames for over 40 years now in steel and aluminum and most go out with carbon forks.
Paul told me that he doesn’t get many orders for custom steel forks (about 20 in recent years), but that he can make them if a rider wants one. He said the reasons these cyclists typically want steel is because it’s what they had or that they want a fork with multiple braze-ons (for racks, lights, fenders, etc.), or because they believe that the steel fork has ride characteristics they prefer and that they feel are superior to the ride of carbon forks.
So, you should be able to get a steel fork that’s built right to fit and ride correctly on whatever bicycle you buy, Keith, and Paul could build it for you.
Paul did point out that when bikes have tapered head tubes it means steel forks become significantly heavier due to the tapered steerer (top tube of the fork). But he said that these riders aren’t always that concerned about extra weight, especially if the bike is already running extra wide tires, a wide-range drivetrain and going to be loaded down with bags anyway.
Regarding types of steel, Paul says “he has sourced steel tubes from all over the world for decades. In the changing times manufacturers have come and gone but I have always tried to use as much domestically produced materials as possible. What is available now are tubes from Velo-Spec, a Taiwan based company that has bought a huge consignment of USA steel from the former tubing supplier True Temper.
I also use tubes from Vari-Wall, a company in Ohio. When those tubes are not available or are incorrect for a particular build I will source metal from Columbus or Dedacciai in Italy or Reynolds in the UK. Much of my frame building hardware comes from Paragon Machine Works right here in California. [Editor’s note: sadly, Paragon recently went out of business (but Paul might still have parts).]
Paul continues, “Wherever my materials come from, they do have to be of a certain quality or I will not use them. When one purchases a custom frame, the materials cost is not a large percentage of the price so upgrading to really high quality tubing is a relatively inexpensive thing to do and the benefits are tremendous.”
In the photo here you can see a steel fork Paul built for a classic-style road bike used in the vintage ride Eroica. He can build whatever type of fork you require too.
Are carbon forks fragile?
Since you’re afraid of riding on a carbon fork Keith, I think you should get a steel fork. Because you won’t be able to enjoy riding when you’re worrying the whole time.
But, I don’t think of carbon forks as fragile and neither does Paul Sadoff. He says that with modern carbon forks, in a crash it’s more likely you’ll damage the carbon frame than the fork because they’re so overbuilt. Which is why almost all of his new frames and bikes go out with carbon forks. He uses Enve carbon forks and says they made awesome forks and have an excellent warranty too.
Paul says that sure, if it’s a very old carbon fork that has been beat-up and abused, scratched and knocked around – and especially if it’s so old it has a 1-inch steerer, then yes, you would be well advised to replace it (maybe that’s why your friend’s failed?). But you could say that about older steel forks in that condition too.
What are you giving up going to steel
You said that you understand and aren’t worried about the minor weight difference of a steel fork Keith. The other characteristic of carbon forks you might miss is the vibration damping of carbon. But bicycle ride quality is extremely subjective and you might not even notice the damping. Plus, if you’re running wider tires at lower pressures or considering suspended components such as a fork, stem or seatpost (you didn’t say what type of new bike you’re looking at), then these can override anything you’d gain from the fork.
While you might need a custom built fork for the bike you buy in order for it to fit and work correctly for you, you might want to know that stock steel road forks are still available from companies such as Surly, Tange, Ritchey, etc. and likely at a lower price than a bespoke fork. Just be sure you can get exactly what’s needed for your new bike before ordering.
Jim Langley is RBR’s Technical Editor. A pro mechanic & cycling writer for more than 40 years, he’s the author of Your Home Bicycle Workshop in the RBR eBookstore. Tune in to Jim’s popular YouTube channel for wheel building & bike repair how-to’s. Jim’s also known for his cycling streak that ended in February 2022 with a total of 10,269 consecutive daily rides (28 years, 1 month and 11 days of never missing a ride). Click to read Jim’s full bio.
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