cabon forks

How much of ride quality diff does a carbon fork make on an alum frame bike?:confused:

I'm in the market for lesser priced back-up bike to my carbon roadie.

My first road bike was an alum frame, with a carbon fork and post. Even with the carbon adds, it was very rough to ride.

The back-up bike I'm considering the alum again only to keep the cost down. The lbs owner told me I should at least upgrade from the base model that is all alum, to the version with a carbon fork.

I guess I already had that once though, and it was still rough. So how much a diff will there be to gain the cost savings?

Ops/exp?

I have a carbon fork on one of my steel bikes. It does dampen the vibrations, but the vibrations aren't too bad with steel anyways. Any chance you would consider a steel bike instead of aluminum?

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Originally Posted by tulip

Any chance you would consider a steel bike instead of aluminum?

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+1. My two roadies are full carbon and full steel, and they both get ridden equally.

Are you actually gonna ride an all aluminum road bike when you've got an orbea?

My prediction is that you're gonna hate it. I haven't been on an aluminum bike without a carbon fork. Can you get a steel fork maybe on an aluminum bike?

I know when I was riding aluminum, I did find that aluminum with carbon seatstays was more comfortable than just aluminum. But I haven't ridden aluminum in a while and it may be that a couple of years later, on well fitting aluminum I'd be fine. My core and the rest of that is a lot stronger and I've dialed in fit better.

Do you maybe want to go used with a backup bike? I know the old trek 520's had 73 degree seat angles - not the newer ones (those have the 75's or whatever)

:)Thx for the replies.

Sure, I'd ride steele. I've never ridden a modern steele bike before. But, my old 10speed from being a teen was steele. Very heavy steele. Though, I had no ill memories of it riding harsh. It was a cheap big box store bike.

The back-up bike could be used carbon, used steele, whatever. Anything that would fit me right.

Jamis makes some nice steel road bikes. Maybe you could find a used one.

Maybe look at the jamis aurora:

http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebik...urora_geo.html

the geometry looks like what you're looking for.

I don't think you'll like the 75 degree seat angle on the luna that's posted on here.

I ride an aluminum bike with a carbon fork and seat stay, and the ride's very comfortable for me. Maybe roads around here are less rough?

My aluminum bike is every bit as comfortable as my steel bike (and 10 pounds lighter).

OK, good to know... thanks for the additional replies.

Carbon forks can be made to be as "stiff" or "compliant" as any other material. If you are looking to dampen the ride, consider a very light, slender version, nothing "aero" or built for crit riders, for example. And, yes, steel forks can be very forgiving, but not necessarily so, either!

OK, gotcha... thanks for the info, Margo:).