Carbon vs Steel Fork

[KnottedYet]

Seems like most of the carbon forks I was reading about a while ago had steel steerers.

My aluminum bike has a steel fork. (and my steel bike has a steel fork )

I rode an all-carbon road bike, and honestly I felt more road vibration than I did on the steel bikes I was testing. But that puppy was SO LIGHT.

Edit: I don't know much about geometry, but it seems that half a degree difference in an angle wouldn't make a huge change. If you think it will mess you up, could you ask your fork-builder to build a smidge more trail into your new fork?

[mimitabby]

how much does a custom steel fork cost??
A friend of ours went to the bike expo (sorry, i forget the name of it) last week.
he gave a report to our bike club and all he could talk about was the new carbon stuff.

steel is real. In 20 years, which bikes will people be buying? will our carbon ones even still be around?

I was in a prestigious bike shop a couple months ago trying to get a fork replacement. I went in wanting steel and 3 or 4 sales persons ganged up on me and talked me into getting carbon (which incidentally is really hard to put fenders on) and so I'll never know!

would steel have been better? i was told that it would be really hard on my hands. but who knows.

[Triskeliongirl]

how much does a custom steel fork cost?? ...I was in a prestigious bike shop a couple months ago trying to get a fork replacement. I went in wanting steel and 3 or 4 sales persons ganged up on me and talked me into getting carbon (which incidentally is really hard to put fenders on) and so I'll never know! would steel have been better? i was told that it would be really hard on my hands. but who knows.

First of all, I am only considering a custom steel fork cuz my bike has a 24" front wheel. You can buy production steel or carbon forks easily to fit your 700c wheeled bike. I can buy a production carbon fork, but not till next year cuz that's when the next production that Gerogena Terry ordered is due in. Since its a production fork, it will cost me $200. The fellow who makes the steel fork told me that if Georgena wanted to order say 10, he could sell me one for $200 but if he had to make one just for me it would cost $300. So, in my case going carbon is cheaper. The purported advantages of carbon are that it is a bit lighter and will smooth out the ride more. But my gut says this is a bigger issue on an aluminum bike than a steel bike, or perhaps on very bumpy terrain given that my 100% steel bike feels just as comfy to me as my titanium bike with carbon fork. However the ti/carbon bike wins hands down on the weight factor! BUT, the new bike I am building uses a lighter grade of steel (higher strength to weight ratio actually, so they can use less of it to build a frame of equal strength) so its an opportunity to have a relatively light steel bike. I picked up the frame for only $100 (even though those bikes sold for $2000 as complete bikes), and since I need a travel bike its cheaper to install s/s couplers on a steel bike than ti one.

The fender problem you are having is not cuz your fork is carbon, its cuz you bought a racing bike which doesn't have clearance or bosses for attaching fenders. My frame is like that too, but since it has to go to the frame builder for the s/s coupling, its an opportunity to remedy some of that if I want to.