Carbon Fibre fork compared to Aluminium fork

[MTB_Roadie]

 

I saw a Carbon Fibre fork at the Argus Expo for only R600

 

Would this be a good investment as I currently only have an Aluminium fork on my bike?

 

Would my ride improve meaning smoother,etc??

 

Any help appreciated pls cause I will be fitting it to my Scott Speedster 4

 

 

 

MTB_Roadie2010-03-18 02:35:53

[MTB_Roadie]

anyone?

[Canaris]

yes.  the other (Retro) option is a steal fork, but they don't make them anymore.

[Eugene]

Carbon is supposed to be lighter and is supposed to dampen the vibrations more than aluminium.

 

Personally (and this is my opinion only), the difference is minimal and I do not believe that a human is sensitive enough to notice the difference, esp. on such a small part like a fork.

 

I would buy it purely for the look factor. just insure that the steerer diameter is the same. Most modern bikes have 1 1/8 inch steerers (mostly carbon) and the older aluminium ones used 1 inch steerers.

 

There will obviously be some older ones with the wider diameter and some newer ones with the narrow diameter, but just look out for that when buying.

[MTB_Roadie]

 

ah ok thnx Eugene, what upgrades would u recommend for lightning my bike? Already have other rims.

 

@ Canaris....I didnt ask for a other alternative, clearly asked bout a carbon fork...so why mention a steal fork?

 

MTB_Roadie2010-03-18 02:49:04

[Thug]

For that price, I'd be surprised if the fork didn't have an aluminium steerer as opposed to a carbon steerer.

[MTB_Roadie]

it does have an aluminium steerer, just the arms is carbon

[Canaris]

ah ok thnx Eugene' date=' what upgrades would u recommend for lightning my bike? Already have other rims.

@ Canaris....I didnt ask for a other alternative, clearly asked bout a carbon fork...so why mention a steal fork?
[/quote']

 

Simply, because alu has a lower fatigue value than steel or carbon.  As the fork takes the most vibration and pounding, it makes it the least suitable of the "bike" material for a fork (due to part failure).  I was more providing option (And stating my surprise that you have an Alu fork in the first place).  Then in retro, it may be easier to find the correctly sized steel fork (if it is 1 inch) than a carbon fork.

[Eugene]

ah ok thnx Eugene' date=' what upgrades would u recommend for lightning my bike? Already have other rims.

[/quote']

 

The experts say that the best way to lighten your bike is through the wheels (rotational mass), which you have done already.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

To get any real benefit of weight loss, you need to knock off 1-2kgs. Taking off that amount of weight = lots of money. You can replace almost anything on your bike to make it lighter, but it will cost you. For example, a Centaur groupset will set you back about R6 500(new), and is about 500 grams lighter than your Tiagra. A R1 000.00 stem will only save you 100grams or so.

 

I'm also not sure as to the weight of the S4 Scott, but you will find that it is probably one of the lighter Tiagra specced aluminium bikes on the market.

 

If you are prepared to spend that amount of money to lighten your bike, rather look at replacing the bike with a good second hand one. It is probably the cheapest way to shave off that extra 1 or 2 kgs.

 

Then again, there is a huge psychological benefit to upgrading parts on our bike, irrespective of the performance gains. We all want to do it.