Carbon Fork Testing

Carbon Forks: Testing has shown that these forks are a problem. When the forks are stressed beyond the yield point, catastrophic failure occurs. The forks do an unusually good job of improving handling for a modern road bike. They are light and enable the bike to absorb road vibration and hold a line extremely well. But, when stress is placed on the forks, beyond the yield point, by running into the side of a car or curb (or equivalent) the forks completely break leading to collapse. The “chrome moly” forks that were on bikes for several years do not collapse but bend under similar forces. I will be glad to share data that I have available if anyone is interested. There is peer reviewed data on front fork failure in my Engineering Text – go to http://bikereconstruction.com/aboutthebook.aspx.