Aluminum vs Composite Road Fork

My '93 Merlin Ti Road bike has a Sakae FX Litage Aluminum Fork. Thinkimg of replacing with an Easton
EC 70 Composite fork. Does the board think this is a worthwhile upgrade ?

In article <de79ca33.0301101937.7684f3f@posting.google.com>, comotion2002@aol.com (art) wrote:

> My '93 Merlin Ti Road bike has a Sakae FX Litage Aluminum Fork. Thinkimg of replacing with an
> Easton EC 70 Composite fork. Does the board think this is a worthwhile upgrade ?

I think I can provide most of the possible answers:

r.b.t answer: ride more and lose a pound instead. Save your money.

Fabrizzio answer: Well, sure, that's a reasonable upgrade if you only have the budget to throw out
your Al fork and make do with what you can find in the cast-off department of your local bicycle
thrift shop, but really if you aren't sponsored for forks and frames, then you are what we properly
trained cyclists call a "tourist," and really, the cycling world needs a lot fewer of you kind of
guys around. Maybe you should just stay inside on rollers until you can afford a proper bike like a
Cannondale CAAD ... [et al ad nauseam, Ed.]

Jobst answer: The more important question is "why a carbon fork?" Just use a reliable steel fork and
forget about it. You are asking for a crash with these expensive untried components that save about
as much weight as a half a water bottle at best, while reducing your safety margin to zero. [that's
actually what he said: http://tinyurl.com/4bnu]

Sheldon answer: you need a fixed gear bicycle.

My answer: they _made_ Al forks? That doesn't sound like a good idea. Oh. I looked it up, and they
do make Al forks. Whaddya know. They even have nice damping characteristics. I'd say weigh the two
forks, calculate the $/gram, and decide if that's really the best use of your money. You'll probably
(from the research I did for this little jest) notice virtually no difference between the
performance of the two forks besides the possible weight savings. Not that I would know. My road
bike is steel and has eyelets. But if you want to take Jobst's advice, I'll trade you straight up.

Share & Enjoy,
--
Ryan Cousineau, rcousine@sfu.ca http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Ryan Cousineau <rcousine@sfu.ca> wrote in message
news:<rcousine-03797F.23222310012003@morgoth.sfu.ca>...
> In article <de79ca33.0301101937.7684f3f@posting.google.com>, comotion2002@aol.com (art) wrote:
>
> > My '93 Merlin Ti Road bike has a Sakae FX Litage Aluminum Fork. Thinkimg of replacing with an
> > Easton EC 70 Composite fork. Does the board think this is a worthwhile upgrade ?
>
>
No I don't have deep pockets. But, at $125 fot a $299 for on sale at Nashbar it seemed like a
reasonable upgtrade after 8 years of owning the bike.

"art" <comotion2002@aol.com> wrote in message news:de79ca33.0301101937.7684f3f@posting.google.com...
> My '93 Merlin Ti Road bike has a Sakae FX Litage Aluminum Fork. Thinkimg of replacing with an
> Easton EC 70 Composite fork. Does the board think this is a worthwhile upgrade ?

YES-you currently have an aluminum fork on your bike. I had the same on an older Cannondale. You
will notice a BIG improvement when you do the River Road ride into Stony Brook.
--

LOU
{{{{{GoCycle}}}}}

Jimi Hendrix's answer.

Skuse me while I kiss the pavement.

"John Everett" <jeverett3@earthlink.DEFEAT.UCE.BOTS.net> wrote in message
news:kp732v4crbpru3ui80qmc3ddp8v1q9dnie@4ax.com...

> I have no direct experience with this myself (when did that ever stop anyone on r.b.t?) but a
> friend of mine replaced the aluminum fork on an older Cannondale with a carbon fork. He said it
> absolutely transformed the bike. He was so pleased with the results he joked about replacing the
> rest of the aluminum bits with carbon.

Could it be because the new fork had a different offset, or even a different height, resulting in a
different rake and/or trail?

Matt O.

bfd853@yahoo.com (bfd) wrote in message news:<9411a749.0301120916.6c25dc6d@posting.google.com>...
> marchantshapiro@hotmail.com (Andy M-S) wrote in message
> news:<c5e5f635.0301110529.11a968db@posting.google.com>...
> > comotion2002@aol.com (art) wrote in message
> > news:<de79ca33.0301101937.7684f3f@posting.google.com>... Further, there's the issue of hardware.
> > You probably have a 1" threaded steerer. You could replace your headset with threadless, in
> > which case you could replace your alloy fork with a CF fork with either 1" carbon or 1" alloy
> > steerer. But 1" carbon steerers are fragile and noodly, and you don't have much weight loss if
> > you go with an alloy steerer.
> >
> I agree in part with your statement that going from an aluminum fork to a alloy steerer carbon
> fork probably won't result in a substantial, if any, loss of weight. However, I don't understand
> why you claim that 1" carbon steerer forks are "fragile and noodly"? What proof do you have of
> this? Or are you buying into the mfrs claims that 1 and 1/8" is "stronger and safer" and thus
> everybody should go to this "new standard". There are literally thousands, if not tens of
> thousands, of riders on the road today with 1" carbon steerer forks and you never hear of them as
> being "fragile and noodly". In fact I doubt very few of these riders can tell the difference in
> stiffness. Further, the only reason mfrs want you to believe 1 and 1/8" is "stronger and safer" is
> because if they standardize all forks, both road and mtn, to 1 and 1/8", it cost them less the
> manufacture. THAT is the reason for this change in standard, not because the carbon steerer tube
> forks are "fragile and noodly"....
I've no direct experience, but a number of people whom I trust and who are not in a position to sell
me a fork have told this of their experience. FWIW, both of my own bikes have 1" setups, threaded,
so I'm neither buying nor selling anything.

comotion2002@aol.com (art) wrote in message news:<de79ca33.0301101937.7684f3f@posting.google.com>...
> My '93 Merlin Ti Road bike has a Sakae FX Litage Aluminum Fork. Thinkimg of replacing with an
> Easton EC 70 Composite fork. Does the board think this is a worthwhile upgrade ?

My old Clark-Kent came with a SR aluminum fork, it was fine for racing around the midwest, but the
first time I came sailing down a steep canyon road near Boulder, that thing just about killed me
when it started chatatatatering under hard front breaking. Rode directly to the shop I was working
at at the time and plugged a Prestige steel fork in, been on steel ever since. The Reynolds Uzo
Pro has caught my fancy, but I'm a don't fix what ain't broken guy, and my current Reynolds 531
steel fork rides soooooo nice, I just can't bring myself to change it. True Temper Alpha Q and
Reynolds Uzo Pro seem really good, don't know much abot Easton forks, although I dig their carbon
mtb bar. --Jim

Ryan Cousineau <rcousine@sfu.ca> wrote in message
news:<rcousine-03797F.23222310012003@morgoth.sfu.ca>...

Nice. You seem to know this group well.

Ryan Cousineau wrote:

> Well, I did once hint that I was Benjamin Lewis, but that is a ridiculous lie. For one thing, if I
> tried to ride 600 km, they'd be putting me in the weary wagon before the halfway mark.

Nah, they make you do shorter rides first, so you're almost used to it by that point.

You should try the Pacific Populaire on April 6:
http://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/bcrcc/pacpop/index.html

--
Benjamin Lewis

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post how it feels about
dogs. -- Christopher Hampton

Meccanico di Bici <meccanicodibici@yahoo.com> wrote:
: Nice. You seem to know this group well.

a little too well. i think he's split, if ya read me.

we humour all of him.
--
david reuteler reuteler@visi.com

In article <3e223c8b$0$178$a1866201@newsreader.visi.com>, David Reuteler <reuteler@visi.com> wrote:

> Meccanico di Bici <meccanicodibici@yahoo.com> wrote:
> : Nice. You seem to know this group well.
>
> a little too well. i think he's split, if ya read me.
>
> we humour all of him.

I am Spartacus! But it's not what you think.

Have you done your textual analysis yet? Who am I and when do you claim your five pounds?

The pleasant truth is that there's just one of me, and aside from personae with the same e-mail
address, I am only me.

Well, I did once hint that I was Benjamin Lewis, but that is a ridiculous lie. For one thing, if I
tried to ride 600 km, they'd be putting me in the weary wagon before the halfway mark.

I am also the President of the Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club, but that is a job, not a persona. So far
our membership is two, and growing! Not counting Fabrizio, of course. He's his own biggest fan, but
not a member of his own fan club.

Also, I think Zoot wants to join the Club, but he is technically a close personal enemy of Fabrizio.
Even as we speak, the Fabrizio Mazzoleni fan club is planning to attend all the Vancouver Bicycle
Polo Club's games this year with the purpose of disrupting the games with noisy protest against Zoot
for his hateful and unstylish anti-Fabrizio activities.

--
Ryan Cousineau, rcousine@sfu.ca http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Not that I would know or anything, but it seems to me that having an aluminum fork on your titanium
bike is a bit like having a big-screen black-and-white TV.

Ryan Cousineau <rcousine@sfu.ca> wrote:
: Have you done your textual analysis yet? Who am I and when do you claim your five pounds?

actually, that's an interesting point. i'd lost interest in that when i was tossed your red herring
(apparently by someone in kahoots with you or just another of your aliases. but, yea, like *THAT*
guy on the web-page is really Fabrizio, i mean come on). but the more i think about it the more
impressed i am by your skills of deception. letting me find it myself was a good tactic.

bravo. kudos to you!

unfortunately i'm on vacation now, so your stay is extended.

: The pleasant truth is that there's just one of me, and aside from personae with the same e-mail
: address, I am only me.

not bloody likely.

: Well, I did once hint that I was Benjamin Lewis, but that is a ridiculous lie. For one thing, if I
: tried to ride 600 km, they'd be putting me in the weary wagon before the halfway mark.

nothing hides the truth better than the admission of a half-truth.

very clever.

in time, ryan. in time ..
--
david reuteler reuteler@visi.com