aluminum fork issue.

Quoted message said:

One time I took a 1998 Trek road bike into the bike shop to have them
put a new headset in, and they made the comment, "good you have the
cro-moly
fork and not the aluminum one." Why the concern about aluminum forks? I
do
know someone who has a Trek road bike, with an aluminum fork, but it only
hangs in his garage. But should I tell him something about that?

Also do cro-moly forks rust, just curious? Is there some maintenance I
should do there?

Somebody's pretending to know something scary just to look cool. Aluminum
forks have historically been so overbuilt that there have been very few
issues.

And yes, chrome-moly forks do rust, but it's usually not so severe that it
would cause a failure. But of course, if you find an area where the rust
goes beyond the surface, it should probably be replaced.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

From my understanding, this goes back to Klein. When smart guy, Gary Klein did all his testing for his alu frames, he apparently still didn't wanna put alu forks on his bikes, so he stuck with steel.

I've had 4 alu forks with no problems, and they were more comfortable than half the carbon forks I've had!!

Funny thing is, when alu steerers first came out, everyone was like, "oh no, not alu; it's not strong enough". But now, the pro riders revert to alu steerers for 'extra strength' on the cobbled roads of the Spring Classics (please don't post the Hincapie pics 🙂).

Ask your bike shop guy this: "if aluminium forks are SO bad, why are there still a gazillion carbon forks out there with alu crowns and drop-outs?"

🙂

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Callistus Valerius said:

One time I took a 1998 Trek road bike into the bike shop to have them
put a new headset in, and they made the comment, "good you have the cro-moly
fork and not the aluminum one." Why the concern about aluminum forks? I do
know someone who has a Trek road bike, with an aluminum fork, but it only
hangs in his garage. But should I tell him something about that?

Also do cro-moly forks rust, just curious? Is there some maintenance I
should do there?

Yes and no. They will rust, but slowly enough to give
years of service. Severe conditions can accelerate damage,
as in warm coastal areas, and on winter streets that are
salted.

--
Michael Press

531Aussie said:

From understanding, this goes back to Klein. When smart guy, Gary Klein
did all his testing for his alu frames, he apparently still didn't
wanna put alu forks on his bikes, so he stuck with steel.

I don't believe that. I used to ride with Gary when he had his original
aluminum frame. He had taken a course at MIT on building aluminum bike
frames. I guess he did all right in the course. Anyway, I am trying to
remember, but can't, whether or not he made his own fork for that bike, or
used a stock steel one. Somehow I think he did have an aluminum fork,
since anything else would have looked odd --- not that that original bike
didn't look a bit odd itself.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not
_`\(,_ | certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to
(_)/ (_) | reality. -- Albert Einstein

David L. Johnson said:

I don't believe that. I used to ride with Gary when he had his original aluminum frame.

I can't verify it, but I read somewhere that, in the early years, he wasn't satisfied with the integrity of aluminium forks.

Did the early Cannondales also have steel forks?

David L. Johnson said:

531Aussie said:

From understanding, this goes back to Klein. When smart guy, Gary Klein
did all his testing for his alu frames, he apparently still didn't
wanna put alu forks on his bikes, so he stuck with steel.

I don't believe that. I used to ride with Gary when he had his original
aluminum frame. He had taken a course at MIT on building aluminum bike
frames. I guess he did all right in the course. Anyway, I am trying to
remember, but can't, whether or not he made his own fork for that bike, or
used a stock steel one. Somehow I think he did have an aluminum fork,
since anything else would have looked odd --- not that that original bike
didn't look a bit odd itself.

There were definitely some steel forked Kleins in the early days:

http://tinyurl.com/orup8

http://tinyurl.com/hpgox

http://tinyurl.com/ngh9h

From the Klein page:
1991 Klein started using Strata monster oversize Aluminum unicrown fork
instead of a box crown Cro-Moly fork.

1994 Quantum Pro Criterium introduced, with Gradient 9320 frame tubing,
Aeros composite fork. Weighing in at 3.9 pounds

Aluminum forks give a brutal harsh ride. Thats probably what he meant.

Quoted message said:

Aluminum forks give a brutal harsh ride.

All of them? Regardless of other design considerations (blade diameter,
wall thickness, etc., etc.) ?

Quoted message said:

Thats probably what he meant.

[email hidden said:

"]Aluminum forks give a brutal harsh ride. Thats probably what he meant.

not all alu forks give a harsh ride. I have four here, all with threaded, cro-mo steerers, and they're all ok. Two of them were a little rough for my alu frames, but fine for steel, and the other two, one of which is a bladed Kinesis, were comfortable, even on the alu bikes.