The "break" given was actually to the LBS that will get future sales from a broken carbon fork. Structural repairs to carbon frames by OEM manufacturers I consider unsafe and without question hazardous. Prehaps this is why most carbon frame failures under warranty are replaced with complete new frames and not the original repaired frame. Maybe they don't trust carbon repairs?
Is this called "planned obsolescence" in the disposable bike industry or is this considered "padded sales" with anticipated future profits from failed carbon frames forks? I will let you decide... I am not saying there is a conspiracy, but maybe this is what the bike industry is looking for - carbon frames that wear out fairly quickly past warranty that increase replacement sales!
Maybe the US Fed government Consumer Product Safety Commission should investigate the concerns with riding carbon frames and forks and hazards from mounting failures that will only increase in the future...
Regards, Steve Neago
Cincinnati, OH
> In a message dated 2/15/02 3:53:44 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> rabbitman@mindspring.com writes:
>
>
> > His riding partner is riding an Eddy Merckx mid 80's steel lugged bike
that
> > has been tortured with a carbon fiber fork and Sti shifters. Susan says
"
> > thank god you got rid of that silly fork and the those shifters on the
> > frame". What???? Did this guy suddenly get faster, just because his ride
> > now sports a carbon fiber fork, and a different method of shifting? Give
me
> > a break!
> >
>
> I got in on a Profile Bladed Raked Carbon fork close-out back a year or so
> ago when they were getting rid of their "old" stock of threaded steerer
tube
> forks. I can only say that to us a shop rats these forks were Really
Cheap,
> so I figured, sure, why not and installed it in place of the original
> Colombus steel fork on my '70-something Trek 930 or whatever. I thought it
> might help take the edge off the road buzz, or something, and maybe be a
bit
> lighter.
>
> Well, you know, I put the steel fork back on last summer before the LAB
rally
> in Altoona, because I wanted to run fenders and the Profile didn't have
any
> eyelets. I have to tell you that maybe the carbon fork did weigh a little
> less and maybe it did feel different on rough road a little, but I swear
the
> bike corners cleaner with the steel fork. It just feels better, somehow,
> particularly when things are getting a little dicey. The Profile BRC now
sits
> in a corner - I had been considering putting it on the poor old Raleigh
> Competition that needs a 9 1/5" steerer, but have not had the incentive.
>
> I have a cheap Ti road bike I call the Ti-Mobile. It runs 8-speed STI,
(the
> Trek is using 8-speed bar-ends), and I like it - but mainly because it
cannot
> get paint dings and couldn't care less about getting wet. I'm maybe a
couple
> of mph faster on it, average, but it is not as comfortable on longer rides
> even with its Brooks SwifTi.
>
> They don't make carbon fiber Treks large enough to fit me and they are
scarey
> anyway.
>
> Glenn Jordan - Durham, NC