Decent road fork suggestions?

[Mr. Cow]

I need to replace the forks on my road bike. Does anyone have any recommendations for a particular brand or a reseller? I would rather pay out for a decent/durable set that I'm not going to be anxious about failing

Thanks

 

[craigwend]

Bike?
Usage?
Old forks?
Material of fork?
Rim / Disc?
Budget?

 

[fossyant]

Have a look at SJS cycles or Spa

 

[Mr. Cow]

Bike?
Usage?
Old forks?
Material of fork?
Rim / Disc?
Budget?

Apologies.. this is for my daily beater road bike. Not sure about old ones yet.. Rim brake and tapered carbon fork with a carbon steerer, upper and lower bearings 1.1/8 and 1.1/4" respectively, I'm try and get round the measuring the length and rake this weekend.
I don't expect an exact match but pretty much anything in gloss black would be ideal.
I'm not too fussed about budget, a quick look seems to suggest I'd be looking at around 100/200 quid?
Would there be any point in changing the fronts for disc whilst I'm at it? I'd still have a rim brake on the back..

Thanks again

 

[wafter]

Just out of interest, what's up with the original, and what's the main frame material?

Personally I don't trust composite, nor would I be keen to spend that amount of money on maintaining a beater (I bet not much more than £200 would get you a good, fairly recent used road bike in the current market).

Unfortunately there don't appear to be a lot of forks around. I did see some nice looking steel forks on Ali Express; however fap knows what sort of quality they are..

 

[Mr. Cow]

Just out of interest, what's up with the original, and what's the main frame material?

Personally I don't trust composite, nor would I be keen to spend that amount of money on maintaining a beater (I bet not much more than £200 would get you a good, fairly recent used road bike in the current market).

Unfortunately there don't appear to be a lot of forks around. I did see some nice looking steel forks on Ali Express; however fap knows what sort of quality they are..

The frame is carbon, the steerer tube has split at the top, roughly where the upper part of the stem clamps around it, and after a few miles this causes the headset to slacken off. Also there is a fair bit of corrosion around the crown area. As well as that the springs have gone in the calipers and I cant replace them as the bolt attaching them to the forks has seized

See what you're saying about the cost though. I paid about £1500 for it 10 years ago. It's done 40k and saves me about £800 a year in petrol. Think I've had me monies worth out of it.

 

[wafter]

The frame is carbon, the steerer tube has split at the top, roughly where the upper part of the stem clamps around it, and after a few miles this causes the headset to slacken off. Also there is a fair bit of corrosion around the crown area. As well as that the springs have gone in the calipers and I cant replace them as the bolt attaching them to the forks has seized

See what you're saying about the cost though. I paid about £1500 for it 10 years ago. It's done 40k and saves me about £800 a year in petrol. Think I've had me monies worth out of it.

So the steerer tube is composite too? Sounds like you've had a lucky escape in noticing the damage given how rapidly / unpredictably they can fail - not much fun if the front collapses / bars fall off in your hands at speed.. I hope you're not riding it any more!

I'm sure the ongoing forum debate about the safety of carbon fibre would welcome some more fuel chucked on the fire if you fancy putting up some pictures

Sounds like a tough call tbh; I'm always wary of composites but all for keeping stuff out of landfill and if the frame's otherwise good it seems a shame to bin it. Equally if it's had a hard life and you've had your money's worth maybe it's time to retire it - sounds like it's done you very well financially. Is it possibly worth getting it inspected if you have anyone local with appropriate (ultrasound or X-ray) facilities...?

Were it any other part / material I'd suggest keeping it going with a used or budget item, however with something so highly-stressed / safety critical and in that material I'd urge caution - tbh my mind keeps coming back to that poor doctor / med student who was paralised when the carbon fibre fork on his new Planet X fell to bits

Perhaps you just need to wait until someone less pessimistic comes along and tells you to get one off Ali Express and bang another 40k on it

 

[Mr. Cow]

Ideally I would like to keep this bike going for as long as I can I've measured the "rake" as per THIS site and it's measuring at 16mm? I'm not sure this looks right. Is "rake" the same as "offset"? Most bike forks I've seen are about 40/50mm offset..
These forks are Wilier CM22N but I can't find anything about their specs on t'internet. Also I'm not sure if I was correct in my last post... are these forks in fact "straight" and not tapered, despite the upper and lower bearings being different sizes?