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Disc Brake Carbon Forks

by Jack Osbourne snr
Tue, Sep 27, 2016 20:17
7

Hi All,

Looking for some sage advice/ recommendations on carbon forks for disc brake callipers.

Recently bought a PX Kaffenbak frame to build up a flat bar commuter from mostly transplanted parts. I prefer carbon forks to steel for loaded commuting so I'm looking for budget end recommendations.

Weight not important.

Ta

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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7 comments

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Jack Osbourne snr | 8 years ago
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Finished the build this morning and went for a spin. The stock steel fork is heavy, but handles well enough. It's very rigid in comparison to the Reynolds and Columbus racing forks I've used in the past.

I'll give it a fair crack of the whip before I make the call on swapping it out.

Thanks for the suggestions.

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antigee | 8 years ago
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planet x ? - can be a little poor on service but good on a budget 

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/FOPXLORO/planet-x-london-road-fork

 

edit forget that looks tapered to me, pretty sure they used to do a straight disk fork

 

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Ogi | 8 years ago
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Kinesis DC37 - retails at around 130 GBP at Wiggle at the moment. Probably your best option! Enigma, Ritchey and Whisky are all more expensive.

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Jack Osbourne snr | 8 years ago
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Cheers.

It's a Kaffenback so hardly high-end... it's also Bike No.5 so I'm looking at as low as practicable financially.

Something reliable that does what a carbon fork does, weight not critical, isn't over £150.

Them's the criteria

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Ogi | 8 years ago
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Jack,

I also forgot to mention Whiskey Parts No 7 CR fork. Apparently, it's around 392mm axle-to-crown, on average 5-10mm lower than standard audax forks. Good quality fork - albeit expensive (300 GBP at least), full carbon steerer, room for 48mm tyres, relatively light (480g).

From what I see, similar ball park to Ritchey WCS. Again, not knowing your budget...but the two appear to be the best options for our common 1 1/8 inch headtubes. The issue around Ritchey WCS fork is a 45 degree bearing which normally means getting Ritchey specific headset as my current bearings are 36 degree.

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Jack Osbourne snr | 8 years ago
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It's a steel disc frame. 1 1/8th straight head tube.

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Ogi | 8 years ago
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It depends on your headtube and whether it's tapered or not.

If tapered (1.5 or 1.25), there's a lot of choice - from top of the range Enve Road 2.0 Disc, 3T Luteus, Enigma has 2 models I believe, Lynskey several models, Kinesis couple of models (Tracer and Aithein Disc are apparently good), even Columbus has a model I believe (Futura Disc).

On the other hand, if you have 1 1/8 inch headtube - choice is quite limited. Enigma sells Audax full carbon model - which should be quite decent. Kinesis sells DC37 model - apparently solid. I've come accross Ritchey WCS Disc fork - essentially cyclocross version with loads of clearance and full carbon, relatively light. I've read some reviews somewhere and apparently it's great. I've also seen bunch Chinese versions on eBay which might be worth giving a look - advantage is price.

Note that tapered versions up there are generally 15-30mm shorter - axle to crown measure (and would lead to more aggressive geometry) than 1 1/8 inch ones which are more designed around Audax, Gravel, Cyclocross applications in mind - with higher riding position. Just so you know, if you didn't already.

I generally noticed that there isn't a lot of choice for standard 1 1/8 inch road disc forks. This annoys me as my bike is classic steel with discs. 

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