Old fork

Pete Beall said:

I'm riding a Merlin Extra Light with a Time carbon fiber fork that is rolling over 35,000 miles.
Only the frame, fork, and seat post are original equipment. I'm secure in the integrity of the
frame, but heading down a hill last week I began to wonder about how carbon forks age: last
forever, start to develop cracks and other warning signs, or fail catastrophically? Anyone know?

I don't know. Why don't you pull the fork and inspect it and let us know what you find?

Quoted message said:

Pete Beall said:

I'm riding a Merlin Extra Light with a Time carbon fiber fork that is rolling over 35,000 miles.
Only the frame, fork, and seat post are original equipment. I'm secure in the integrity of the
frame, but

heading

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

down a hill last week I began to wonder about how carbon forks age: last forever, start to
develop cracks and other warning signs, or fail catastrophically? Anyone know?

"Richard Ney" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I don't know. Why don't you pull the fork and inspect it and let us know what you find?

His question was reasonable I think.

It is certainly possible for carbon to delaminate partially inside a fork blade. Removing the fork
would not be helpful in evaluating that. And since carbon cannot be inspected nondestructively
except on the surface, one cannot be certain of the integrity after the vicissitudes of 35K miles.

The airplane which took off from Kennedy and dumped in Queens late in 2001 had a carbon tail
assembly which had been dropped during assembly. That fact was duly recorded but the piece could not
be inspected beyond the surface. The carbon tail broke apart in flight.

Hopefully the OP's fork does not harbor such a problem but how can he be sure?

--
Andrew Muzi yellowjersey.orgyellowjersey.orgOpen ↗ Open every day since 1 April 1971

Thanks for the suggestions. Kraig is a good one to address this to. I don’t know if he’s still
watching this list so I’ll try him directly.

--
petebeall.netpetebeall.netOpen ↗ "Pete Beall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm riding a Merlin Extra Light with a Time carbon fiber fork

that

Quoted message said:

is rolling over 35,000 miles. Only the frame, fork, and seat post are original equipment. I'm
secure in the integrity of the frame, but heading down a hill last week I began to wonder about
how carbon forks age: last forever, start to develop cracks and other warning signs, or fail
catastrophically? Anyone know?
--
petebeall.netpetebeall.netOpen ↗