I have an 04 Giant TCR Carbon. It has Giant brand carbon forks with an Al steerer. Last week I was removing the bike from the rook racks (it os one where the forks clip on to the roofracks via a QR) and had loosened the clip. i turned to check on something for a split second and the bike fell a short distance towards me - the RH fork end twisted down, bending the QR on the rack a few mm out of alignment. I was able to easily bend the mild steel QR axle back with little effort
Of more concern is the damage that might have been done to the forks. There is no physical sign of damage at all, and everything is still alligned and seems to be working just fine - and I've ridden about 400 km since this happened. However, I would not like to have a fork fail because there is a stress riser or something. Anyone able to give me an informed opinion on whether I should buy a new fork, and if so what do people recommend?
Yes, that is what I was hoping. Spoke with my LBS mechanic, who seems to know what he is talking about, and he thought the same.
Also sounds, to me, as well, that you have no worries. Considering that even small makers who are obviously biased toward steel bikes will put on carbon forks on them because there is no other material that can beat a carbon composite for fatigue strength, lightness and strength. The fact that the dropout on your fork was not bent (believing that if this was the case you would have mentioned it), the fork did not take enough stress to cause any kind of damage. It's a good thing, actually, that the QR bracket was of such a weak material.
