Decision time has come and we want your opinion. We have been on the fence about a full carbon fiber fork for a couple of years. From an engineering and liability standpoint it is a nightmare. Poor to moderate impact resistance. Prone to catastrophic failures. Grossly expensive to develop a full custom fork that is not bonded together. Flakey tensile and yield strength issues. These are just a few of the reasons we decided to go old school and stick with a titanium product built to our specifications. We can come close in weight to a carbon fork (1 pound and change), provide similar dampening properties, all while having a more durable product. The issue comes down to how old school do we want to go. Which of the following would you rather see as the consumer/industry worker/general online ranter:
1)All Titanium
2)Titanium Legs/Carbon Crown/Titanium Steerer
3)Titanium Legs/Carbon Crown/Carbon Steerer (We truly fear the carbon steerer, but want to hear your input)
The fork will only be available for our Dillinger frame. This will mean a 485mm axle to crown, 45mm offset, straight 1 1/8 steer tube, and post mounts.

The new rig that was outlined a few posts back. The pedals are temporary. The 3T LTD components (post,bar,stem) have proven super stiff.

With 209 in the men’s open class, the weather held off for a beautiful day around the three laps of the 33 mile course. Andy picked off over 10 people in a strong 3rd lap to finish 75th in the Lumberjack 100. Congratulations Andy, sorry we made you switch to a 29er this year.

Sometimes being a smaller company is difficult, especially when it comes to working with carbon fiber composites. We have been working on releasing a custom designed cross country carbon rigid fork or titanium hybrid for a couple of years. Unfortunately molding costs for a full carbon fork have been holding us back. Molding costs typically span between $3,000 and $9,000 per mold and in no way guarantee a working model. Combine this with high production costs and minimum order quantities and you can spend $30,000 before you even have a marketable model. For us to do this and try to keep the retail price budget friendly is just impossible. As a result we have been looking at custom designing the critical parts (mainly the dropouts, brake mounts, leg wall thickness, and leg wall shape) and finding a partner to work with who has already developed a workable crown and steerer. After a few meetings at the Taipei Cycle Show we may have come up with some good options and would love your opinion.
1)What are your thoughts on carbon fiber VS. titanium legs?
2)What do you think is a better choice for a rigid fork crown, titanium or carbon fiber?
3)What would you be willing to pay for a fork with carbon fiber legs and an alloy crown?
4)What would you be willing to pay for a fork with a carbon fiber crown and titanium legs?
5)Do carbon fiber steer tubes scare you in comparison to aluminum ones?
We already have our idea of what is ideal, but feel the cycling communities input on this one may give us a better idea of what the general populous truly desires.