Care advice for carbon

[Captain Zep]

My new audax bike has carbon forks.  I've never owned anything made of carbon before.  Please give me your advice for care of them.  I will be fitting a computer sensor to them: what's the do's and don't's of adhesives on carbon (or am I being paranoid)?

RJMcB

[clarion]

Step one:  Change your forks for steel - you need Reynolds 531 for that, lad, not soot!

In my day....

[Biggsy]

To attach sensors and wires, I use cable ties with self amalgamating rubber/PIB tape underneath for grip and protection.

The finish needs no maintenance or particular special care beyond common sense.  A plain wet sponge will get dirt off.

[Paul Smith SRCC]

My new audax bike has carbon forks.  I've never owned anything made of carbon before.  Please give me your advice for care of them.  I will be fitting a computer sensor to them: what's the do's and don't's of adhesives on carbon (or am I being paranoid)?

RJMcB

Many are indeed paranoid about Carbon forks, although this anxiety was justified more when earlier models would indeed fail in spectacular fashion, especially the unbranded models. They have now been available now for long that forks from the reputable manufacturers are proving to be very reliable.

All I would say is that should you have an accident that you feel did put quite a lot of force through the forks it would be an idea to consider replacing them, where as a steel fork would show signs of in impact carbon can look sometimes look unaffected.

Paul_Smith
www.bikeplus.co.uk