Should the fork be scrapped?

[Polecat]

Last Thursday I crashed into a van. As I was passing, at maybe 15-20mph, the van began to turn. can't remember at exactly what angle I struck it, but I recall the back wheel sliding so the rear end became more parallel to the vehicle. I bounced off it, and was flung onto the road on my right side. Front wheel pringled, killing the 32 hole Open Pro rim (buckled too far). I had shocked lungs and bruised, maybe cracked rib, but thankfully little more damage.
The handlebars were twisted, longboard mudguard lower stay bracket was pulled off the rivets, but not a mark on the bar tape, barely a mark on the shifters, which weren't knocked out of line, and after removing the fork for inspection, I can see no marks of any kind on the steerer, crown or blades.
Bike's a 2016 Genesis Equilibrium disc frameset, built up from new last summer. Fork has an alloy steerer, which is why I'm extra-nervous about riding it again.
So, would I be daft not to bin this fork?

Cheers

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I would get a second pair of eyes to carefully look over the fork, dropouts and all. If they didn't find anything either, I'd use it.

[Torslanda]

One of those 'maybe/maybe not' situations.

IIRC the fork column is bonded into the crown, which is also alloy. Look carefully at the junction of the crown and column, any discolouring of the adhesive, shadow or sign of cracking and bin it.

Also look inside the crown arch for distress in the paint, it's very thick and will show signs of cracking if its been overstressed. Move down to the junction of the fork legs and crown. About 40-50mm down from the crown race. The crown fits inside the carbon legs. look carefully and you can see the transition. If you can see the joint, discolouration of cracks in the paint etc. then bin it.

If there is nothing evident then reassemble the fork into the frame, adjust the headset correctly and rock it in the front brake. Excessive wobble or springiness? Bin it.

If the van driver's insurance is involved then make sure that your repair estimate includes a new fork as the cost of replacement is favourable compared to x-ray or ultrasound testing.

if you want to bin it then do so but as LW&B says, only after a close examination.

HTH

[Torslanda]

Regards being nervous about alloy steerers, don't be.

Literally millions of units have been manufactured since 'carbon' forks were developed for the mass market. Kinesis issued a recall for some units after a handful of failures, Lambert in the UK made a notoriously brittle alloy unit in the 1970s*

The number of actual failures is in the realms of an accounting error for $megacorp. i.e. tiny.

*Thanks to Sheldon (and Richard's Bicycle Book IIRC) issuing warnings 'Do not ride a Lambert with these forks or you will be KILLED UTTERLY TO DETH!' Alloy forks are viewed with suspicion. In reality, if they failed at any kind of rate, a different solution would have been found long ago.

[The Family Cyclist]

Is it carbon fork with alloy steerer? If it's any interest I have a steel genesis fork in my shed. Disc mounts. Had it for a project which happened but then that bike got stripped down for another project.

[nobby]

Regards being nervous about alloy steerers, don't be.

Literally millions of units have been manufactured since 'carbon' forks were developed for the mass market. Kinesis issued a recall for some units after a handful of failures, Lambert in the UK made a notoriously brittle alloy unit in the 1970s*

The number of actual failures is in the realms of an accounting error for $megacorp. i.e. tiny.

*Thanks to Sheldon (and Richard's Bicycle Book IIRC) issuing warnings 'Do not ride a Lambert with these forks or you will be KILLED UTTERLY TO DETH!' Alloy forks are viewed with suspicion. In reality, if they failed at any kind of rate, a different solution would have been found long ago.

Blimey! I diced with death in the '70's and didn't know.
I bought a pair of those forks for a couple of quid, allegedly factory clearance, beautiful sloping crown, and fitted them to my Viking Hosteller for a bit of shine.

[T42]

Ouch. GWS.

I'll leave others to comment on the fork.

[Brucey]

Regards being nervous about alloy steerers, don't be.

Literally millions of units have been manufactured since 'carbon' forks were developed for the mass market. Kinesis issued a recall for some units after a handful of failures, Lambert in the UK made a notoriously brittle alloy unit in the 1970s*

The number of actual failures is in the realms of an accounting error for $megacorp. i.e. tiny.

*Thanks to Sheldon (and Richard's Bicycle Book IIRC) issuing warnings 'Do not ride a Lambert with these forks or you will be KILLED UTTERLY TO DETH!' Alloy forks are viewed with suspicion. In reality, if they failed at any kind of rate, a different solution would have been found long ago.

Blimey! I diced with death in the '70's and didn't know.
I bought a pair of those forks for a couple of quid, allegedly factory clearance, beautiful sloping crown, and fitted them to my Viking Hosteller for a bit of shine.

I don't think the warnings are exaggerated in the slightest. The bottom line is that they were badly engineered forks that broke. Even the allegedly 'safe' Mk3 version breaks; the part that actually fails in this case is a steel plug at base of the steerer.

BTW Kinesis waited until someone died before they issued a recall. I bet they knew the forks were breaking well before that; other models from the same factory (sold by different brands) were recalled long before; did they think their stickers somehow made the same item made in the same factory somehow invulnerable.

There have been dozens of fork recalls in the USA (pretty much all brands are represented BTW) where the market is larger and the costs/chances of getting sued are much greater.

cheers

[Cunobelin]

How do YOU feel?

No matter how solid the fork is or undamaged, if in the back of your mind you have doubts, you will not have confidence inteh machine which will affect the way you ride