If Colnago makes no curved steel forks, what is the advantage of their straight steel fork? I have a Surly curved steel fork on my Classic now. It rides fine, but looks funny if not sacriligious.
Physical properties of carbon fibre: Fibre direction is same in a "straight" fork ie axial resistance to road shock. A steel fork will also resist shock but by flex. (hence my reference to Hetchins earlier - "curly" stays etc.) Ernesto won't like flex - it isn't always in the advantageous direction - dissipates energy etc. Hence "stiff" frames. All my steel frame bikes ( except my MXL) have curved forks - three Colnagos, Merckx, Hetchins etc. They're lovely. My MXL has a straight steel fork. It's lovely too. All great bikes are brilliant.colnrly said:If Colnago makes no curved steel forks, what is the advantage of their straight steel fork? I have a Surly curved steel fork on my Classic now. It rides fine, but looks funny if not sacriligious.
I'm going mad here - replying to myself. Having read my first reply I realise I didn't answer the question posed. So...... A straight steel fork is stiffer than an otherwise similar curved one - less opportunity to flex. My MXL (straight) does feel stiffer than my other curved fork bikes, but it does have the advantage of being further down the evolutionary chain ( so to speak) Frankly, anything Ernesto makes is OK by me - I'll probably let him off anything.edmundjaques said:Physical properties of carbon fibre: Fibre direction is same in a "straight" fork ie axial resistance to road shock. A steel fork will also resist shock but by flex. (hence my reference to Hetchins earlier - "curly" stays etc.) Ernesto won't like flex - it isn't always in the advantageous direction - dissipates energy etc. Hence "stiff" frames. All my steel frame bikes ( except my MXL) have curved forks - three Colnagos, Merckx, Hetchins etc. They're lovely. My MXL has a straight steel fork. It's lovely too. All great bikes are brilliant.
I have heard that the straight blade fork will make the handling "twitchy." It had the straight carbon fork when I test rode it and I can't really tell the difference. BTW, will I be kicked out of the Colnago club for putting the Surly fork, Nashbar pump and TruVativ cranks on it?edmundjaques said:I'm going mad here - replying to myself. Having read my first reply I realise I didn't answer the question posed. So...... A straight steel fork is stiffer than an otherwise similar curved one - less opportunity to flex. My MXL (straight) does feel stiffer than my other curved fork bikes, but it does have the advantage of being further down the evolutionary chain ( so to speak) Frankly, anything Ernesto makes is OK by me - I'll probably let him off anything.
colnrly said:I have heard that the straight blade fork will make the handling "twitchy." It had the straight carbon fork when I test rode it and I can't really tell the difference. BTW, will I be kicked out of the Colnago club for putting the Surly fork, Nashbar pump and TruVativ cranks on it?
I looked it up but...odeum said:twitchy?, nah, not necessarily, the straight fork still has the rake (43) currently specd by colnago, lotsa people think straight means more upright but the rake is still there, originating from the fork crown.
as for the other, if you got it on the road good for you!
Couple of things: Banging in a straight nail is reasonably straightforward. The same nail a bit bent - tricky. There is axial force deflection. This might be OK for dissipating road shock but it works the other way round too - wasting forward thrust. There is an article in "Master Mag" year 2000 - I don't know if it got to the US ( I'm posting from the UK)- but it is a Micky Mouse dissertation on force wasting in bikes. Pretty basic physics but plausible enough to me, enough when I'm out on the bike anyway.colnrly said:I looked it up but...
How so? They still require the same accuracy to ensure the fork behaves correctly. Ask any framebuilder.dnalsaam said:Straight steel forks are cheaper and easier to make than curved blades.
The manufacturer either buys straight blades and curves them (hence an extra production stage), or they buy the blades pre-curved (hence an extra step for the tubing maker and subsequent extra cost to framebuilder). Furthermore, the joint of fork blade to the fork crown is by the far the easiest to miter of any on a bike when you use a straight blade.ultimobici said:How so? They still require the same accuracy to ensure the fork behaves correctly. Ask any framebuilder.
It's not the mitreing that is hard, it's getting the dropouts parallell etc with the effects of heat on an unsupported joint.dnalsaam said:The manufacturer either buys straight blades and curves them (hence an extra production stage), or they buy the blades pre-curved (hence an extra step for the tubing maker and subsequent extra cost to framebuilder). Furthermore, the joint of fork blade to the fork crown is by the far the easiest to miter of any on a bike when you use a straight blade.
Building the straight fork required new dropouts and head lug, as well as new jigs, negating any short term labour cost savings.atpjunkie said:vibration is energy. energy travels more effectively in a straight line. a curved fork actually has the ability to 'sluff off' some of that energy plus having the potential ability for a slight 'spring effect'. Straight fork is stiffer and cheaper to make. In most cases fashion is sold to cover nothing more than cost savings for the mfr. hence the decline of lugged steel.