Gravel bike forks – potential snappage issues?

I’ve never been fully confident descending offroad at speed on my gravel bike and that CAAD recall thread has brought it into my mind again. There are loads of cheapish gravel bikes out there with alloy steertube/carbon blade forks which are getting a hell of a battering. I commute offroad/onroad on my Arkose several times a week and am now racking up a fair few miles on rutted descents – how much abuse can these forks really take? I’ll happily descend as fast as I can on a MTB (suspended) and have reached 50mph on a road bike on road with no real qualms but some how smacking my gravel bike off rocks and ruts at 30mph worries me more than perhaps it should….am I being a pussy or are we going to see more broken forks and serious accidents as these bikes get older?

I find the rough tarmac roads to be harder on the bike that gravel – gravel and compacted mud tend to be softer than the edge of a pot hole or rough buts of tarmac.

Steerer tubes and stanchions are pressed and swaged into suspension fork crowns, and they’re not in the habit of loosening off. Current BS/EN construction standards are pretty tough, I’m not overly concerned.

but some how smacking my gravel bike off rocks and ruts at 30mph worries me more than perhaps it should

30mph or nigh on 50kph while’smacking’ your gravel bike off rocks, give me a break 🙄

Aye, you’re not doing 30mph! 😆

Get some steel mtb rigids if it worries you. They are cheap enough on ebay.

Just watch riders in the 3 Peaks Descending the bottom of Pen y Gent. Fast & rocky. That should put your mind at ease.

Watch Road Bike Party and realise bikes are generally tougher than you think

Had 3000k of very rough use out of my full carbon diverge fork, i take it out every 500k or so to check it but there is never anything, not a mark.

I hit 63kph on the Dirty Riever this year and there were lots of fist sized rocks so although you may not hit 30 mph other riders do and he has a legit question. I just hope that mine don’t break😬

I’ve got a friend’s snapped cx fork at work for the metallurgist to look at. But that was an ancient 1″ aluminium steerer so always on the limit of being strong enough.

Even then, it was a long time developing but unfortunately (and with hindsight) he ignored the warning signs (brake judder) and got a head injury from which he is now recovered. Looked like the initial crack started from machining lines on the front of the headset seat, followed by a second more recent fatigue crack from the rear / a bit deeper into the crown.

I presume your fork is tapered steerer, so much bigger diameter and stiffer and I really wouldn’t be worried (and if you are just keep an eye open to stockpile a spare for when Evans has them on offer).

If you post in the long running Arkose thread Jameso will appear to give you some reassurance about the fatigue tests that they will have run on the fork.

have reached 50mph on a road bike on road with no real qualms but some how smacking my gravel bike off rocks and ruts at 30mph worries me more than perhaps it should

I hit a hard edged pothole today on my roadbike hard enough to really hurt my wrists, and the carbon fork didn’t break.

I hit 63kph on the Dirty Riever this year and there were lots of fist sized rocks so although you may not hit 30 mph other riders do and he has a legit question. I just hope that mine don’t break😬

well if that’s anything to go by there’s barely a rock or root in site.

I often get to 35mph down some of the rough gravel roads where I live and while they can give me a hard time in handling (on my 28c road tyres) hitting any large stones (when does a stone become a rock?) doesn’t feel as bad as hitting potholes on tarmac. Gravel by it’s natures is loose so can move where tarmac tends to stay where it is…

Just watch riders in the 3 Peaks Descending the bottom of Pen y Gent. Fast & rocky. That should put your mind at ease

…well at least your forks might be safe 😂

How are people going so fastnonngravel bikes off road? I spun out a 52/11 on my caad12 and tucked in down a big tarmac hill near Bath and only managed 48mph. That was also quite scary.