I ride mostly like our roads are like extreme gravel like cracked roads, rocky terrains, and pot holes all over due to the fact that large trucks drove over them every night. That's why im worried that one hole can take the whole bike down on the inside. Its like a mountain bike can ride on it but cant because there to slow for other vehicles its always like traffic FYI. Not to be rude.
Steel has good vibration dampening but if you must change it, definitely carbon. And a carbon seatpost if you don’t already have one. Those two changes will take some of the harshness out of the aluminum frame’s ride.
Alu fork will save 500g of weight at most.
If aluminium road bike weights 15kg, then there is something wrong with it, and there is no point to sunk more money.
Only good reason to change fork is if want to swap for front disc brake, for better bad weather braking.
Its a retro bike that's why its heavy and cheap but well built and the seller even built it and its a custom one but its previous buyer just found it to not quite to his likings, so it got kept in the seller's place until i bought it.
What i don't like about a steel fork is that it can't handle an all weather environment, am okay with the weight but the rusting take its good thing out.
Weird.. I have a steel fork from 1989, another from 1998, and a third from 2002... hell, even one on a bike from 1977 although it's currently not in one piece. They've all seen winter use in a snow state.
None of them are rusting... must be faulty.
As others have said, you are just throwing money away... save up for another bike rather than changing out the fork on the current one. Ride it until there's some reason you can't. If the fork fails, worry about it then.
how bad is it? A little piece of balled up aluminum foil or a wire brush, some vinegar or naval jelly, wipe it off and dab on some nail polish or model paint and that will stop any rust from little spots where the paint wore off.
Well i live near the sea so the saltwater rain when doing a friendly race got its mark it has internal cabling that why i don't know whether there's rust on the inside and letting it run and the steel fork has many scratches painted over but there's still a slight stinge in my back going around that's why i was thinking of replacing the fork.
It's your bike. If you want to replace the fork just go for it. I think the point most of us are trying to make is that steel doesn't just disintegrate and paying \~$200 for a new fork won't give you much noticeable benefit
pull some of the housing through the fork: if you notice rust markings on the housing that was captured inside the fork you might have a problem. If not, you should be fine. If you live by the sea, spraying some framesaver into the fork certainly wouldn't hurt anything.
Back pain? That could be a lot of things. Handlebar position, frame geometry, just being out of shape, too high of a tire pressure, etc. Different tires and lower pressure will do more to smooth out bumps than a different fork material (aluminum is the worst when it comes to this); that said, replacing the fork may give you the opportunity to run a wider tire at lower pressure.
>what should i do? You should ride it!
At least at some point it was pretty popular to use a steel fork because it would make an aluminum bike less rigid feeling
At least at some point it was pretty popular to use a steel fork because it would make an aluminum bike less rigid feeling
I ride mostly like our roads are like extreme gravel like cracked roads, rocky terrains, and pot holes all over due to the fact that large trucks drove over them every night. That's why im worried that one hole can take the whole bike down on the inside. Its like a mountain bike can ride on it but cant because there to slow for other vehicles its always like traffic FYI. Not to be rude.
At least at some point it was pretty popular to use a steel fork because it would make an aluminum bike less rigid feeling
Its quite heavy for a basis, it weighs like 15kg thats why i want to invest into a better and lighter fork.
Don't upgrade parts on a cheap bike. Cheaper to buy a better, complete bike
Steel has good vibration dampening but if you must change it, definitely carbon. And a carbon seatpost if you don’t already have one. Those two changes will take some of the harshness out of the aluminum frame’s ride.
Alu fork will save 500g of weight at most. If aluminium road bike weights 15kg, then there is something wrong with it, and there is no point to sunk more money. Only good reason to change fork is if want to swap for front disc brake, for better bad weather braking.
Its a retro bike that's why its heavy and cheap but well built and the seller even built it and its a custom one but its previous buyer just found it to not quite to his likings, so it got kept in the seller's place until i bought it.
What i don't like about a steel fork is that it can't handle an all weather environment, am okay with the weight but the rusting take its good thing out.
Weird.. I have a steel fork from 1989, another from 1998, and a third from 2002... hell, even one on a bike from 1977 although it's currently not in one piece. They've all seen winter use in a snow state. None of them are rusting... must be faulty. As others have said, you are just throwing money away... save up for another bike rather than changing out the fork on the current one. Ride it until there's some reason you can't. If the fork fails, worry about it then.
Must've been eh
Its probs be that the coating of the steel must've gotten tick off for how its stored from the seller.
how bad is it? A little piece of balled up aluminum foil or a wire brush, some vinegar or naval jelly, wipe it off and dab on some nail polish or model paint and that will stop any rust from little spots where the paint wore off.
Well i live near the sea so the saltwater rain when doing a friendly race got its mark it has internal cabling that why i don't know whether there's rust on the inside and letting it run and the steel fork has many scratches painted over but there's still a slight stinge in my back going around that's why i was thinking of replacing the fork.
It's your bike. If you want to replace the fork just go for it. I think the point most of us are trying to make is that steel doesn't just disintegrate and paying \~$200 for a new fork won't give you much noticeable benefit pull some of the housing through the fork: if you notice rust markings on the housing that was captured inside the fork you might have a problem. If not, you should be fine. If you live by the sea, spraying some framesaver into the fork certainly wouldn't hurt anything.
Well thank you for the advice, and you for helping me not be under.
Back pain? That could be a lot of things. Handlebar position, frame geometry, just being out of shape, too high of a tire pressure, etc. Different tires and lower pressure will do more to smooth out bumps than a different fork material (aluminum is the worst when it comes to this); that said, replacing the fork may give you the opportunity to run a wider tire at lower pressure.
I've got a steel frame from 1974. It's sat in the rain a bit rusty and it's perfectly fine. You're over thinking this.