This is a long explantion. Sit down, loosen your tie, and dive in for the next ten minutes.

Carbonomas is Spanish for carbon no more, by the way. Or no mo' carbo. Those Spaniards are savvy, and you should be, too.

We offer these as stronger, safer, more beautiful, and better designed alternatives to your original equipment carbon road fork. They're stronger and safter because they're steel. When carbon fails, it happens suddenly. It snaps, it doesn't bend or dent, as steel does. A flesh wound in steel may go unnoticed, but it will take months for it to creep around the tube and "suddenly" rip the fork in half. In carbon, there's no creep, there's only sudden. That is dangerous.
A safe fork is more important than a beautiful one, but these win in beauty, too. Steel isn't as chunky as carbon. It doesn't have to be. Plus, these forks have crowns, which always outbeauty no crowns. Two of these Carbonomas forks have lusciously bent blades. One has straight blades, which is the way to go if you're trying to hide the fact that you made a wise decision by replacing your carbon fork with a steel one.

The straight-blade fork has no lawyer lips. If you don't know how to close your quick-release, don't get it. In fact, TO get it, we require you to convince us in writing that you do know how. It can be an email. Send to mark@rivbike.com. Do this only if you must have the straight-blade Carbonomas fork. We are  not taking a random survey.

We've also claimed better design. While having to design a fork that works with short-reach brakes is itself starting in a hole, we have, in fact, maintained full compatibility with short reach brakes (the kind on all racing bikes) while adding a hair more clearance for a slightly fatter tire. Carbon forks are notorious for their lack of clearance, so we improved that as much as  possible while still allowing you to use the brakes you have.

Another design improvement, one that steel allows and carbon doesn't, is a longer steer tube. Carbon steer tubes are prone to snapping if they stick up above the headset more than about 45mm, and a 45mm isn't enough. It forces low bars. Wouldn't you rather have your bars higher? With the Carbonomas fork you can, because the steer tube is a whopping 350mm long. Cut it to the length required to get the bars where you want them. Raise your bars an inch or five. Go to town! You'll need spacers to fill in the gap. Bike shops generally have them.

More on why we dislike carbon forks. Why we in fact hate them. Why we encourage you to never ride one:

Bustedcarbon.com

We feel no happiness or smugness when we hear of or see a broken carbon frame or fork. Behind every one that breaks is a crackerjack designer, a quality manufacturer, a skilled engineer, and an enthusiastic retailer. Nobody is dishonest, nobody is out to get you, but there is a learning curve with carbon forks, and the zenith has not been reached.

Sometimes an accident causes the break---if a truck hits you, the snapping of your bike or fork is nobody's fault but the truck driver's. The accident is no worse than it would be if you'd had a solid steel bike.

But in many of cases, you're riding along, hit a pothole or some other relatively mild obstruction/fact of life on the road, and the fork snaps. Maybe it was a manufacturing flaw that went undetected, or a weakness that developed through use. With carbon fiber, the failures happen suddenly. Carbon forks don't creak for a week, and they don't soldier on injured; like one of those super cheap steel bikes you see with bent-backwards forks and oblivious owners. Carbon forks snap in an instant. And in many of those cases, a steel fork would have suffered the blow and sloughed it off.

Ironically, in lab tests, carbon forks beat the pants off all others. When all things are good with them and they're fresh, they cream all contenders. But they're like super-buff well-armored and gunned street thugs who just happen to be supremely scared of blood. In the case of forks, "blood," can be a defect hidden in the laminations that's impossible to detect; or it can be a gouge that turns into a crack; or age and sun damage that compromise the resin holding the laminations together.

It doesn't really matter what it is. The bottom line is this: Carbon forks have a shameful record of failure, and they give no warning. Is this fear-mongering at its worst? Some will take it that way. But we're not going to make a lot of money on these steel replacement forks. I/Grant doubt we'll sell a dozen, because it's easier to keep going than to change what you're doing, and you'll get no support for it among your peer group. It'll be easier to write me off as a nut, or write Rivendell off as having the steel-fork axe to grind. We do. 

Because steel is inherently safer. It's tougher. It soldiers on hurt and unless the damage is severe, it remains rideable, not risky---at least until you get home. Carpenters don't replace their hammers every year, and they don't toss a miss-hit nail----they hammer it straight and pound it in again. Steel is an incredible material, and it's main virtue is toughness----just what you want in a bicycle fork.

That's the point behind these steel (Chrome-moly) forks.

It has 45mm of fork rake, which is the same or within 2mm of 99 percent of the carbon road forks out there. Two mm won't make any difference; may improve things, won't hurt anything. If you fret about that, you should be frettin' about riding carbon instead.

And the fork length may not match perfectly, but again, close enough. We did our homework, and if you're wondering how long our fork is from axle to top of crown (you might want to measure your carbon fork first), the answer is: 366mm.

Micro-technical note: An Alpha Q fork measures 372mm. Mounting this 6m shorter fork will increase the head tube angle by a half-degree, and reduce trail. But hold on there: The 28mm tire you can now fit gains it all back. You may not be able to fit a 28 in back; tough --- you can still ride it in front, and that's one of the  points and benefits. Or if you ride a 23 in back, at least put a 25 on in front. Ride a 25  in back now? Then you could ride a 28 in front. Don't think anything goofy will happen, because it won't. The point is to get you onto a much safer fork. A safe fork, period.

Brake reach: Most carbon forks have 43mm of brake reach and holes high in the crown. That may not mean anything to you, but it's why you can't put a 28mm tire in most carbon forks. We took that as an opportunity to improve. This steel fork has 48mm of brake reach and a lower hole, and that's good because a 28mm tire fits easily. 

Starting from scratch, it's not the way I'd design a fork, but the goal here was to offer you a fork that, as much as possible, would swap-out with your carbon fork without radically changing the handling or look of your bike. That imposes restrictions, and we've made the best of them.

Weight: The lightest carbon fork out there weighs 298g, or 10.5 ounces. More typical carbon forks weigh about a pound. 

This fork weighs six to twelve ounces more, typically, depending on how long the steerer is. The fork for a 57cm frame will weigh about 24oz (a pound and a half), and that's plenty light for any fork. We all have that much to lose off our bellies. 

Would you rather descend on a pound and a half of steel, or eleven ounces of carbon? It's a serious question.

There's a fender eyelet on the dropout. 

Most importantly, this fork is steel --- the same material (although a different alloy) that hammers and nails are made of. Tough steel that doesn't snap. It bends, it dents, is takes abuse without catastrophic failure. 

Here's a possibility and consideration: Let's say you get one of these forks, ride it, and then for whatever reason your frame breaks, you cry foul to the manufacturer, and the manufacturer blames your new safer steel fork. That could happen. The steel fork represents a huge loophole in such a case. 

But there is nothing inherent in this fork that will create any extra stress on your frame. No, we haven't tested that, but for the life of me I can't see how it could. If you have any concerns, don't buy the fork. If you agree that it won't and you want a safer fork that won't snap, then buy it.

Our offer:

The fork sells for $200.

Paint: Black. 


NEW SIZE?

We've had several requests for 1-inch steerer steel Carbonomas forks, so we have those up for sale, too.  Still threadless, because threaded requires too many variants. It might not be your dream custom solution, but we can do only so much, and we're pushing it even with any of these forks. It is truly a labor of Fear and Prevention.