Carbon forks

[makster]

Has anyone tried the 'cheap' Chinese carbon rigid forks on ebay (like these.... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rigid-Fork-Ca ... 19f254d663) and have any good/bad feedback on them?
I've just bought a pair to try out and found them excellent on my local trails yesterday, but would like to hear other peoples opinions on them too.
I've never had carbon forks before, so have nothing else to compare them with!

 

[hamster]

Light, strong, cheap: pick two.

Personally I haven't tried them and would avoid as there is no chance of any product liability cover. Personally I value my face and teeth. 590g is on the light side, hence my fear that they are under-built. The Exotic ones are around 700-750g and are proven. Of course, that could mean that they are absolutely fine for light conditions, it depends on what your riding style is.

 

[makster]

Light, strong, cheap: pick two.

These were my exact words to my girlfriend when they arrived!
It's been hard to find either positive or negative reviews on them, although I have seen someone who bought a pair of similar ones, because they looked just like the £350 Whiskey forks his mate had......and they were exactly the same.

I've ridden them pretty hard so far (only 2 rides though) so will see how they hold up

 

[hamster]

The scary thing about all these carbon off-brand products (including frames) is that you can knock up a mould from the real thing and make it look the same but simply add fewer layers of carbon and more foam or use a less engineered carbon layup etc etc etc. In the end the only way to find out is destructive testing.

 

[Sketchyxup]

Re:

I bought some almost a year ago and have been running them on a titanium saracen, tbh iv battered them to within an inch of their life and ride harder than i probably should. So far they have been rock solid, really impressed with the quality and would recommend to anyone.

Clearly there are a lot of places these things come from so its probably worth doing the research and making sure you buy form one with a bit of a reputation.

Mine came from a company called carbonal http://www.carbonal.cn/ and I bought some of their wheels and seat post at the same time, all have been flawless. I liked the fact they put Ti wire and some bassalt in the rims (road) to help with controlling the heat generated through braking. To me it showed they are actually developing products rather than laying carbon sheet in off the peg molds, the rims have been ridden in all weather and remain perfectly true with no signs of wear.

Im even considering getting some of their wide hookless ones from my mtb once iv saved my pocket money back up.

 

[amedias]

Re:

Not got that exact model but I do have a pair of FlyXii carbon forks, they weigh ~500g and are 26in wheel versions, full carbon including steerer.

I've had them for about 2 and half years and in that time they've done 1.5 seasons of XC racing, plus training rides and a few crashes, one of which was a full speed head on into a tree stump that I am convinced would have bent a pair of steel forks. Never had an issues with them at all and worked perfectly. I then put a bouncy fork back on my race bike and they then did 6 months or so on a friends bike subjected to general XC riding.

I'm 5'7 75Kg, he's 6' and heavier than me although I don't know how much exactly but similar build so scale up!

I haven't treated them any differently to any other parts I ride, and when I'm racing I treat things terribly, if I'm going to break a part, or expose any issues with it it'll be while it's on my race bike as it gets all sorts of abuse in the name of trying to gain another place.

So there, cant comment on your fork, but I haven't had any issues with my cheap chinese forks. There are issues with cheap crappy knock-offs and looky-likey parts, but there are also a lot of very high quality and skilled manufacturers, often doing OEM work for other brands as well as selling under their own name, I think the key is doing a bit of research and buy from the ones with a good reputation and who trade on their own brand name as well as they have a lot invested in their own brands, and are demonstrably good quality.