Ask old georgie boy about al vs. cf failure (Score 1)

Remember Mr. Hincapie's spectacular http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2006/apr06/roubaix06/index.php?id=s002crash at paris-roubaix last year? That was his aluminum steerer tube that failed. I too am a cyclist and worked in the industry for a time. The carbon fiber the industry has been getting is not the same as the mil-spec/aircraft grade stuff. As others have pointed out, there are many, many factors that go into materials failure, such as fatigue life, tensile strength, etc. Layup, curing, process, etc. all factor into the "performance" of carbon fiber and its potential to fail. Aluminum fails. Carbon fiber fails. One is not inherently superior to the other. Each has their advantages and disadvantages. Comparing a cycling fork to an airframe in inappropriate. Comparing the standards between the two industries is inappropriate; a torque wrench is considered a "hi-tech" tool in a bike shop. As for "so many cyclists have died," I'm going to get out the broom and call shenanigans. Mr. Zinn has a little http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/articles/3270.0.htmlwrite-up on the issue and my guess is that he would've addressed the issue of "so many" deaths. Being fairly immersed in the community, I've never personally heard of cyclist dying from a carbon fork failure, although other failures (such as a flat tire) have led to some serious accidents. Considering that cf is used on the crowns of some mountain bike suspension forks, my guess is any issues with strength and durability would be found out pretty quickly.