Jump to content

How To Ride With "deng" Forks?


petar@sbcycles

Recommended Posts

If it snapped within 10 days of riding use then it is a defect fork. having said that, i doubt it would last very long if your using a 203mm/8in rotor. lets not forget how many forks are churned out within the deng factory, not all of them will be 100% defect free. with regard to the 1.5in steerer tube idea, that was already tried by Mission Cycles with their Reefer 20 & 26in bikes. not everyone within the bike industry was ready to embrace 1.5in except Chris King, Manitou forks, Orange bikes, and Cannondale bikes. everyone else said (N) to the idea.

Putting a 1.5" steerer on a cheapo T-raptor was hardly inspired.

The design and potential performance benefits are obvious and significant. Even some road bikes use 1.5" to 1,1/8" now to prevent sharp steps on full carbon forks.

If a major player committed to designing and making a decent version, it would sell well. Infact I think the potential performance benefits could lead it to being a trials standard in the future, it's just a matter of time

Link to comment
Share on other sites

surely everyone would pay out for genuinley strong, lightweight forks?

I'm guessing that the rising cost of raw materials would be the only decent reason to move away from U6 in the first place, so maybe it is really expensive now? But then saying that, the new Trialtech forks are £115 and I'm sure they will still sell...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm guessing that the rising cost of raw materials would be the only decent reason to move away from U6 in the first place, so maybe it is really expensive now? But then saying that, the new Trialtech forks are £115 and I'm sure they will still sell...
But then Trialstech forks ARE NOT made from U6 alloy, otherwise they would retail at around £215 rrp. Edited by Rusevelt
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes I was merely pointing out that they are more expensive than a lot of forks, but will no doubt still sell. Also, I'm sure 1 alloy wouldn't magically double in value while others only increase slightly, but who knows what tiny percentage of the products selling price actually goes on the raw material...

Anybody able to confirm what alloy Trialtechs and Dengs are made from?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

surely everyone would pay out for genuinley strong, lightweight forks?

Forget weight, aslong as i can be re-assured im not gonna' loose my teeth on a 8 'n' half ft gap to front wheel. Bring em' on.

Ohhh wait, thats what i run Zoo! 07 reverse maggy mount forks for :) Re-assurence :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1.5" steerer according to Frank-the-welder (?) has less welding area on the headtube (surprising? yes but when explained it was very logical) hence less strength on the frame, I suppose you will have another part to fear on breaking aside from forks.

Larger welding areas was achieved through CNC+tubes right? Look at the Zoo fork.

Maybe it all boils down to material and manufacturing technique like welding and heat treating plus I second the through axle. But I think through axle will benefit disk setup more than magura or vees (on the fork).

edit, board censors efff-teee-dub-you

Edited by stpatr3k
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suggested the change in material was the cause as others have said they are made from a different Alu, and from my experience forks and frames made out of U6 usually take a tonne of abuse before failure compared to similar products made from 6061/7005. All of this is of course just conjecture, but then with so few facts provided about different products it's all we have to go on. Does anybody actually know what alloy U6 is and its material properties? As ever for the consumer, real facts are sparse if they exist at all. We have to base our choices on hype and hearsay and just hope products have actually been tested properly...

Absolutely. Real evidence is lacking.

U6 is great stuff, but flexes allot more. Conversely 7075 is stiffer/lighter but has much different reaction to harsh treatment (catastrophic failure versus bending). At the end of the day, a rider must select what is going to best serve them.

It is all in the eye of the beholder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anybody able to confirm what alloy Trialtechs and Dengs are made from?

I believe the Echo etc forks used to be U6 and there will have been some residual stock, hence why some forks (ZOO! for example) seemingly being stronger in certain areas than Urbans, for example. At the moment I believe they are being manufactured in 6061-T6.

The Trialtech forks are 7005. Dave mentioned to me that he looked into U6 forks but the price wasn't do-able (with a 'proper' pricing structure anyway).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I was hoping all the talk of failed forks wasn't something for me to worry about, but this happened my urbans last night:

DSC00050.JPG

I was landing from an 8 inch drop at the time...

Failure was due to fatigue cracks (In both legs), starting from the tops of the welds where the Magura mounts are fitted. Rim brake mounts on the front of the fork seem to be a better idea from this point of view incidentally (Fatigue cracks can only start at areas with tensile stress, and the back of the fork will see more of this in general use). I ran Maguras at the front up till about 3 weeks ago, then swapped to the K18 Formula.

Can anyone recommend a steel fork the same length as the Echo Urban? Steel forks still fail (I've had enough of them go on me to be sure of this, but never in such a short time and never as a catastrophic failure that's dumped me onto the ground hard - they all kinked or cracked at one leg and bent rather than snapping), but at least steel gives a decent warning and bends/creaks/shows rust at the crack before finally failing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...