This looks like a 2008 Singlecross – I am currently restoring a 2009, which has the same forks. It’s a carbon blade attached to a pretty sturdy aluminium crown (literally everything from the brake bosses up is solid aluminium). The carbon blade feels pretty lightweight, but tbh if this rack triangulates to the mudguard mount at the top of the crown I think you’ll be fine. I wouldn’t overload it, but for moderate weights I think you’ll be good. It was designed for CX after all.
That said, this is 15 year old carbon. Look closely at it and if you see any damage or delamination etc, then I definitely wouldn’t put a load on it. In fact I’d probably replace it with an appropriate steel fork from Soma or Surly (or similar) with plenty of mounting points.
nmpls on
As a carbon touring skeptic, generally yes. That midblade mount is specifically designed for a rack.
Carbon is sketchy for touring uses when used in ways that it is not designed for. A carbon bike gets most of its benefits because it can be designed to only have strength where needed for the intended use. A metal tube, while specced for the intended use, isn’t quite as perfectly designed and will allow for a lot of unexpected uses — but not unlimited, obviously attaching p-clamps to an 80’s high end italian steel racing bike with tubes that dent if you grab the bike too hard isn’t gonna work well either. This means that if you add completely unintended forces you can have a bad time. Here, adding weight to the fork seems an intended use.
That said, I recommending finding a manual or some guidance from specialized as to the weight rating. You don’t want to exceed it. Unlike metal, carbon often shows little to no signs before it fails.
piestexactementtrois on
You can trust it up to its design specs. The tricross/singlecross fork of that era is fairly overbuilt. Specialized used to make a rack specifically for it that mounted to the cantilever bosses rated for 10kg. The mid-blade mounts are more reinforced. Probably worth a shot at least up to 15kg if not more. Had one of these for years, the aluminum frame failed before any carbon did.
TheRealGoonSquad on
I used an aluminum salsa front rack for 8lbs panniers on a pretty aggressive off road tour. I was very worried about damaging my fork, Salsa waxwing carbon. I ended up breaking the rack, stress fracture by the bottom bolt mount, but the fork was just fine.
simplejackbikes on
After all the failures I have seen:i don’t recommend mounting racks to ANY carbon fork.
7 Comments
What does Specialized say?
Yes
This looks like a 2008 Singlecross – I am currently restoring a 2009, which has the same forks. It’s a carbon blade attached to a pretty sturdy aluminium crown (literally everything from the brake bosses up is solid aluminium). The carbon blade feels pretty lightweight, but tbh if this rack triangulates to the mudguard mount at the top of the crown I think you’ll be fine. I wouldn’t overload it, but for moderate weights I think you’ll be good. It was designed for CX after all.
That said, this is 15 year old carbon. Look closely at it and if you see any damage or delamination etc, then I definitely wouldn’t put a load on it. In fact I’d probably replace it with an appropriate steel fork from Soma or Surly (or similar) with plenty of mounting points.
As a carbon touring skeptic, generally yes. That midblade mount is specifically designed for a rack.
Carbon is sketchy for touring uses when used in ways that it is not designed for. A carbon bike gets most of its benefits because it can be designed to only have strength where needed for the intended use. A metal tube, while specced for the intended use, isn’t quite as perfectly designed and will allow for a lot of unexpected uses — but not unlimited, obviously attaching p-clamps to an 80’s high end italian steel racing bike with tubes that dent if you grab the bike too hard isn’t gonna work well either. This means that if you add completely unintended forces you can have a bad time. Here, adding weight to the fork seems an intended use.
That said, I recommending finding a manual or some guidance from specialized as to the weight rating. You don’t want to exceed it. Unlike metal, carbon often shows little to no signs before it fails.
You can trust it up to its design specs. The tricross/singlecross fork of that era is fairly overbuilt. Specialized used to make a rack specifically for it that mounted to the cantilever bosses rated for 10kg. The mid-blade mounts are more reinforced. Probably worth a shot at least up to 15kg if not more. Had one of these for years, the aluminum frame failed before any carbon did.
I used an aluminum salsa front rack for 8lbs panniers on a pretty aggressive off road tour. I was very worried about damaging my fork, Salsa waxwing carbon. I ended up breaking the rack, stress fracture by the bottom bolt mount, but the fork was just fine.
After all the failures I have seen:i don’t recommend mounting racks to ANY carbon fork.