corrosion - carbon fork

madeinleeds

I noticed today I've got some corrosion on my carbon forks around where the bolt for the brake calliper goes - see pic. Is this the end of my forks - any thoughts on how safe (or not) they are to ride on ?? The bike's an orbea onix (2009). cheers

mitchgixer6

Should be ok. I had that on my old bike. I stripped all the flaking paint off and sanded off all the oxidisation (rust).

Get some hammerite and use that to replace the paint.

imposter2.0

That particular bit of the fork is not carbon, it is cast aluminium. As above, it is oxidisation - it's not pretty, but it will not have any negative effect on the bike's safety..

Matthewfalle

I'd pop the brake off ASAP and clean it all up, slap loads of copper slip in and reassemble - best get it done soonest before you can't get the brake off.

g00se

Should be OK - just scrape it back and make sure and powdery aluminium corrosion doesn't get to where the aluminium crown is bonded to the carbon forks.

madeinleeds

That's great, thanks all. Good to hear there's some more miles left in them

k-dog

Yep, I had that - until then I had assumed it was carbon right up to the steerer but that actually makes more sense when you think about it.

My brake got jammed in - could get the bolt out but it just wouldn't come out because of the corrosion. Had to buy a new brake after bashing it out. Now I periodically take the brake out and make sure it's well greased. I don't use that bike over the winter now too - the year before it happened I commuted all winter with no front mudguard.

Like already said I just picked off the flaky stuff and then rubbed it back and took it somewhere local to be repainted. £40 I think and it still looks great.

Matthewfalle

It's the back of the fork - no one will see it. Rub down, repaint it yourself taking care, spend the £40 on Barolo and Salami for the duration of the World Cup.