Lightweight metal forks

[SuperSid]

I weighed my Peugeot Perthus chromed, Reynolds 753 fork and at 646 grams, I think that's pretty light for steel. I've seen Columbus SL forks that are lighter.

I'm currently planning to build this Peugeot into a super lightweight restomod and was wondering how much weight I could lose by replacing the originals with some similar looking shiny metallic ones. I did the calculations with a threadless carbon set up and of course I could reduce the weight by a lot but I'd like to maintain the shiny metallic front end with a similar look to the Cinelli style fork crown, the engraved Lion logo can always be laser etched.

Currently I have a polished titanium quill stem that only weighs 158 grams, an IRD zinc plated headset that looks chromed at 85 grams plus the chromed 646 gram 753 fork for a total of 884 grams.

I'm wondering what titanium forks are like in terms of ride quality

Vitus duralumin forks are an option, the steel steerer makes them weigh the same as ti forks though, not sure if the aluminium steerer versions are advisable.

Otherwise modern steel alloys might provide a substantial weight drop, Reynolds 953 or Columbus Spirit Nobium for example.

I think it will only be worthwhile changing the fork if there is a weight saving close to 150 grams or more, that will allow me to get a final build weight of only 6 Kg

Do you have any ideas or suggestions?

 

[SuperSid]

These are custom built titanium forks built by Wittson, I believe they weigh around 450 grams - that would be a 200 gram weight reduction.

 

[M_Chavez]

Non-retro ti forks?

Hi All, Not a retro question, but there seems to be an inflow of rigid China-made ti forks for sale, with custom design options. E.g. here...

www.retrobike.co.uk

Just had a discussion here.

I think 646 is pretty impressive.
My 531 Scot is around 650 (I think) which was quite a surprise, but others (Columbus & cinelli-crowned 531) are closer to 750-850.

Carbon forks can be in the 400 region I believe, but titanium seems to be hitting the 550 mark.

Not sure if alloy forks are safe to use. I've got Kona projet 2 al on my daughter's bike, but we're talking light use by a 20 kg rider.
Might be Sheldon's wisdom, but the older alloy forks used to be called "suicide forks" or "widowmakers" for a reason.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Alloy fork with a threaded headset would need a Steel steerer (aluminium isn't strong enough for the threads to last) adding weight and a glued bond.
The carbon fork would also need to have a bonded steel steerer if you're keeping the threaded headset, so would be quite a bit heavier than full carbon- more likely 550g
Does Wittson offer the ti fork threaded? It's nasty stuff to cut a thread on, and fork thread cutters are expensive, so they might not.

The lightweightsteel forks are the most appropriate really-

Otherwise using an aheadset will save you a lot of weight - the fork can be one piece, and the attachment between stem and steerer is a lot lighter.

 

[hamster]

The main issue with Ti forks seemed to be that they tended to be rather flexible. You can of course stiffen them up by adding more material (and weight).

If you want the shiny front, how about a chrome style wrap on the carbon forks?