I’m looking for a new bicycle to replace my stolen gravel bike, and one of the options I have is a 12,6kg full CrMo steel framed gravel / trekking bike that seems cheap and robust enough. My only concern is that my previous bike was 9-10 kilos, with an aluminium body and carbon fork, and it rode really well, so i’m a bit worried it might not be as fun on longer rides.
So that got me thinking: how much weight could I reduce by switching from a steel fork to a carbon fork, and how easy is it to do it myself? Would it be worth it?
I feel like the punishment/weight ratio is rather logarythmical, as in it increases with route steepness but not in a linear way - you’ll start noticing it on really steep gradients and with tiredness.
If you have a somewhat decent shape and don’t ride over too much steep gradients I’ll say just keep the steel fork. It’s cheaper if you just lose a kilo yourself than in your bike. And depending on the builder, steel frames and forks can feel as flexy if not even more than carbon.