Ouzo Pro or Ouzo Pro Lite?

[pitonpat]

Does anyone have experience with these forks? In spite of the perfectly acceptable performance of my stock Wound Up fork on my Seven Axiom, I just don't like the 'modern' appearance of the Wound Up style. I'm thinking of going to an Ouzo Pro knowing that they generally receive good reviews.

The Ouzo Pro Lite has a somewhat unique looking unidirectional carbon fiber appearance rather than a carbon weave, and of course is lighter in weight although that's not a significant element for me.

If it has any bearing, I'm 150lbs. max. Your thoughts...?

[djdj]

I've had an Ouzo Pro Lite on my 2006 Parlee. Twelve years and thousands of miles. I've been very happy with it.

[sales guy]

Originally Posted by pitonpat

Does anyone have experience with these forks? In spite of the perfectly acceptable performance of my stock Wound Up fork on my Seven Axiom, I just don't like the 'modern' appearance of the Wound Up style. I'm thinking of going to an Ouzo Pro knowing that they generally receive good reviews.

The Ouzo Pro Lite has a somewhat unique looking unidirectional carbon fiber appearance rather than a carbon weave, and of course is lighter in weight although that's not a significant element for me.

If it has any bearing, I'm 150lbs. max. Your thoughts...?

The Ouzo Pro is still considered one of the best carbon forks made. It was light, stiff, comfortable and looked really really good. It was made in the US and had very few problems. One of the nicer things was the crown reinforcement. It was metal VS the crown race sitting on carbon. It avoided damage to the fork.

The Ouzo Pro Lite was lighter and usually had a matte finish. But still had the crown reinforcement. There was a max rider limit for it. You being 150, you're fine. I never experienced it when I had it but some friends said it flexed too much for them. I really preferred the the standard Ouzo Pro tho. I like the look of it and found it an excellent fork.

I had a NOS one here and unfortunately it got used on a super small 50cm frame for NAHBS. So it really sucks as I had hoped to use it for something eventually. Oh well. Excellent fork. If you want one that looks great and ticks all the boxes, you can't go wrong with either one.

[John H.]

I have had both Ouzo Pro and Ouzo Light- could not tell the difference in riding them.
Was your frame designed for a Wound-up?
If so, the axle to crown on a Woundup is likely less than the axle to crown length on an Ouzo fork.
Might matter to you, might not.

Originally Posted by pitonpat

Does anyone have experience with these forks? In spite of the perfectly acceptable performance of my stock Wound Up fork on my Seven Axiom, I just don't like the 'modern' appearance of the Wound Up style. I'm thinking of going to an Ouzo Pro knowing that they generally receive good reviews.

The Ouzo Pro Lite has a somewhat unique looking unidirectional carbon fiber appearance rather than a carbon weave, and of course is lighter in weight although that's not a significant element for me.

If it has any bearing, I'm 150lbs. max. Your thoughts...?

[Mike Lopez]

The original offerings of the Ouzo Pro were constructed from 150 GSM unidirectional prepreg with an outer layer of 3k twill. Bullet proof safety.

The "Lite" was lighter because it used 120 GSM uni and eliminated the outer layer of twill. As a result it was not quite as stiff or strong. These forks were typically painted matte black as opposed to the original high gloss clear finish.

Both of these forks used the same construction method with a pre made steerer tube assy with an aluminum or Ti crown race seat. These steerers were then co-molded into the fork body.

The final offering in the line was the UL. It used 80 GSM high modulus prepreg and the steerer & fork body were all molded in one operation. It was considerably lighter than the other forks in the line but it had durability issues. The original OP forks passed all the mechanical tests with a generous safety factor. The UL passed but I would not include the word generously in my description of the qualification process. Many folks liked them and thought they rode quite well. Others had issues but no serious catastrophic failures in use that I'm aware of. Cracked steerers etc and there was a recall due to poor bond prep on the dropouts. (Glad to say after I left the company...)

Regarding weigh limits...There were no rider weight limits on any of these products while I was with the company. After that I can't say. I do know that plenty of folks ran them on tandems with no issues. Even the UL....That's a bit scary to me and the couple who showed up at my shop with one on their tandem rode away on a different fork!

Hard to go wrong with an Ouzo Pro as long as you don't want to run fat tires. I remember my partner say that "no self respecting racer would ride anything larger than 23s". Lot's of things have changed since '98 eh?

[Black Dog]

Thanks for chiming in Mike. Take pride in your developing one of the best carbon forks ever made. Strong, durable, good looking, and excellent performance; a master piece.

[Hindmost]

Did the axle to crown change over the run of Ouzo Pro forks? Just wondering...

(I was just doing headset maintenance on my Ouzo Pro/Atlanta bike last night. The pads on the Campy Record calipers are set almost to max length.)

[regularguy412]

+1 data point :

I really like(d) my Ouzo Pro. It replaced a Serotta F1 on my CSI. The Ouzo Pro lightened the front end of my bike by about a pound (at least it felt like that much). I could notice a small amount of flex in the Ouzo Pro compared to the F1 but the F1 did have a steel steer and was pretty well overbuilt ,, back in the day. And I'm about 190 lbs. nowadays. I think you could feel pretty secure on the Ouzo Pro.

Mike in AR

[happycampyer]

Originally Posted by Hindmost

Did the axle to crown change over the run of Ouzo Pro forks? Just wondering...

(I was just doing headset maintenance on my Ouzo Pro/Atlanta bike last night. The pads on the Campy Record calipers are set almost to max length.)

Yes. Originally 370mm, then 372nn.

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showpo...9&postcount=18

Originally Posted by happycampyer

Mike would know best, but iirc the original Ouzo Pro had a span of 370mm but was redesigned in 2005 or so (something to do with the dropouts?) and the span changed to 272mm.

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showpo...9&postcount=18

Originally Posted by Serotta_Carbon

Thanks for all interest!

I'll try to address the questions in order..sort of...

Geoff - The original Ouzo Pro was modeled at 370mm but several years later there was a clearance problem with a particular/popular hub which required a new dropout that also resulted in a longer span of 372mm.

Jeff N - We do fabricate the AE frames in Poway but ship them to NY for finishing.

Happy Camper - The F2 was a special version of the Ouzo Pro with a lay-up tweaked to Ben's liking, 15% stiffer laterally, and titanium hardware. The F3 was a next generation all together in it's shape, lay-up, construction method etc. It's also offered in multiple stiffness/performance levels.

Regarding the "others" that we supply to I'm simply refering to a number of other builders that buy parts from us. We've been offering forks for a couple of years now and have been doing some stays & tubes as well. We don't sell lugs or "frame kits" per se but we do have the capacity to supply some parts.

Regarding the project bike's I've done with Bruce. I met him several years ago when I called him out of the blue and told him how I was going to modify my fork to work with his racks. I hadn't introduced myself and he had no idea who I was and proceeded to to say "Your gonna do WHAT?!!" He was polite but told me I could be entering dangerous ground making modifications to someone else's product. I then realized I should tell him it was my product and we know what we're doing. He was quite relieved, helped me out like I was an old friend, and in fact became a good friend over the following years. We share a number of interests outside of cycling but have had a common interest in styling classic looking bikes and parts using different materials and techniques. For me it's a diversion. When I first began building composite forks the whole point was to make them look different so everyone knew they were zoomy. Now I'm experimenting with classic/retro styling that still results in a zoomy fork but catches the eye for a different reason. It opens up a lot of possibilities but mostly it's fun!

Back to my chores...

[cadence90]

There is some good information re: the Ouzo Pro in this thread.

The Lite is not discussed, however.
I think the standard Ouzo Pro is one of the best carbon forks ever.

[pdmtong]

I just rode my steel bike with ouzo pro today. great riding fork.

however, as mike notes, its hard to run with bigger tires.

manageable with HED belgium C2 and vitttoria open pave 24 (record skeletons)

fail with bora one clincher and conti 4k2s 25

[Wakatel_Luum]

I'm using 28mm Rubino Pro Graphene's and it seems fine?

[lookout2015]

My Merlin has an Ouzo Pro and runs 25s currently (Strada LGG gumwalls). There's enough clearance that I could maybe fit 28s up front (don't think they'd clear the brake bridge in back)

And, second all the thumbs up that fork is getting. The aesthetics and the ride are both superb with it

[Black Dog]

I run an Ouzo fork with 23mm wide TB-14 rims and 25mm Conti GP4000II with enough room for crudz mud guards/fenders.

[bigbill]

My Pegoretti BLE has an Ouzo Pro, it's the original fork and is 12 years old. I had it painted with the frame two years ago. I run a front wheel with a Pacenti SL23 rim and 25mm Pro 4 that measures right at 29mm with that combo. It's tight, but unless I run through some mud, it's fine.