Quote:
Originally Posted by unterhausen
In my opinion, steel disc brake forks should be heavy, I refuse to live on the edge. But as far as tapered head tubes and carbon forks on steel bikes, sometimes I do things for amusement, that should be understood on a forum where N+1 is the rule. I like the way tapered headtubes look, no accounting for taste.
As far as tapered carbon forks on a steel bike, there are far better choices of forks with tapered steerers. Sometimes you have to compromise because of the state of the market. It's backwards, I know. But putting a tapered head tube on a steel frame adds almost no weight nowadays and has no other compromises. Granted, it does tend to make a carbon fork the only choice that makes sense.
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Right, I mean, if I bought a steel road frame intending to run a carbon fork on it, I'd probably look for one with a 44mm or tapered head tube to accommodate a wide range of forks.
But that's just conceding to the reality of the market - aesthetically, I prefer 1 1/8" (or even 1") head tubes, and functionally I'm really not convinced the tapered carbon steerer has a benefit to the rider (though there may be reasons why it makes carbon fork construction easier).
As for steel forks, there's just no need for a steel fork to have a tapered steerer, even with the added weight and stiffness needed for disc brakes. There are non-suspension corrected bike-packing rigs with disc brakes and steel mountain bike forks that have straight 1 1/8" steerers and they handle things like the Tour Divide. Even if the head tube is tapered as a concession to carbon forks or suspension forks, the steel fork can have a straight steerer.