Choosing a Carbon Fiber Fork from ENVE

Choosing a new fork for your road, gravel, or mountain bike can feel daunting at times, with things like headtube size, tire clearance, and axle-to-crown growing increasingly complex as standards change. Once you figure these things out, however, the buyer’s guide for the best fork for your bike becomes easy.

Headtube Sizes

What is the headtube size of your bike?
It is the width of the tube on your frame that your fork passes through. Over the years there have been a lot of standards, but most modern bikes stick to two sizes:

• 1 – ⅛, also referred to as a straight steer tube.
• 1 – ¼, or 1-½ , also referred to as a tapered steer tube.

Be sure to consult your frame manufacturer’s spec sheet to know the size of your head tube before purchasing a new fork.

Tire Clearance

What does tire clearance measure?
It’s the narrowest space between your fork that your tire can safely pass through, when considering tire inflation, wheel flex and other riding variables. You want to be sure your tire clears your fork to avoid any rubbing, which can lead to a damaged fork, which can cause major safety issues. In past years, road forks typically only cleared 23c or possibly 25c tires–and some continue to be that size. But now with the advantages of wider tires becoming more apparent, road forks often feature 25 – 32c clearance, with gravel running into the 50c range, and mountain as wide as 3” or more.

Axle-to-Crown Measurement

What is the axle-to-crown measurement?
First consult your frame manufacturer, as they should be able to help you find the value for your bike. If that isn’t available, measure the length from the center of your front axle to the crown of the fork. This value changes depending on the wheel size the fork is designed for and the fork rake. When buying a new fork, be sure to find something with a similar axle-to-crown height, or be sure to know the difference in handling your bike will have if you buy a different length.

Fork Rake

What is Fork Rake?
It is the amount that the front dropout extends past where the true center of the fork would be if the dropout was directly under the fork crown. Offsets range from 37mm up to 50+, depending on the application. Some forks feature adjustable fork rakes to dial in the ride quality of your bike.

Ride Quality and Weight

Does a carbon fiber fork actually ride better?
The geometry of a fork is important, but equally important are the materials and construction. Carbon fiber is considered the ideal material for its lightweight properties, its strength, and its ability to be tuned for a specific feel. ENVE prides itself on making forks that will make your bike feel faster and more responsive, while also smooth and comfortable–all by using carbon fiber technology and construction.

ENVE offers forks for nearly every discipline of cycling. Find your application below to determine which fork is the right upgrade for you.

For the Road Rider and Racer

For Rim Brakes

• 1-⅛” Straight Steer Tube Fork
  • Axle To Crown: 367mm
  • 25mm Tire Clearance
    • 4 Available Rakes:
      • 40mm
      • 43mm
      • 45mm
      • 50mm
  • The rake is determined by the geometry of the frame manufacturer, so it’s best to reference their suggestions in order to not drastically change the handling characteristics of your bike.
    
    
• 1-¼” Tapered Steer Tube Fork
  • Axle To Crown: 350mm
  • 25mm Tire Clearance
    • 43mm Rake

For Disc Brakes

• If your bike is equipped with disc brakes, you’re fortunate enough to gain the benefits of more tire clearance, and increased front-end stiffness with our through-axle equipped road disc brake fork.
  • Axle To Crown: 370mm
  • 32mm Tire Clearance
    • Two Rakes Available:
      • 43mm
      • 50mm

For the Explorer on a Disc Road Bike (All-Road/Mixed Surfaces)

The All Road Disc fork is made for exploration on your road bike, and best suited for all road style frames that favor endurance and light multi-surface exploration.

• Axle to Crown: 382mm
• Removable Carbon Fender
• Tire Clearance Up to 35mm (38mm w/o Fender)
  • 47mm Rake

For the Gravel Rider

We designed the G Series Gravel Fork for modern gravel riding and cyclocross applications.

• Axle To Crown: 395mm
• Internal Brake Routing
• Fender Mounts
• 700x50mm / 27.5 x 2.25” Tire Clearance

For the Adventuring Gravel Rider and Bike Packer

The Adventure Fork is designed for bikepacking and endless exploration that’s at home on both gravel bikes and full-blown multi-day touring rigs.

• Reversible Axle Drop Out Chips for Adjustable Rake
  • 49mm – Axle To Crown: 406mm
  • 55.5mm – Axle To Crown: 398mm
• Three-Pack Accessory Mounts
• Dynamo Routing for Lights and Electronics Charging
• Tire Clearance:
  • 29 x 2.1” (700×53) / 27.5 x 2.4”
  • 29 x 2.3” (700×58) / 27.5 x 2.6”

FOR THE RIGID MOUNTAIN RIDER

We designed our mountain forks for the truly hard-bodied, often single-speed, rigid riding, suspension-adverse mountain bikers.

• Boost and Non-Boost Fork Options
  • Adjustable Rake with Reversible Dropout Chips
    • 44mm – Axle To Crown: 490mm
    • 52mm – Axle To Crown: 492mm
  • 29 x 3.0” Tire Clearance
  • 100mm Suspension Correction (Non-Boost Model – 15x100mm)
  • 120mm Suspension Correction (Boost Model – 15x110mm)
  • Removable Carbon Fender

FOR THE FAT BIKER AND ALL-SEASON, ALL-TERRAIN EXPLORER

For those that continue riding in the dead of winter, or who just love gobs of tire traction, our fat-fork borrows elements from our mountain fork to a truly all-season, all-terrain fork.

• 26” & 27.5” Tire Compatibility
  • 5” Tire Clearance
  • Axle to Crown: 488.8mm

Our history of producing forks goes back to the very beginnings of the company. Working with the best artisan frame builders all over the world, we quickly established ourselves as a leader in producing elegant fork solutions for any frame a builder could dream up. These forks not only proved to be durable and trustworthy, but they provided a ride quality that complimented the care they had taken into making their hand built frames. With every fork we produce, these qualities are still prioritized.

ENVE forks are an institution. In fact, forks are the product that established ENVE as a trusted partner within the global custom frame builder community. When ENVE was founded, most of the aftermarket fork manufacturers were shutting their doors, and we saw an opportunity to create a better fork to service the soul of the bike industry. Tapping into our decades of carbon engineering experience we set out to create a new fork using new manufacturing techniques that allowed the fork to be molded in one-piece from dropouts to steerer-tube making the ENVE fork, the first of its kind and the benchmark for reliability and performance to this day.