Carbon fork - how much difference does it make?

[Bikerjon]

Just after a bit of advice from people with carbon bikes/forks...

I mostly cycle on local potholed and bumpy roads and a hybrid bike with front suspension is my tool of choice. I've tried other styles of bikes but they just don't work for me. I've noticed a rather nice discount on a hybrid in the end of season sales, but it's a carbon fork rather than suspension.

I've never ridden a carbon bike so I just wondered how much effect a carbon fork would have in smoothing out the bumps compared to a bike that has normal front suspension?

[The_Jackal]

It will always be worse with no suspension. They only say carbon forks remove "road buzz" whatever that is.
Tyre size (bigger the better) will have more effect than a carbon fork.
If you see a pothole you will still need to jump the front wheel up with a fixed fork.

[flight147z]

I had an alloy bike with a carbon fork and 23mm tyres. I sold that and bought a full carbon bike with 25mm tyres. I've since added wider carbon wheels to my carbon bike but kept the 25mm tyres. The tyres are now stretched out more on the new wheels.

My second bike was noticeable more comfortable than my first which will be due to a combination of a carbon frame and wider tyres. Moving to wider carbon wheels on that bike has again led to a big difference in comfort

I think the best first step is to switch to wider tyres, following that i'd then switch to wider wheels to stretch the tyres out more. If you want more comfort than that perhaps then go for a full carbon bike

That way you can look to improve comfort in "cost order" without spending a lot of cash in the first instance

[Bikerjon]

Thanks, yes I guess there's not going to be much comparison between carbon and suspension. I can however fit 40C tyres on this particular bike I'm considering, so that might soften things up a bit!

[uncinqsix]

Bikerjon said:

Thanks, yes I guess there's not going to be much comparison between carbon and suspension. I can however fit 40C tyres on this particular bike I'm considering, so that might soften things up a bit!

Yep, 40c tyres would do the trick. Just make sure you get something that is at least reasonably light and supple. It's amazing what good, wide tyres do for ride quality.