Our carbon forks go through extensive testing.

Wound Up has maintained its reputation for excellence through rigorous quality control. Because Advanced Composites Inc. manufactures carbon fiber filament wound structures for aerospace and defense applications with no room for error, we’re pretty used to getting things perfect. To make certain that we do, however, we subject our carbon fiber bike forks to a lot of different tests.

CEN and ASTM.

We engineer our carbon fiber forks to meet and exceed all requirements of the two major governing bodies for materials performance: CEN (Europe) and ASTM (USA). Both of these organizations have outlined a rigorous  quality control regimen for aftermarket forks. We execute the CEN 14781:2005 and ASTM F2273–11 protocols on every batch of forks we make.

Stressing our carbon forks to the max.

All of our testing involves the application of various stress loads from specific angles and for proscribed durations. Such stress applications include the following:

• Impact Resistance Test: We secure a carbon fork’s steerer and drop a heavy weight on the carbon legs. We measure the displacement and do it again. And again. Etc.
• Bending Fatigue Test: we secure the steerer and mechanically bend the legs forward and back for 100,000 cycles while measuring how far the carbon flexes. To pass, the carbon fiber legs must have peak deflections of no more than 20%.
• Static Bending Test: We secure the steerer and suspend a heavy load from the extended fork legs. After a period of time, we remove the weight and measure for permanent deformation of the carbon legs.

A plethora of fork trials.

In addition, we have the Steer Tube Pullout,  the Static and Repeated Brake Torque Tests, and the Disc Tab Fatigue Test, to name a few. We test for ultimate loads, fatigue stiffness limits, tensile strength and cyclic resistance limits. By the time we’re done, the unfortunate carbon fork has met a fate that is nothing short of medieval. But we know we’re making a good product. And that’s what counts, right?

The upshot of all this? Carbon fiber bike forks that keep going.

Because of our attention to detail and focus on perfection, Wound Up Composite Cycles has grown a loyal following (see our Instagram account for an idea) of Wound Up aficionados who know that they are always getting a reliably high-quality carbon fork when they order a filament wound fork from us. We appreciate the love, and will continue to craft our carbon fiber  forks to the highest standards.