Comment by mbarlow12
4 years ago
While I've never seen/heard of this happening, I suppose it's possible. I'd chalk it up to 2 issues: 1) possibly not tightening the quick release skewers quite enough 2) cheaper aluminum dropouts on the suspension lowers. One solid option is to purchase a thru-axle fork and wheel. They're becoming pretty much the standard across the cycling/mtb industry and you can even find rigid steel options (https://surlybikes.com/parts/karate_monkey_fork). If you're replacing your fork, that'll also open up options to buy a larger rim & higher volume tire to absorb more impact. Generally speaking, thru axle forks are designed to take a lot of abuse, so you'd be hard pressed to overstress one in a commuting setting, even over a long period of time.
You can also try a bolt on hub/fork where you're actually tightening a hex nut to secure the dropouts on the axle—most older 10 speeds are in this vein. They're also typically steel which is always nice for reliability.
I electrified a Kona Unit last year as a car replacement and have put it through the ringer. If you like tinkering, I highly recommend poking around the forums on lunacycle.com.
Good stuff, I've always been very kind to my bikes, avoid impact on the rims if I can (no kerb hopping, always aiming for the least impact if there is an obstacle on the road). Even so, with these bikes and the mileage they make (my brother wears out a frame every couple of years) it's probably a good idea to up the monitoring rate on the frame, especially at all the weld and high stress points. I've never had a frame fail - yet - in spite of many km on all kinds of bikes but that has also turned this into something of a blind spot so that warning is definitely a good one.