Poorly Bike :O(

phil_ss1

Hi,

Was just leaving work a couple of nights ago and completely wrote off the backend of the bike:

I was doing about 10mph up a steep ramp out of the bike shed to join the road on the company's site and there was a BIG bang and then a graunching noise and I stopped dead in my tracks.

The chain had split on one side (open bit facing its direction of travel) catching the rear mech jamming it up, this then dragged the rear mech around the cassette and into the rear wheel. It also pulled the rear wheel out of the frame jamming it up against the BB - The whole lot was solid - Took ten minutes to free it all up so the wheel could be taken out.

As Captain Kirk would say "Damage report Scotty..."

Rear mech hanger - twisted
Rear mech cage - split open & twisted
Rear mech itself - snapped clean in two at a pivot!
Chain - busted
Wheel - buckled by 10mm
Skewer - bent

Not a happy bunny, looking like £80 to £100 to fix, parts now arriving daily courtesy of Wiggle and eBay.

Only upside is that I've ordered a small tool set with the Wiggle stuff to help me fix it.

Main downside - off the bike until New Year now :O(

At least it will get a clean, lube and polish all over now.

Seasons Greetings.

Phil
[knackered] Specialized Sirrus Sport Disc
Felt F5C

craker

Oh f*7k, were you out of the saddle at the time?

On a postive note, you've been able to go bike gear shopping without the guilt :roll:

snakehips

I had a chain link go on one occasion. Nasty business , hit the deck (ouch) but fortunately for me , no expensive collateral damage to the bike.

iain_j

Had a similar mishap a couple of years ago. Changed down a few gears to start climbing a hill in Wales when something went bang, the back wheel locked up and i skidded to a halt. Somehow unclipped and jumped off before falling over, and examined the damage. The rear mech had fallen into the spokes, snapping the hanger, twisting the mech itself and the chain, ripped out a few spokes, a few of which got entangled through the chain links.

Rural Wales, i was stuck. Got my phone out and called the emergency recovery service (dad), expecting a long wait while he drove out, but coincidence of all coincidences he'd just finished a walk on the nearby hills and was just 5 miles away!

firvulag

you have my sympathy. Very similar thing happened to me today.

Damage found so far

- bust spokes
- rear cage bent at 90 degress and wrenched off mech
- bent mudguard stays
- bent skewer

Will strip it down when I get home to see if thats all.

In my case it was caused by using a old wheel with corroded spokes. I put of a rebuild till after winter. Big mistake. It was one of the spokes letting go that let my rear wheel deform enough to catch the cage on the read mech while I was going uphill.

don_don

MTFU all of you and go fixed. Rear mech troubles eliminated 8)

hides round corner sniggering

firvulag

firvulag wrote:

you have my sympathy. Very similar thing happened to me today.

Damage found so far

- bust spokes
- rear cage bent at 90 degress and wrenched off mech
- bent mudguard stays
- bent skewer

Will strip it down when I get home to see if thats all.

In my case it was caused by using a old wheel with corroded spokes. I put of a rebuild till after winter. Big mistake. It was one of the spokes letting go that let my rear wheel deform enough to catch the cage on the read mech while I was going uphill.

Add to that
- bent rear gear hanger
- ripped (yes ripped) rim

il_principe

Ouch, bad luck.

Do you do much in the way of chain maintenance? Regular checking for wear as well as cleaning and lubing properly should help prevent this. Also worth investing in a really decent chain form the off (KMC are great). Chains shouldn't really just snap unless they're really worn out.

iain_j

My mishap taught me a few lessons: maintenance and repair know-how. If it happened now i'd have a go at shortening the chain and limping single-speed to the nearest railway station. I learn things the hard way though - when i started out with all-day rides i didn't even bother with a puncture repair kit. Lucky for me, when the inevitable happened, i was in a town with a bike shop.

The Joe Show

snakehips wrote:

I had a chain link go on one occasion. Nasty business , hit the deck (ouch) but fortunately for me , no expensive collateral damage to the bike.

Sadly i've also had this experience, however i was riding a BMX at the time, which meant i went straight forward over the bars and kissed the tarmac.

Since my commuter has such a tall gear ratio i tend to stretch chains quite fast meaning nowadays i change chains every 4-6 months just to be on the safe side.