First crash (my fault??)

fwgx

Yesterday I decided that despite the weather I'd go for a ride with the roads damp - nothing overly wet, I'd certainly ridden in torrential gales and rain during my winter commutes on my hybrid. So a bit of damp on my new road bike should be fine, right?

Wrong. I got 4 miles away down a tiny single track road and had to brake on a corner for a car (which luckily was all but stationary). So I applied the brakes - nothing sudden. The kind of thing that on my hybrid I know it wouldn't have been an issue at all.

Only then the back end slid out from under me I fell and slid on my side across the road ending up on the mud bank on the other side of the road and my bike near the front bumper of the car. It hurt and I was quite shaken up, but nothing was broken. I limped home.

The tape on the right hand drop is well sliced up and the handlebars had been knocked off track so I fixed that with an allen key and then tried to get the chain back on, to no luck. Then I realised that the back wheel wasn't attached to the frame. So I released the quick release, clipped it back in and re-tightened it. Thought nothing more of it.

It was only today when talking to some people about it that they mentioned that the back wheel shouldn't have come off. Especially as all the bike did was skid along the road - there wasn't any impact as such.

So my question is this: Should the wheel have come off given that the bike landed on the right and the release leaver is on the left? If not then perhaps this was the cause of the crash and the reason I locked up and lost control (it was so quick I can't really remember exactly the start of it)? Given that I hadn't touched the back wheel attachment since I got the bike only a week ago, do I have any hope of getting anything by going back to the shop?

arthur_scrimshaw

Hope you're ok?

With so any variables it's impossible to say what caused the slide and neither can you say with absolute certainty it wouldn't have happened on your hybrid. You must be gutted at the damage to your new bike, that's understandable, but you've really got no hope of blaming anyone else for this. If the back wheel came out it suggests the QR may not have been tight enough, however that's your lookout as well. These things should be checked before you ride, not many of us do but it's a fact.

diy

You need to check your QRs every ride, its so easy for them to work lose or for you to not have them seated properly. I have had mine come lose once or twice.

pilot_pete

If the quick release did come loose the tyre might have jammed against the chain stay causing it to lock on the wet road...

PP

fwgx

I am thankfully ok with a number of cuts and grazes but nothing broken.

Do you really check your QRs every ride? It makes sense in the same way that making sure you still have 4 wheels attached to your car in the morning, but I never do that either and I bet most don't. I have checked everything over tonight and it's all secure now. I've had my hybrid 9 months and never checked them even once with no issues.

Turns out I was lucky to be wearing a helmet...

nweststeyn

We're so vulnerable out there that it pays to check over a few things before every ride. Tyre pressures, brakes and QR's are the ones I look at before every ride (only takes a minute!).

peat

Not sure about the QR issue, be it cause or result.

After i had a spill in the wet, i always lower my tyre pressures to 70-80psi. That's probably more down to my tyres though, they are 23mm stock Bontrager slicks that came with my bike. Might be something to consider for the future.

diy

Just give each wheel a pull on the side to see if you get any flex indicating a loose QR or bearing issue. I've never had one go loose on the MTB either but I still check for play. Also check the cassette and cranks for play too. It a tw second job while lifting the bike out of the house.

pkripper

sounds like a bit of bad luck to me. However, if the rear QR was loose, you'd have noticed it while riding as the gears wouldn't be perfect, and it would likely have moved under accelleration, so I don't think that's any cause.

backo

you may want to check that you havent bent your deraileur hanger as looking at the damage on your photos, I suspect it could have been.

If you have any issues trying to set and index your gears then you hanger problably needs bending back into place and replacing.

dee4life2005

You say it's a new bike, have you done many miles on it previously? New tyres tend to be a bit slippy in the wet until they've been scrubbed in for 20-50 miles in the dry, this is due to the release agent they use during the manufacturing process. If this was one of your first rides out on the new bike then this could also have contributed to the back wheel locking up, together with a different braking pressure from what you're used to on your hybrid.

I've had a QR work loose during a ride and you can tell, as the gears no long change smoothly and you get a strange rubbing noise going round corners as the rim moves up against one of the brake pads. My pre-ride checks involve:

• Check QRs
• Check tyre pressures using track pump
• Check brake pads and that they are centered
• Spin wheels to check they are still running true
• Quick bounce test of the front / back of the bike to list for rattles that may indicate something is loose e.g. headset

*the first 3 I always do.

arthur_scrimshaw

fwgx wrote:

I am thankfully ok with a number of cuts and grazes but nothing broken.

Do you really check your QRs every ride? It makes sense in the same way that making sure you still have 4 wheels attached to your car in the morning, but I never do that either and I bet most don't. I have checked everything over tonight and it's all secure now. I've had my hybrid 9 months and never checked them even once with no issues.

Turns out I was lucky to be wearing a helmet...

A bit of good news, Specialized have a crash replacement policy for helmets on http://www.specializedconceptstore.co.uk/why/

Helmet Warranty

''A helmet provides protection for one of the more vulnerable and more important parts of your body, your head. If you are unlucky enough to have an accident after purchasing a Specialized helmet, we offer a replacement at a fraction of the cost of a new model. We would rather see you protected than wearing a damaged and less effective helmet.''

racingcondor

First - Glad you're OK. Looks like the bike got away reasonably well as well, just a shame you went down on the gear side. If you have any shifting problems then you might have bent the deraillieur hanger (LBS to sort out).

Second - The back wheel shouldn't have come out which suggests the QR was loose. Only problem is that we don't know if it was the wheel slipping that caused the lock up or the crash causing the wheel to pop out.

the playing mantis

fwgx wrote:

Do you really check your QRs every ride? It makes sense in the same way that making sure you still have 4 wheels attached to your car in the morning, but I never do that either and I bet most don't. I have checked everything over tonight and it's all secure now. I've had my hybrid 9 months and never checked them even once with no issues.

err yes....the likelihood of car wheels coming loose is pretty much nil, however QR are under constant forces as you ride and are far less substantle then anythign keeping your car wheels on. likwise the ramifications of them working lose are somewhat worrying. as its a simple check and will take seconds, why even risk it.