The awkward moment when your fork breaks whilst on a ride

simon_masterson

So whilst out this morning, this happened.



:shock:

gozzy

Ouch. Are you ok?

MountainMonster

I've got some old forks I can sell you, if needed!

Hope you are OK mate, must been quite a bump to get those snapped!

jgsi

MountainMonster wrote:

I've got some old forks I can sell you, if needed!

Hope you are OK mate, must been quite a bump to get those snapped!

errr they were 'old forks' ;-)

simon_masterson

I'm fine, thankfully - thanks for asking. Little road rash. I wasn't going very fast, mercifully; I was pounding away at 30mph + on a busy road coming home from work only on Thursday, so I'm very lucky.

And thanks for the offer, MountainMonster, but I think I have no choice but to retire the frame - the fork rusted through, so I can only assume that the frame is just as bad. I knew it needed a respray, but I have let this creep up on me. Got 2 steel frames heading into service soon, so they're both going to get a dose of Frame Saver.

jgsi

Simon Masterson wrote:

I'm fine, thankfully - thanks for asking. Little road rash. I wasn't going very fast, mercifully; I was pounding away at 30mph + on a busy road coming home from work only on Thursday, so I'm very lucky.

And thanks for the offer, MountainMonster, but I think I have no choice but to retire the frame - the fork rusted through, so I can only assume that the frame is just as bad. I knew it needed a respray, but I have let this creep up on me. Got 2 steel frames heading into service soon, so they're both going to get a dose of Frame Saver.

It is always something to remind oneself when eyeing up a shiny steel frame of a certain age, which like a woman you do not ask...... you cannot see on the inside of it.
On this years Eroica, 2 bikes had failed forks according to my source who has just a certain knowledge of steel frames.
Some vintage bikes are going for really, silly money at the moment as it is the 'in' thing.. yes you can spend over 4 grand on a 1970's bike .

gozzy

Out of curiosity (and definitely not worry about any steel frames I might own), what's frame saver?

charlie_potatoes

Simon Masterson wrote:

I was pounding away at 30mph + on a busy road coming home from work only on Thursday,

Well done Simon. Cracking ride

madasahattersley

I wouldn't be happy with that. Is the bike still under warranty? Have you contacted your dealer?

MountainMonster

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

Simon Masterson wrote:

I was pounding away at 30mph + on a busy road coming home from work only on Thursday,

Well done Simon. Cracking ride

Badazing, that was quite punny!

simon_masterson

MountainMonster wrote:

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

Simon Masterson wrote:

I was pounding away at 30mph + on a busy road coming home from work only on Thursday,

Well done Simon. Cracking ride

Badazing, that was quite punny!

He's here all week, I hope?

keezx

madasahattersley wrote:

I wouldn't be happy with that. Is the bike still under warranty? Have you contacted your dealer?

The dealer is dead and buried 30 years ago.......

andrew_s

madasahattersley wrote:

I wouldn't be happy with that. Is the bike still under warranty? Have you contacted your dealer?

If it's the "Retired: c.1980 Ernie Clements Falcon", the warranty expired some time ago.
Ernie may be dead and buried, but the shop still exists, though not in the same place.

Gozzy: frame saver is gunk that you spray inside a frame to stop it rusting, like waxoyl.

tim_wand

andrew_s wrote:

madasahattersley wrote:

I wouldn't be happy with that. Is the bike still under warranty? Have you contacted your dealer?

If it's the "Retired: c.1980 Ernie Clements Falcon", the warranty expired some time ago.
Ernie may be dead and buried, but the shop still exists, though not in the same place.

Gozzy: frame saver is gunk that you spray inside a frame to stop it rusting, like waxoyl.

To go back to the analogy of Old steel frames and Women, and not knowing if they are rotten on the inside. If you poor frame saver down the ex wifes throat does that stop the decay and bitterness too :?:

charlie_potatoes

Simon Masterson wrote:

I think I have no choice but to retire the frame - the fork rusted through, so I can only assume that the frame is just as bad.

You could effect a repair using parts from an old washing machine whilst eating a jam sandwich and wittering on about how great everything was back in the day. For added effect you could also grumble on about how gullible every other cyclist is for buying nice kit.

Simon Masterson wrote:

I'm fine, thankfully - thanks for asking.

Glad you're okay.

Matthewfalle

Just make friends with your local decent motorcycle/car work shop and borrow their endoscope (they use it shove into engines to see the state of them without having to strip them down).

Shove it inside the frame and have a nose around - may mean that you can keep a favoured frame going for a while longer.

Bobbinogs

Yepp, good to hear you are ok, could have been a lot, lot worse. Sensible decision about the frame, when you cannot trust things they have to go, end of.

simon_masterson

Exactly - I don't like it, but better safe than sorry. It's a wake up call at least - all my frames are steel, so I will just treat them all, then top up on an annual basis or something like that.

Interesting thought about the endoscope, though - never heard of anyone doing that on a bike frame, though I'm sure someone has...

gloomyandy

Good to hear you are OK Simon. A quick question, did you get any sort of warning in the days/weeks before that this might happen. I ask because in a very long thread on the CTC forum, one often repeated arguments about "how much better than carbon fibre, steel is" was that you always get plenty of warning about failure with steel, while carbon will just go without any prior warning. I wondered what your experience had been?

simon_masterson

Well, a few weeks ago I started noticing juddering when braking. Thought it was the headset, yet there wasn't much play. I never got around to tightening it up. In retrospect, I think this must have been the beginning of the end.

That was the only thing that I remember; handling I perceived to be normal, and I did really thrash it the ride before. About 10 minutes beforehand the bike felt really strange all of a sudden, so we stopped and checked it over, but didn't find anything. Unfortunately, I focused my attention on chainstays and BB area as that's what I thought it might be. I think if I had paid more attention to the fork area, I might have spotted it. (Which is annoying, as the crash wrote off my Cinelli bars and front brake!)

In general, though steel does give warning signs, some are easier to spot than others; so if you don't, you're not so much better off than with carbon. That said, at least if a second hand steel fork has been damaged in a crash, I might expect the damage to be noticeable, and they can be bent back and retracked.

rafletcher

Simon Masterson wrote:

It's a wake up call at least - all my frames are steel, so I will just treat them all, then top up on an annual basis or something like that. {quote]

Can I suggest that, if you're going down the Framesaver route on your existing steel frames, that first you use a rust "converter" (Jenolite is one such), and only after that has dried, spray in the Framesaver. I used a bottle brush taped to a bit of doweling to apply the rust converter inside the tubes.

Oh, and you'll not need to "top it up" (the Framesaver) ever!. I had a can leak in my shed, and it took near boiling water and a paint scraper to get it off the bench it had dripped onto. :roll:

Moonbiker

I have an ernie clement also, & the front fork is alot more rusty than yours on the outside (no idea what its like inside.) It has a chromed fork & all the chrome is bubbled up with rust.

Maybe I shouldn't ride it anymore, or buy new forks at least for it,Rest of the frame is in pretty bad nick with rust two though.

simon_masterson

rafletcher wrote:

Simon Masterson wrote:

It's a wake up call at least - all my frames are steel, so I will just treat them all, then top up on an annual basis or something like that. {quote]

Can I suggest that, if you're going down the Framesaver route on your existing steel frames, that first you use a rust "converter" (Jenolite is one such), and only after that has dried, spray in the Framesaver. I used a bottle brush taped to a bit of doweling to apply the rust converter inside the tubes.

Oh, and you'll not need to "top it up" (the Framesaver) ever!. I had a can leak in my shed, and it took near boiling water and a paint scraper to get it off the bench it had dripped onto. :roll:

Thanks very much for this; I was wondering this exactly, as Framesaver doesn't seem to make any particular claims to remove any existing rust.

And Moonbiker, whilst there are definitely guarantees, your bike may well be absolutely fine - it's quite a lottery, and some amount of rust is inevitable on carbon steel bikes. Chromed surfaces in particular tend to get rust spots if you don't give them a once over periodically. I wouldn't assume that it's terminal just because there's some rust present.

However, I would definitely recommend doing something about it - if I were you, I'd clean the fork up (foil is apparently fantastic for this), treat and then cover (nail polish, car touch up lacquer etc) any small rust spots on the frame (unless you fancy having it resprayed), then do as above - dose the inside of the frame and fork with some sort of thin rust remover, then preferably use something like Framesaver or Waxoyl; though apparently even just WD40 can do a pretty decent job.

Old_Timer

All good advice on the Framesaver for treating the tubing's' interiors. Oxalic acid is a good way to clean out the rust in the tubes before you apply the preventative treatment. As said, let it dry completely, I like to spray in something to rinse the surfaces out, also, and letting that dry thoroughly. Best of luck on getting things sorted out.

florerider

did you get it from Wiggle?

davidof

Didn't you run to the local blacksmith's forge, get a young lad to pump the bellows, then effect a repair to get you home?

desweller

davidof wrote:

Didn't you run to the local blacksmith's forge, get a young lad to pump the bellows, then effect a repair to get you home?

As you know, that's only the sort of thing you do in a race.