first crash help

matt-sport wrote:

had my first crash on a sunday club run. one person catches a wheel the rest of the group move to avoid the fallen bloke thus taking out the people behind. i got out of it with a bit of road rash and a few bruises. the only damage to my bike was a buckled wheel and some chips in the paint. we had a cafe stop and some more experienced riders had a go at striaghting out my wheel. luckly i did not snap a spoke just bend it a bit! they striaghtened out the spoke and tighten and reajusted all of them to make it run true. i have checked the bike for other faults and cracks but can't find any. my question are

what should i checked on my bike after a crash?
will my wheel be alright if it's true and all of the spokes are intacted?[/quote

Kind of depends on how you crashed, but if you have just slid off and dropped the bike onto its gears, it might have bent the rear hanger, which would reveal itself when the indexing went out. Other than that, if it feels OK to ride, and is still in one piece, it should be mechanically OK.

Most other damage tends to be scrapes and scratches - handlebar tape, shifters, elbows, shoulders, saddle - which whilst physically or financially painful, isnt unsafe to ride.

If you crashed into something then you probably have more to worry about than the state of the bike.