Al frame safe after crash?

Brian said:

My wife tried to pull the car into the garage with my Fuji still on
the roof rack. The rear wheel hit first, and folded up, but the rear
stays look OK. The front forks, which were clipped into the rack got
completely bent and cracked.

My question is, if the frame seems OK, should I just replace the fork
and rear wheel, or are AL frames much more susceptible to failure once
sustaining this kind of shock damage. FWIW, the bike is 3 years old,
cost $600, and has about 5,000 miles on it.

How much you like the bike? Chances are that the frame's fine. I'd
check it under strong light for cracks. If you can find a fork and
rear wheel for a couple hundred to fix the bike--and it's not a bike
you've got a grudge against, fix it. But keeping in mind that it's an
alu frame and it's gotten a good whack--the components have 5K on
them, it's gonna need a couple hundred bucks worth of kit to fix--are
you really happy with the color? ;-)

landotter said:

Brian said:

My wife tried to pull the car into the garage with my Fuji still on
the roof rack. The rear wheel hit first, and folded up, but the rear
stays look OK. The front forks, which were clipped into the rack got
completely bent and cracked.

Quoted message said:

My question is, if the frame seems OK, should I just replace the fork
and rear wheel, or are AL frames much more susceptible to failure once
sustaining this kind of shock damage. FWIW, the bike is 3 years old,
cost $600, and has about 5,000 miles on it.

How much you like the bike? Chances are that the frame's fine. I'd
check it under strong light for cracks. If you can find a fork and
rear wheel for a couple hundred to fix the bike--and it's not a bike
you've got a grudge against, fix it. But keeping in mind that it's an
alu frame and it's gotten a good whack--the components have 5K on
them, it's gonna need a couple hundred bucks worth of kit to fix--are
you really happy with the color? ;-)

Good points, and a new bike is appealing. Certainly the wife can't
complain either since she was responsible for the damage :-)

"Brian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Good points, and a new bike is appealing. Certainly the wife can't
complain either since she was responsible for the damage :-)

You'll still get the complaining. It will just manifest itself in another
form. :-(

"Carl Sundquist" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
|
| "Brian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
| news:[email hidden]...
| >
| > Good points, and a new bike is appealing. Certainly the wife can't
| > complain either since she was responsible for the damage :-)
|
| You'll still get the complaining. It will just manifest itself in another
| form. :-(
|
Most likely as in- "Why can't we re-do the kitchen? You went out and got
yourself a new bike..."

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

Brian said:

My wife tried to pull the car into the garage with my Fuji still on
the roof rack. The rear wheel hit first, and folded up, but the rear
stays look OK. The front forks, which were clipped into the rack got
completely bent and cracked.

Quoted message said:

My question is, if the frame seems OK, should I just replace the fork
and rear wheel, or are AL frames much more susceptible to failure once
sustaining this kind of shock damage. FWIW, the bike is 3 years old,
cost $600, and has about 5,000 miles on it.

I don't know about the frame/damage/etc, but I heard a helpful hint:

When you mount your bike on the roof rack, put the garage door opener
in the seat bag.

If you forget about the bike on the roof, you'll remember when you
can't open the garage. Most people tend to stop before driving
through a closed garage door.

-alan

--
Alan Hoyle - [email hidden] - http://www.alanhoyle.com/

Brian said:

My wife tried to pull the car into the garage with my Fuji still on
the roof rack. The rear wheel hit first, and folded up, but the rear
stays look OK. The front forks, which were clipped into the rack got
completely bent and cracked.

How did the rear wheel hit first? Was she backing in?

Quoted message said:

My question is, if the frame seems OK, should I just replace the fork
and rear wheel, or are AL frames much more susceptible to failure once
sustaining this kind of shock damage. FWIW, the bike is 3 years old,
cost $600, and has about 5,000 miles on it.

If the forks were bent and cracked, I'd guess other tubes were
damaged. Does the headset turn without binding? Any kinks in the
downtube or top tube?

You might want to have a good shop look it over carefully. But since
it's not an expensive bike to begin with, and as a minimum you'd need
a new wheel and forks, I think you'd be better getting a new bike.

Art Harris

Brian said:

My wife tried to pull the car into the garage with my Fuji still on
the roof rack. The rear wheel hit first, and folded up, but the rear
stays look OK. The front forks, which were clipped into the rack got
completely bent and cracked.

My question is, if the frame seems OK, should I just replace the fork
and rear wheel, or are AL frames much more susceptible to failure once
sustaining this kind of shock damage. FWIW, the bike is 3 years old,
cost $600, and has about 5,000 miles on it.

I would carefully check the down tube/ head tube junction to see if
ithere is any damage -- sometimes you get a crimp in the down tube
with a wall impact. If not, you are probably O.K. I have been riding
welded aluminum frames since the mid-80s and broken a fair share of
them -- the failures occurred with notice, meaning that there was a
fatigue crack or obvious damage to the frame. They are not prone to
"hidden damage" any more than steel frames, IMO. I would toss the
forks even if they looked undamaged because CF is prone to hidden
damage, and the failures are catestrophic. I had an old Cannondale
frame with a crack around 40% of the down tube, and I rode it home--
although that was a way-overbuilt 80's frame. I wouldn't try that on
the current crop of Al frames.-- Jay Beattie.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Alan Hoyle said:

Brian said:

My wife tried to pull the car into the garage with my Fuji still on
the roof rack. The rear wheel hit first, and folded up, but the rear
stays look OK. The front forks, which were clipped into the rack got
completely bent and cracked.

Quoted message said:

My question is, if the frame seems OK, should I just replace the fork
and rear wheel, or are AL frames much more susceptible to failure once
sustaining this kind of shock damage. FWIW, the bike is 3 years old,
cost $600, and has about 5,000 miles on it.

I don't know about the frame/damage/etc, but I heard a helpful hint:

When you mount your bike on the roof rack, put the garage door opener
in the seat bag.

If you forget about the bike on the roof, you'll remember when you
can't open the garage. Most people tend to stop before driving
through a closed garage door.

Indeed. Words of wisdom.

--
Michael Press