I am sooo lucky

[beerwolf]

Tonight, cycling home after Friday beers at the office, I came off at the
King/George Street intersection, Sydney CBD. I was crossing on the
green 4-way pedestrian lights after the bulk of peds had cleared the
crossing, and my handlebars snapped in half. Basically, the hand holding
the half which came adrift from the stem followed the piece of handlebar,
the arm followed the hand and the body followed the arm. I hit the deck
before I even registered anything wrong.
No blood, very minor bruising (I was travelling very slow), and a couple
of kind pedestrians came out to help me up. My thanks to them whoever
they may be.

This could have happened on a fast downhill, or in traffic with a line of
trucks behind. Or (shudder) on the path along the Bondi cliffline.
There but for the grace of God, etc. I'm still pretty shaken up - have
had worse prangs in terms of injury, but every other one has been my
own fault in some way. This one happened just so fast.

There is no sign of rust in the metal, on either piece of handlebar. It
looks
to be a case of metal fatigue - no crack would have been visible due to
the black powdercoating or whatever it is. The bike was a 20yo Apollo
Himalaya - basically just a POS in this day and age, but it worked for me.
Worried now that there are some other hidden nasties waiting to happen.

--
beerwolf (remove numbers from email address)

 

[Terry Collins]

beerwolf wrote:

> There is no sign of rust in the metal, on either piece of handlebar. It
> looks
> to be a case of metal fatigue - no crack would have been visible due to
> the black powdercoating or whatever it is. The bike was a 20yo Apollo
> Himalaya - basically just a POS in this day and age, but it worked for me.
> Worried now that there are some other hidden nasties waiting to happen.

Unless I'm seeing repeat posts, this seems to be a weekly occurrence;
someone cracking old handlebars.

 

[Bleve]

beerwolf wrote:
> Tonight, cycling home after Friday beers at the office, I came off at the
> King/George Street intersection, Sydney CBD. I was crossing on the
> green 4-way pedestrian lights after the bulk of peds had cleared the
> crossing, and my handlebars snapped in half. Basically, the hand holding
> the half which came adrift from the stem followed the piece of handlebar,
> the arm followed the hand and the body followed the arm. I hit the deck
> before I even registered anything wrong.
> No blood, very minor bruising (I was travelling very slow), and a couple
> of kind pedestrians came out to help me up. My thanks to them whoever
> they may be.
>
> This could have happened on a fast downhill, or in traffic with a line of
> trucks behind. Or (shudder) on the path along the Bondi cliffline.
> There but for the grace of God, etc. I'm still pretty shaken up - have
> had worse prangs in terms of injury, but every other one has been my
> own fault in some way. This one happened just so fast.
>
> There is no sign of rust in the metal, on either piece of handlebar. It
> looks
> to be a case of metal fatigue - no crack would have been visible due to
> the black powdercoating or whatever it is. The bike was a 20yo Apollo
> Himalaya - basically just a POS in this day and age, but it worked for me.
> Worried now that there are some other hidden nasties waiting to happen.

handlebars and stems and forks are prone to fatigue failures, and are
best replaced every 3-6 years depending on their use (and construction
- old waterpipers may last a lot longer safely). Yes, there are hidden
nasties waiting to happen!




>
> --
> beerwolf (remove numbers from email address)

 

[petulance]

beerwolf wrote:
> Tonight, cycling home after Friday beers at the office, I came off at the
> King/George Street intersection, Sydney CBD. I was crossing on the
> green 4-way pedestrian lights after the bulk of peds had cleared the
> crossing, and my handlebars snapped in half. Basically, the hand holding
> the half which came adrift from the stem followed the piece of handlebar,
> the arm followed the hand and the body followed the arm. I hit the deck
> before I even registered anything wrong.
> No blood, very minor bruising (I was travelling very slow), and a couple
> of kind pedestrians came out to help me up. My thanks to them whoever
> they may be.
>
> This could have happened on a fast downhill, or in traffic with a line of
> trucks behind. Or (shudder) on the path along the Bondi cliffline.
> There but for the grace of God, etc. I'm still pretty shaken up - have
> had worse prangs in terms of injury, but every other one has been my
> own fault in some way. This one happened just so fast.

<snip>

A week or so ago, I noticed the chain on my bike wasn't engaging
properly with the 5th sprocket when I was pedalling. Every now and then,
the chain would make a clunking noise and look as though it was moving
up or down a gear before settling into the 5th sprocket. This didn't
happen on flats but was noticeable on climbs. I thought that my
derailleur needed adjusting and decided to have my LBS look at it the
next time I was in the area.

I did a ride from Hornsby to Cowan (Pie in the Sky Cafe) with the
BikeNorth group this morning and about halfway into the ride, the
clunking became worse. The chain seemed to be jumping on more sprockets,
not just the 5th one. This was really beginning to **** me off as I
couldn't develop a smooth cadence. At the half way point, one of the
other riders and me had a quick look at my back wheel to see if the
chain was aligned with the cassette. It seemed fine to us.

Towards the end of the ride, the chain wasn't latching onto any sprocket
at all. I decided a visit the LBS would have to be done immediately when
I got home.

At the end of the ride, I had a another look at my bike. Lo and behold,
the connecting pin on one of the chain links was hanging on by *this*
much ... (moves thumb and forefinger together).

The chain could have snapped at any point in the last half of the ride.
Good thing the ride wasn't too hilly.

Lesson learnt. If the bike makes funny noises, get it fixed ASAP.

 

[tony f]

"petulance" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> beerwolf wrote:
>> Tonight, cycling home after Friday beers at the office, I came off at the
>> King/George Street intersection, Sydney CBD. I was crossing on the
>> green 4-way pedestrian lights after the bulk of peds had cleared the
>> crossing, and my handlebars snapped in half. Basically, the hand holding
>> the half which came adrift from the stem followed the piece of handlebar,
>> the arm followed the hand and the body followed the arm. I hit the deck
>> before I even registered anything wrong.
>> No blood, very minor bruising (I was travelling very slow), and a couple
>> of kind pedestrians came out to help me up. My thanks to them whoever
>> they may be.
>>
>> This could have happened on a fast downhill, or in traffic with a line of
>> trucks behind. Or (shudder) on the path along the Bondi cliffline.
>> There but for the grace of God, etc. I'm still pretty shaken up - have
>> had worse prangs in terms of injury, but every other one has been my
>> own fault in some way. This one happened just so fast.
>
> <snip>
>
> A week or so ago, I noticed the chain on my bike wasn't engaging properly
> with the 5th sprocket when I was pedalling. Every now and then, the chain
> would make a clunking noise and look as though it was moving up or down a
> gear before settling into the 5th sprocket. This didn't happen on flats
> but was noticeable on climbs. I thought that my derailleur needed
> adjusting and decided to have my LBS look at it the next time I was in the
> area.
>
> I did a ride from Hornsby to Cowan (Pie in the Sky Cafe) with the
> BikeNorth group this morning and about halfway into the ride, the clunking
> became worse. The chain seemed to be jumping on more sprockets, not just
> the 5th one. This was really beginning to **** me off as I couldn't
> develop a smooth cadence. At the half way point, one of the other riders
> and me had a quick look at my back wheel to see if the chain was aligned
> with the cassette. It seemed fine to us.
>
> Towards the end of the ride, the chain wasn't latching onto any sprocket
> at all. I decided a visit the LBS would have to be done immediately when I
> got home.
>
> At the end of the ride, I had a another look at my bike. Lo and behold,
> the connecting pin on one of the chain links was hanging on by *this* much
> ... (moves thumb and forefinger together).
>
> The chain could have snapped at any point in the last half of the ride.
> Good thing the ride wasn't too hilly.
>
> Lesson learnt. If the bike makes funny noises, get it fixed ASAP.

And if you get chain skip/gear problems roughly every X pedal revolutions,
you probably have a chain problem (rather than gears or alignment).

I find mine skips about once every 6 pedal revolutions in top gear when I
have a twisted chain. On my mtb, this happens more than I'd like. ;^)

Tony F