Bicycle Mechanics - Niterider in wheel - ouch!

Hi All,

I was on a slow descent when the handlebar mount on my niterider failed, and the light swung into my wheel. The wheel came to an immediate stop, the force of which seemed to cause my carbon fork to shear into pieces...leaving me to continue the descent without a bike underneath me.

Anyone ever heard of anything like this happening before?

Thanks!

Yikes!!! Are you okay?? I've never heard of anything like that happening, no. In my experience handlebar light mounts tend to be sufficiently durable, though rear light brackets are infuriatingly flimsy.

Fork breakage due to foreign object debris in wheel? Yup.

Squirrels, sticks, water bottles, rabbits, ear buds, ipod, granola bars, blinkies, shirt, unknown furry creatures that dart out at night, saddle bag, little yappy sausage dogs.

These have all at one time or another gotten tangled up in the wheels, sometimes catastrophically, sometime with not a scratch.

Your full stop put a lot of load on that fork, the equivalent of running into a wall most likely. I'd have been more surprised if no damage had occurred.

I think I'll be ok...I hit the ground face first, so I have a nasty scar above my eye and have needed lot of physical therapy for my neck. I think the problem seems to have been with the black plastic release lever on the light, which is is supposed to act as a stop when engaged in the depression of the mount. The lever on mine doesn't seem to effectively stop the light from sliding back out of the mount. Although it snaps into place, it still slides back out with minimal effort, and the bumps and vibration of normal road riding seem to have been enough to work the light out of the mount. And unfortunately, the light is heavy enough that it pulled right through the velcro straps.

I've taken to attaching small lanyards to some of my equipment.

When I first got my Marwi NightPro, I accidently pushed the quick realease lever while adjusting the light mid ride. Next thing I know it is dangling by the cord banging into my spokes. I panick stopped and fell over before I could unclip, but the only damage sustained was to the skin on my right knee.

Sorry to hear of your more disastrous experience. I now use one of those velcro cord keepers and attach the power cord of the light to my stem to keep it all where it should be if this happens again.