Mountain Biking - Bike fell off car at 60mph

So I was bringing someone to the airport today cruising along at about 60mph on East Independence Blvd here in Charlotte when I look in my rearview and see my bike begin to detach from my bike rack. WTF? Half a second later my effin bike is doing endos on the pavement at 60mph. Traffic is ridiculous and I'm freaking out thinking someone is going to run it over. Luckily my bad luck had been so bad lately that a greater being didn't think I could take another blow and everyone managed to avoid my running over my bike. I managed to pull over, go and get the bike out of the middle of the lane and try to sort out what the hell happened. I of course think the worst and considering what had just happened the bike suffered only minor damage. Stem knocked out of place, seat twisted and torn, a couple of scratches on the brake levers, and a bent front rim(which I trued enough to still go for a light ride). I will have to bring it to the LBS to get them to get the rim completely trued but other than that, that's all that needs to be fixed. Lucky considering what could have happened. As far as the bike rack goes, it's a saris bones trunk rack. Not sure why this happened but the straps that wrap around the frame decided that they wanted to just rip off of the rack. Saris will be getting a letter and some photographs regarding this.

Man your lucky that no one hit it especially on Independence

I think I came closer to getting hit than the bike did actually. But yeah I was lucky for it not to get ran over on such a busy road.

You have been given a lucky charm today it seems.

That's crazy about those straps. Make sure to take GOOD pics of the straps because you don't want them to say it's because you had not taken care of the rack.

Oh and...Please post them here, if you can. I'm kind of curious to see what happened.

It's dark out and these aren't the pics I will be sending to Saris... but it gives you an idea of what actually broke.

Rack Pic #1
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/6397/dsc01866ci7.th.jpg (http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc01866ci7.jpg)

Rack Pic #2
http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/6355/dsc01867wn4.th.jpg (http://img137.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc01867wn4.jpg)

Strap Pic
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/8341/dsc01869nz6.th.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc01869nz6.jpg)

Seat Damage Pic
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7963/dsc01871ir4.th.jpg (http://img132.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc01871ir4.jpg)

Grip Damage
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/8193/dsc01874sy3.th.jpg (http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc01874sy3.jpg)

Stem and HRM damage
http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/4746/dsc01876ru7.th.jpg (http://img110.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc01876ru7.jpg)

And for good measure a pic of the bike cuz it's sexy
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/8985/dsc01877ph7.th.jpg (http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc01877ph7.jpg)

At least you can tell people you crashed your mtb @60mph

At least you can tell people you crashed your mtb @60mph

And you walked away without a scratch! :D

... Brad

Were the only straps you had on the bike the ones that are attached to the rack, i.e., you didn't have extra straps to wrap around the rack and frame?

I would cry. Then I would get a real rack.

Mine fell over while heading down a freeway.A roof rack system by Thule. Because it has plastic tie straps and I add extra security by using bungie cords, it stayed attached to the rack. However, when it fell over the side of the car, its a wonder the handlebar did not break the passenger side window. Now, i add a strap to the headset area , pulling it forward and guaranteeing it stays put within the clamp that keeps it upright.

Were the only straps you had on the bike the ones that are attached to the rack, i.e., you didn't have extra straps to wrap around the rack and frame?

In my opinion, you shouldn't need extra straps. Saris should take some responsibility for their rack system failing.

A girl on my local forum had the same thing happen with her POS saris rack after the strap broke, her bike was run over by a tractor trailer and completely destroyed.

In my opinion, you shouldn't need extra straps. Saris should take some responsibility for their rack system failing.


you are using the wrong rack for a fully.

yeah the rack should never break but that rack
isn't designed to hold that bike. pressure is not evenly
distributed,


man up and get a real rack.

something along the lines of the hollywood sport rider. one that
grips the wheels not the frame.

http://www.hollywoodracks.com/hitchRacks.html

No receiver hitch on my car. And considering my bikes are worth more than my car I'm not going to be adding a receiver hitch anytime soon. When you say "wrong rack" do think that will plight my case with saris?And even so, I can understand one of the straps breaking but both of them? And then it falling off completely?


you are using the wrong rack for a fully.

yeah the rack should never break but that rack
isn't designed to hold that bike. pressure is not evenly
distributed,


man up and get a real rack.

something along the lines of the hollywood sport rider. one that
grips the wheels not the frame.

http://www.hollywoodracks.com/hitchRacks.html

One of the gal's in town here, lost her bike going down the highway. She entered it into an ugliest bike contest, and won a complete rebuild including custom paint job! ( it looked a lot worse than yours did)