Road Cycling - diagnose my crash

Hey everyone,

Crashed today, trying to figure out how it happened.

I was standing up pedaling UP a hill and the next thing I know I'm over the bars and landed on both knees, elbows and palms. The only damage to the bike is scrapes on top of the brake levers and grip shifters. (road bike w/ flat bars) The chain was off but not bound up. Put the chain back on, straightened the bars and slowly rode home, dripping blood and all.

Any ideas what the heck happened? chain locked up and propelled myself over???

It all happened in a split second, like someone thew a stick in my spokes.

Kind of leery to ride the bike cause it seems fine.

Thanks
Jeff

Sounds like you dropped the chain. Sudden lack of resistance = flying...

You were fighting gravity, he pwn'd you.

Happens to all of us a least once a week.

Aliens around your area?

I'm betting you dropped your chain. I actually BROKE a chain on a BMX bike when I was slightly younger.........happened exactly as you described, except the hill I was climbing was in the country........little gravel road..........no helmet because I was young and stupid..........I was over the bars and on my head on the ground before I knew what happened...............blood running all down my face.............I picked little pieces of granite gravel from my scalp for days afterward........

Nowadays I wear a helmet.

Any chance you were shifting when it happened?

I crashed last year when I got my front wheel caught in a narrow groove. I remember a fraction of a second starting to have the back end of my bike raise up and the next thing I remember is waking up with 4-5 people staring down at me. Any chance that happened to you?

I have a bike on which I can't stand on too tall of a gear on the big ring or else the chain will drop, and it always drops to the inside. I think it's due to crank/BB flex, because when I put on a better quality crank, it stopped dropping the chain. It doesn't matter how close to the chain I adjust the front derailleur, either.

Sounds like you dropped the chain. Sudden lack of resistance = flying...
+1 That's the most likely explanation.

Thanks for the replies.

Ever had a front hub lock up? I went to take the front wheel off because it needs a little truing now. The axle keeper thing was twisted to hell, just like the hub stopped and the forks continued to pivot right on over. Took the hub apart, no apparent damage or cracking and plenty of grease. I just put a new tube on last week and would have noticed it then.

I'm not ruling out the chain drop, it's just that I had the derailleurs adjusted a few weeks ago and it had been shifting like a dream. But I could be flexing the cranks and/or frame at my weight.

I think it's time to seriously start looking at some better components, wheel sets and cranks. I'm a heavy rider 230, and really been training on powering up the hills at speed for weight loss and leg strength.

I'd check your chainring to see if it is stripping. My Rincon mountain-bike has similar issues (although the second chainring is stripped thankfully) If not your Derailleur "L" may need adjusting. (it regulates how far over the derailleur travels)

Ever had a front hub lock up? I went to take the front wheel off because it needs a little truing now. The axle keeper thing was twisted to hell, just like the hub stopped and the forks continued to pivot right on over. Took the hub apart, no apparent damage or cracking and plenty of grease. I just put a new tube on last week and would have noticed it then.What do you mean by "axle keeper"? Got a picture?

I saw a woman crash herself when her seat bag jammed the rear wheel. It was just kinda dangling under her saddle, came loose or something , and got stuck between rear tire and frame, causing her to stop suddenly and crash. Weird things happen, though this one was preventable.