Bicycle Repaired After a Tree Hit Me Head On
10-03-07, 01:33 AM
#1
Clydesquirrel
Thread Starter
Bicycle Repaired After a Tree Hit Me Head On
I didn't post about this earlier, but a few weeks ago I was going too fast and hit a tree.
I landed in bushes unharmed, but my bicycle didn't do as well.
The front suspension forks sheared off and the headset fell out. I carried the bike back in parts to a bus-stop and rode the bus home.
I was thinking that I'd need a new stem-riser, headset, and forks. Bummer. Then it got worse. A friend of mine noticed that the bottom of the head tube was bent out from the impact. I took it into a shop and they said after looking at it, it would never hold a headset without wobbling, no matter the pounding back into shape, so it wasn't worth trying to get them to fix it. The frame was basically toast.
Even though my Research Dynamics Coyote was an old 1 inch headset mountain bike, I really loved it, and will miss it. I was effectively off the road due to not being able to afford another bike.
A friend of mine found out and offered to loan me a spare one, but it was a really beat up Huffy mountain bike with a spring front suspension and didn't shift, it slipped badly when you tried to pedal. Then I noticed that one side of the axle was bolted to the edge of the dropout, the other normal. It turns out, it was done that way to compensate for the frame being severely bent to the right! I decided to decline the loan as I didn't want to die.
When another friend of mine who is very into cycling found out, he told me to get the bike to him NOW. I did, and he found an old spare Kona frame and fork that he was willing to give me, and swap the parts out on.
It took him a while as the quick swap of parts ran into problems, like the brakes and brake routing being different. We decided to keep the crankset on the Kona despite mine being a beautiful and nearly new Sugino because the Kona had a smaller inner crank. (The lower low gear is nice)
He also swapped out the fork because the one on there was a 'piece of history' and he didn't want me breaking it.
I got the bike back today and rode it. It was great, slightly lighter I think, no suspension fork, but it didn't feel harsh at all. I'm happy to be riding again.
As to the friend, I couldn't get him to accept cash, but he did take a case of beer.
That's a good friend!
I'll post before-and-after pics if anyone is interested in seeing.
I landed in bushes unharmed, but my bicycle didn't do as well.
The front suspension forks sheared off and the headset fell out. I carried the bike back in parts to a bus-stop and rode the bus home.
I was thinking that I'd need a new stem-riser, headset, and forks. Bummer. Then it got worse. A friend of mine noticed that the bottom of the head tube was bent out from the impact. I took it into a shop and they said after looking at it, it would never hold a headset without wobbling, no matter the pounding back into shape, so it wasn't worth trying to get them to fix it. The frame was basically toast.
Even though my Research Dynamics Coyote was an old 1 inch headset mountain bike, I really loved it, and will miss it. I was effectively off the road due to not being able to afford another bike.
A friend of mine found out and offered to loan me a spare one, but it was a really beat up Huffy mountain bike with a spring front suspension and didn't shift, it slipped badly when you tried to pedal. Then I noticed that one side of the axle was bolted to the edge of the dropout, the other normal. It turns out, it was done that way to compensate for the frame being severely bent to the right! I decided to decline the loan as I didn't want to die.
When another friend of mine who is very into cycling found out, he told me to get the bike to him NOW. I did, and he found an old spare Kona frame and fork that he was willing to give me, and swap the parts out on.
It took him a while as the quick swap of parts ran into problems, like the brakes and brake routing being different. We decided to keep the crankset on the Kona despite mine being a beautiful and nearly new Sugino because the Kona had a smaller inner crank. (The lower low gear is nice)
He also swapped out the fork because the one on there was a 'piece of history' and he didn't want me breaking it.
I got the bike back today and rode it. It was great, slightly lighter I think, no suspension fork, but it didn't feel harsh at all. I'm happy to be riding again.
As to the friend, I couldn't get him to accept cash, but he did take a case of beer.
That's a good friend!
I'll post before-and-after pics if anyone is interested in seeing.
10-03-07, 03:52 AM
#2
Perma-Clyde
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A Kona for 24 beers?! I hope you at least bought him a quality beer.
Great deal, and better friend.
Great deal, and better friend.
10-03-07, 06:55 AM
#3
Destroyer of Wheels
Awesome - that's a good friend!
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10-04-07, 04:13 PM
#5
Clydesquirrel
Thread Starter
Here is a before pic:
And the new frame:
The brakes are different, they have modulation, you squeeze until they touch the rim, then resistance increases and you can apply more pressure, they're cool.
And the new frame:
The brakes are different, they have modulation, you squeeze until they touch the rim, then resistance increases and you can apply more pressure, they're cool.
Last edited by FractalSquirrel; 10-04-07 at 04:16 PM. Reason: problem with insert of picture
10-04-07, 05:39 PM
#7
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Don't look now, but a squirrel is trying to steal your bike!
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. “He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”- Fredrick Nietzsche
"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." - Immanuel Kant
10-04-07, 07:01 PM
#8
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A tree hit my first mountain bike too! Actually I was goofing around in a park and put the front wheel and handlebars straight into the tree at about 20 mph. The seams on the steel fork unzipped and the fork folded back into the frame but the wheel was somehow fine. Anyway, I ended up putting a mismatched KHS fork on it.
Anyway, I ended up putting a mismatched KHS fork on it.
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