FIVE ONE SIX

i checked my e-mail at around 7:30pm, and to my surprise, i saw this:



Dear Members:

On the Tuesday morning ride, our fellow rider Jay Suslan was involved in a terrible, and very tragic accident. Jay is presently in the hospital (in the Intensive Care Unit) with very, very, serious injuries. No visitors (other than family) are allowed. The accident appears to have occurred as a result of catastrophic equipment (frame) failure. There were no other riders or vehicles involved. If you could all please keep Jay and his family in your thoughts and prayers it would be much appreciated.

Updates will be sent as the situation dictates.

Thank you,
Dan Runko
President, MPBC



i wasn't on the ride, so i spoke to someone this evening to find out what happened, and while he wasn't there he told me what happened and that's his condition is very serious...

apparently, he was riding an average slow A/fast B ride, and while he was slowing down for a stop sign the top tube and down tube on his Obea frame literally cracked in half. i don't know what model it was, but i do know it was only about 6 months old, and the only thing that was holding his bike together were the cables. after the frame cracked, he went over the bars, and landed head first. there was very little damage to the helmet, but his neck was severely compressed, and as a result a few of his vertebra were broken. i'm not a doctor, and i don't know if it's possible for ones vertebra to break, but i do know it sounds like there was a lot of damage done. i also heard that he was turning blue, while everyone was waiting for the ambulance to arrive, but i don't know what caused it. from what i was told, he's not responding well, and as bad as it sounds everyone's just hoping that he pulls though...

it just makes you wonder, that every day people worry about cars and trucks and pedestrians and animals when they ride, and you really don't need any of those things to cause a life threatening incident like this to happen...

Alonso22

My heart goes out to him and his family............

timmyquest

Every time i reluctantly get my bike upwards of 45 i have something in the back of my mind...I'm not ready to jump on the anti-carbon band wagon, but i always envision that carbon fork of mine failing me...

Freak accident, scary stuff for sure. My thoughts are there

Flywolf

Wow, very sad, I wish your friend a quick recovery

ridethecliche

I'm staying away from the carbon...
I wish your friend a speedy recovery. Let's hope he pulls through.

sunninho

Sorry to hear that. I hope he recovers fully.

FIVE ONE SIX

i was told that he didn't hit any type of rough road, so it wasn't caused from the road, so i'm guessing it was a manufacturer defect. unfortunately, things are never considered defective until something happens, and sadly something very serious happened this time...

grahny

Good lord... I hope he recovers..... and sues the sh*t out of Orbea.

Stallionforce

Hopefully he is in excellent hands. My thoughts are with him and his family.

waterrockets 

Terrible. Certainly he's in my prayers.

I'm a fan of steel, but this is a freak carbon failure. As scary as it is, this one failure doesn't mean much among the thousands of carbon frames out there. I know guys who have had catastrophic steel and aluminum failures. Sometimes things just go wrong.

Brycycle

these freak accidents are always the worst to hear about...hoping his condition improves.

Zinn-X

That's terrible. I hope things turn out okay for him. Sucks that such a random failure can be so devastating

VT to CA

Sweet Christ that's awful... I hope he pulls through okay! My friend (who isn't even a serious cyclist) was hit by a car (on a borrowed mountain bike) and suffered a broken back... he's fine now, and in terrific shape, so all hope is not lost! With a little luck your friend will be back on the bike (and richer).

This thread has given me the courage to say it in public... I think the new Orbea Orca frame is one of the ugliest designs ever...

FIVE ONE SIX

we talked about this on the phone, and while i'm sure a lawsuit will eventually be addressed, right now everyone's number one priority is that he makes it through this and will be lucky enough to have a chance to recover...

.:Jimbo:.

Orbea doesn't make just carbon frames ya know, and I know for certain that they at least have some aluminum frames. However this is not a thread for arguments, and I, just like everyone else, will say a prayer for his well-being and recovery.

slvoid

Holy hell. A friend of mine, big guy, broke like, a 63cm frame in almost the same way. Cept it just snapped in half at the welds at the rear triangle. Fortunately he was hammering up a hill and did the tuck and roll off it.

EDIT: It was a steel panasonic bike...

spdrcr5

damn! sorry to hear about your friend. hope he has a fast recovery from this.

Gromit

Prayers sent.

blonduathlongrl

this is terrible... I certainly will keep him and his family in my prayers, please keep us updated.

ElJamoquio

Sad... thoughts and prayers.

asherlighn

Ouch, that sounds bad

Stories like this make me a little nervous for just a moment every time I get on my bike (really short moment).

MTBLover

Prayers and thoughts to Jay and his family. And, to the club too- they must be feeling pretty shaken by this as well.

samsation7

so maybe carbon is not the best choice out there for big guy? I wonder if there are any failures with Titanium frames? I've never heard of any instant where Ti suddenly snaps in half.

BlessedHellride

Best wishes to him and his family.

shawngrubbs

I am very sorry to hear that of course. I am confused though as to why everyone is assuming the frame was carbon and blaming that. I thought carbon was supposed to be stronger than aluminum and steel?