Bloody, I'm just glancing through this forum looking for an idea for a winter commuter -- are you all right? What happened?

Took a trip out to my parents on local trail (Galloping Goose, on Vancouver Island, Saanich to Sooke). I was almost at Sooke when there's a steep, very steep but short down hill that leads to a sharp corner to go back up hill. I had forgotton how sharp the corner was, and wanted to maintain momentum...until I could see the corner half way down. Hard braking with slicks on gravel = useless skidding.

So I puckered my posterior and tried to make it. Hit the boulder that stopped me from flying into the trees. Walked away with cuts, scrapes, and minor rash on my shoulder....and a dead bike, and I killed my Nikon D70 while I was at it for good measure.

oi. Well, glad you didn't get hurt worse. Wow, I thought you hit a car or a McDonald's Drive-thru canopy -- wow. Glad to hear you aren't hurt any worse. Wow.

And the camera, man. Well, here's hoping today is better.

Heh, not unless I can find a new frame, parts, etc. and someone willing to help me swap parts for stupid cheap.

Broke, and this is my only bike, also my commuter/utility ride.

But hey, here's hoping something good comes out of this.

Well, I am in a similar position, not entirely broke, but no money available for a new frame. Pondering what I have that I can liquidate for cash. Any chance that camera can be sold for salvage parts?

I do hope your day gets better.

Bad luck with the crash but on the plus side you escaped without serious injury.

Interested to see that the fork/headset and wheel don't show any obvious damage but the top and down tubes on the frame have failed completely. There was a thread on here a while ago by someone who had had his lht frame fail after hitting a pothole. In both cases I am surprised at how bad the damage was to the frame. I know the bikes are popular but do these cases raise questions about the quality of the frames? I was surprised to see that on a relatively expensive bike they use a generic CrMo tubing rather than a branded tubeset from reynolds/colombus.

Well, I did pop a spoke on the wheel, and bent the axle. But I was surprised that I didn't taco the wheel at all.







Also bent the left side of the bars when it crashed back to earth.

And yeah, I'm surprised the fork isn't some kind of twisted metal that no longer resembles a fork.

I did pick up a new bike though for my commute, $20 Nishiki from 1968. It's a bit small for me, but I just need something at the moment.

Going to see if the camera is fixable first. If not then...well, I dunno what I am going to do.

I've got a nice mtn bike frame that would make a decent tourer if you guys w/ the broken frames could use it. I'll take a pic tomorrow and post it. It's 52cm cromoly, the top tube is 56.5 cm. It says "Mongoose" and "Atala" on it. dark blue. The nice thing about it is there are double eyelets on the front fork and rear dropouts, double mounts for water bottles also. It's free but you'll have to pay the shipping (I live in NH). pm me if interested.

Here is my gallery of my Windsor Tourist:

https://cycling.peltonweb.com/galleries/windsor/

And here's my review of the bike:

https://cycling.peltonweb.com/2009/05...ndsor-tourist/

Compared to many people here, I'm a cycling newb, so my review isn't exhaustive. But I hope you can glean some good info!

I've only done about 1000km on it since I bought it, but I'm loving it so far.

a brand name doesn't make a given piece of CrMo stronger,,whether it's called Reynolds or Unobtanium 49. If you crash a bike it can break. I've had similar crashes in road bikes ,,made with Columbus and Reynolds and they bent at the down tube/head tube. Yet they weren't as strong as the LHT because the tubing was thinner and smaller diameter, but it did say Reynolds.

What I notice is that the tubes broke not the welds. Surly makes the frames not the steel.

The branded tubesets are generally about weight reduction. They may be stronger relative to weight but its hard to believe they would fare much better in a similar crash.

I scanned through this whole thread and didn't see another tricross so I guess i'm representing alone...

This is my bike loaded for an over-nighter up the Lake Superior shoreline. When I wanted to start doing trips on my bike my options were to buy a small $40 rear rack to fit my bike at my local shop OR I could spend $19.83 + five and a half hours of crafting to make my own custom rack that is way larger than anything I could by at the store. So here is a picture of my new rack too!!! It was so easy to make I think I'll be making one for the front as well.

I love my Trek 520 dearly.

These pics are from a descent trip around Vancouver Island.



Sorry about the LHT and Nikon, Oscuro but glad you're ok.

Lspade,

That is certainly a very nice looking bike, and your work on the rack certainly seems to have paid off. Hard to tell from the pics, but is the rack welded or did you bolt it together?

I'm inspired to head to the local home improvement store and pick up some bulk aluminum!

I've had several crashes involving me and the bike hitting objects head on. Everytime the front wheel has escaped with no damage while the frames' downtubes (and sometimes the fork) came out the worst. I wish more road bikes had the larger downtube and reinforced downtube/headtube connection seen on many mountainbikes.

I just broke my latest bike frame (not from impact this time) and am replacing it with a LHT because I heard they are sturdy. Oscuro, your unfortunate accident hasn't changed my opinion but I'm still getting an awful sense of forshadowing...

Here's my decked out LHT,

Oscuro,
My wife and I just got back last night from our tour on VI and the Gulf. Our second day of the trip (July 23) we took the GG to Sooke and stayed at the Sooke River Campgrounds and know exactly which downhills you're talking about. If I remember correctly there were two such downhills just before Sooke and one of them crossed the highway. Very hazardous especially with weight on the rear end of a bike. Had to work to keep the bike under control on the downhill. So sorry for your loss but glad you made it out alive.

BTW We also brought our LHTs with us

Thanks for the comments! I hope you guys (huie and twodeadpoets) enjoyed the island! I love this place, and I need to get out and see more of it....when I'm not busy destroying my gear!

59cm 1989 Ti Bruce Gordon RNR with BG racks and Beckman panniers setup for Divide Ride.


Santa Barbara backcountry tour.

who makes your front rack?

AWESOME! Haha. There are no welds on it. I made it in our unused dining room and the only tools I used were a handdrill, hacksaw, and wrenches. After I make the front rack i'm gonna make a new thread and show off my work and see what everyone else thinks.

Both of those racks are Nitto Campee's. French constructeur inspired racks with removable low-rider attachments. I seriously considered them.
-Gene-

And they are steel. I have pic's without the low rider attached as well

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Lspade,
Its good to see some one making their own accessories. It looks an excellent rack. Strong, functional and economical. I inquired to my manufacturer about the price of a mudguard set. $87-no thank you! A 2.5l pet juice bottle, a pair of scissors and a few grams of silicon gutter sealer, a few minutes later i had built my own. It is still on the rig and functional after 1500km!
rt