I crashed my Downtube Mini on Tuesday evening. Quiet residential street, not paying attention (yes, I know), left hand on the handlebar, right hand not. Front wheel jerked to the right and then to the left (I don't know why!), I went down on the right, landing on asphalt covered with an inch of soft mud, which broke my fall to some degree.
When I stood up, the handlepost was folded. I have had problems with it folding before; see
this post where I described the problem. But I must emphasize, to be fair, I don't know why I fell. I may have jerked the handlebar; the post may have failed; I don't know. I wasn't paying attention.
Injuries are not very serious; road rash on elbow and knee, minor; road rash on the heel of my hand, bleeding and painful; and my right shoulder took all my weight, and is still very sore. I may have to go to the doctor about that, but I'll wait another couple days before making that decision. I got on the bike and continued on my way home, and rode it yesterday and today... but I am annoyed at myself and at the bike.
No damage to the bike, which is a little under both 3 years and 8000 miles, and really should not need replacement yet.
But we can't get away from the problem with the handlepost. It is not a matter of adjustment. It's either a design flaw or a manufacturing flaw, and I am coming to the conclusion that it cannot be fixed.
Jur's advice about the
resilient block was on target; that resilient block was squashed flat and thin to the point that it had no resilience. But even with that replaced (three layers of butyl from an innertube), the resilience is the only thing keeping the thing from folding. That's not enough; the QR is not putting enough pressure on the clamp to keep it from folding.
Suddenly I am thinking about replacing the bike. Anyone want to recommend something? What's your favorite high performance bike that fits a man 6' tall and folds up very small?