Originally Posted by
Rollfast
The Trek is of an entirely different style of construction, thick round tubes vs. wide oval shaped, the Trek was hit on the wider, oblong side. Ovals have variable circumference and the pressure against them is not equal on all sides. It looks to me like the Trek's frame reacted as could be expected.
And as you said, you were not there. Are you expecting that the Schwinn ran into the Trek wheel first? I've looked at the picture of the Schwinn and that rim should also be aluminum, or an alloy. It should nonetheless show damage. The angle at which the photo is take, the position of the rim and the angle along with some resolution issues of the image as posted leave me unable to truly see any damage without some software or a different shoe of the rim.
My guess is that the bends are not from the bike-bike collision but a secondary impact.
It looks like the typical front impact damage that is seen from running into the backs or sides of cars, or running into just about anything else.
With steel frames, it normally is just behind the lugs. But, with tube butting and tapered tubes, it appears as if the weak spot was about a foot back.
I'm glad everyone walked away from this... even if they had to actually walk.
As far as looking down, there is always the habit of scanning the road for glass and debris that could cause a problem. While a bit of look-ahead is good, one can easily miss the fine details. Ideally one would both scan ahead, as well as looking for the stuff coming up under the wheels.
I would encourage you not to ride on a MUP in a manner that you can't pass or be passed. If the trail isn't wide enough for 3 bikes, then you should probably be single file.