First time for this
 

I took the Gitane Tour de France out for the first time in 6 weeks this afternoon for a nice fall ride - no wind, leaves are changing. Perfect day for a ride.

About 15 miles/24 km in I was rolling up to a stop sign. There was an approaching car but I figured I could make it across. There were two cars stopped on the other side of the intersection at their stop sign. I stood up to accelerate and the cranks locked up. In my mind - "what the ....".

I had to maneuver a quick u-turn to avoid the intersection and getting taken out by the oncoming car. The u-turn started fine and then suddenly I found myself on the ground. "What the ....." I unclipped from the pedals and stood up to check the bike. Wait a minute - the rear wheel was lying separate from the rest of the bike. Now it was time for "what the ##&@*@*##@^$*#!".

I picked up the wheel and bike and walked to the shoulder to put it back together. The only thing I can think of is the quick release skewer wasn't tight enough and the wheel slipped down in the dropout. There were a few paint chips on the freewheel from the dropout, but everything else looked ok - the bike shifted fine on the way home, the wheel was still true. It could have been more disastrous - guess I'll be checking quick releases a little more often.

Seems you got off easy, glad you're OK!

I've snapped an axle before. Just some chain stay rubbing though, no wheel ejection.

I had a loose skewer issue once on my Versailles after I had been dinking with it. I can't remember at the moment what was the root cause, but it was down to an assembly issue that was my fault. If I can remember I'll post back (it was not just the pre-load adjustment of the nut opposite the quick-release).

It was really weird. The skewer's been on there since I got the bike 2 yrs ago and the wheel is rarely out of the frame. I'm going to tighten it up and cross my fingers it doesn't happen again.

ouch man ,be carefull scozim

Wow, you know you're fast when you manage to outrun your rear wheel :). I've had wheels shift position on me before but I've never had one make it past the brake pads and out of the dropouts. Usually when it happens to me it's because I wasn't paying attention to protruding axle length vs. dropout thickness but, y'know, axles don't really grow spontaneously so I can't really offer any ideas. I can, however, make some cracks about build quality of French bikes if you'd like :).