Hi C&V friends:

I have gotten in the habit of doing a 8 Mi ride in the morning before heading into work. I find it beneficial physically as it is my only form of exercise and mentally prepares me for a demanding job. My path avoids cars and their danger to cyclist. It is a combination of sidewalks, pedestrian overpasses, through a deserted mall and onto an official bike path. The round trip is about 8.5 mile and my average speed has been steadily improving to 14MPH.
Last Tuesday morning at 6:45 am the unthinkable to me happened. As I am slowing down to take a blind turn and sticking to my extreme right side of the path, a younger cyclist suddenly shows up on my side of the path. I was probably doing 8MPH and so was he. For a minute it looked that everything was going to be fine. The younger cyclist started to move to his right giving me a false sense of safety. However in a split second he lost control of his bike and his rear end slid into my side of the path.
My front tire contacted something on his bike and off I went over the handlebars and onto the gravel by the side of the road. Luckily I was just bruised. No broken bones.
We were both fine but shaken. I was happy that I was still able to walk. I had a few scrapes. My left shoulder got the worst of it. It was and still is sore and scraped.
His bike suffered from a deflated tire, most likely from hitting the opposite guardrail.
He blamed the loss of control on his heavy panniers on the back of his bike. He was riding aluminum Cannondale but his bike appears mostly unscathed by the accident.
The same can’t be said for my 1991 Mississippi Schwinn Traveler. What was a beautiful bike became a heap of twisted aluminum and steel. I had to walk home 2 Mi with my broken bike.
Here are the before and after pictures.

I seek your collective wisdom is what to do with the bike. I hate to toss it. The frame seems fine. The wheel is bent but that is easy to replace. The fork is pushed back an inch or so. It is a 25” frame which I find very comfortable for my long legs.
My replacement choices for the fork don’t appear great and hence I seek your help and advise. Should I attempt to straighten it. I don’t have any special fork tools so what I have to do will involve a vise and blocks of wood. I have decided to not do anything till I hear you guys and gals out.
Thanks for your advise in advance.

It's hard to say what you should do with it.

Glad you're only bruised.

Looks like only the fork and wheel are ruined. Replace them.

The before photo shows parallel geometry of headtube and seattube, which isn't the case in the post-crash photo. I also see a slight curvature behind the headlug.

Chances are the headtube has been bent as well. Look for light creases in the paint.

-Kurt

I see it, too.

I had a somewhat similar head on collision July 2, 2010, oncoming guy darted out from behind a group of people right into my path. We were both going faster, not hammering, maybe 15 mph each or so. I just had time to see the guy, then woke up being loaded into ambulance. I got 10 broken ribs, broken collarbone, concussion, the other guy spent at least 5 days in a coma in intensive care, lotsa broken bones in his face. I didn't follow up after that. Police report put the blame squarely on the other guy.

After retrieving the bike from the police, I just let it sit, didn't want to deal with it. Since I'm spending about half my time in Japan, this avoidance was pretty easy. But recently, I decided that it was finally time to figure out what to do with this thing, which was a real expensive machine - (formerly) minty Tommasini Diamante kitted out w/primo Campy/Mavic stuff.

At first I thought maybe I could return the bike to service, it was a beauty that I only had owned for a couple of weeks and it really was a dream bike for me. I actually got some hope for this from making queries similar to the one you are making now, lots more hope than I originally had. Based upon the photographic evidence I posted, the collective wisdom of this forum tended towards the opinion that the frame, minus the fork, may not even have been bent out of spec and if it were, Kurt or somebody else with the experience he has in straightening things out could probably succeed in a satisfactory repair.

I put that in my pipe and after smoking it for a while, I decided that it was probably better to just get rid of it.

So I've been parting the bike out, ended up getting more for the parts than I paid for the bike and I've still got a few bits to sell - it was such a solid, dead on hit there was no road rash on the bike (or me, for that matter). We apparently just whomped into each other and fell over on the spot. It is pretty strange, really, the fork was bent dramatically backwards such that the the front wheel overlapped the downtube and the front wheel was pretty bent up. But other than one bent brake lever, everything I've been taking off this thing doesn't have a scratch on it.

The frame I'm just going to give away to some optimist and hope he rewards me with some shiny cycling bauble.

But back to the point. For me, cycling is a happy, carefree activity. I knew if I restored it I would just be trying to put humpty dumpty together again and even if I succeeded, riding it I would always be reminded of a rather painful event.

They say a happy love, like a happy people, has no history; I think I would add bicycles to that list.

My two cents. YMMV.

If you decide to replace the fork and try to make your Traveler road worthy again, let me know the length of the steering tube. I think I have a fork which will work (albeit the wrong color). I'll be glad to send it your way.

Definitely a good point. Whether it applies in this case, I won't hazard an opinion.

My interpretation of that quote is just the opposite- a happy love/people/whatever has no history figuratively because the parties involved are able to look past pain and heal. To literally have no history is to not exist.

Sorry to hear about the crash but glad you are OK. I'd vote to replace the fork and ride it. I've done the same on one of my bikes after bending the fork so bad that the front wheel wouldn't even clear the DT.

In your pictures I don't see the bend behind the HT- hard to tell from a photo- check for cracked paint beneath the HT lugs etc. Good luck and again, glad you are alright.

I'm going to be honest here...I know you like the bike, but it's a mid-level schwinn...probably worth 200 tops. I don't see the time, money or effort as being worth it for a bike of that level. I know people get attached to things and emotion plays a role, but the dollars and cents don't add up in fixing it. Buy a new to you craigslist bike.

I T-boned a small pick-up that pulled in front of me (he had the stop sign) my front wheel looked similar. I was able to re-true it. From the pics it seems like a new bike is not needed, but then again I'm always looking for a reason to get a new bike

BTW, I don't know what the other cyclists is saying about "heavy panniers" It was clearly his fault for taking your lane. I ride around with panniers all the time and done some touring so his remark about heavy panniers is totally wrong. I'm very maneuverable with a loaded bike, true not as nimble on an unloaded bike, but nothing special in the scenario you illustrated. He screwed up.

Yeah, I'd get another bike. If you don't want a new one your LBS should have used ones and I've heard of nice bikes being sold in pawn shops. Never used craigslist, so can't say...

+1

If you feel an emotional connection to the bike (totally understandable if you do), most shops should be able to straighten the fork, and maybe even the kink in the frame.

But, if I were you, I'd keep my eye on CL and maybe even use this as an excuse to upgrade.

The bike is cursed now.
Get rid of it and all the parts on it.

Oh, I didn't notice that! That's an entirely different story. The bike is toast. Sorry. :-(

Aaron, the market value of something does not necessarily dictate the amount of money one should put into repairs. If I pay $2,000 for a used car and it needs $3,000 in repairs, it may be worth it, because replacing the car with one that works as well as the one I have could cost more than $5,000. Also, sentimentality has a value.

Glad no ones hurt other than equipment - Things like this are most humbling...

Tom - I agree in theory, and sentimental value is for him to decide...but let's be honest here, it's a non-Chicago Schwinn with minimal value. You can get a nicer bike than that fairly easily on my CL for $200 in any given week. I'm not talking amazing deals, I'm talking fair price. I don't think it's worth fixing that bike from a dollars and cents perspective. I'm not trying to insult it, and it's very pretty...but seriously...it's a Mississippi Schwinn. It doesn't make sense to put $3,000 into a $2000 used car if it can be easily replaced with a $2,000 car.

I also don't get emotional about my bikes, at least when it comes to value (exceptions for the Triplet and the Marnati). At the end of the day, it's a mass produced machine, an inatimate object. I think you have to make logical decisions.

I put up a craigslist WTB ad in the dead of winter for a $20 25" road frame set, got a 1986 Schwinn Traveler.

Made a nice winter crap bike.


Give it a go, who knows what people have hanging around that isn't worth the effort to sell.

That much damage at 8MPH? Dang must have just hit it just right. FWIW the same thing happened to me entering a tunnel around a blind corner on a bike trail. This girl was passing a jogger. After we crashed and collected our selves I realized the girl was a friend of mine She realized how stupid she was and even paid the damages which was just a new wheel.

Good luck.

Wow, bummer. Glad you're OK though.

Some idiot delivery guy ran into me the other day. Luckily no damage except some paint scrapes, my bell, and a bruise on my leg. I think he was looking at some jogging girl's butt or something, not where he was going.

The other cyclist is clearly at fault. I hope you have name/number. If he can't control panniers, he shouldn't be using them.

Seriously...except for the Marnati and Triplet, I'd sell or replace all of them at the right numbers.

I'm glad you weren't hurt. I'm sorry about your Schwinn, I know you liked it for it's ruggedness.
You know exactly how I feel about your other bikes, and I'm glad you at least have something else to ride.

My opinion is that the bike is only repairable if you choose to consider the intangibles when considering the price to repair/replace items.

You're a smart guy, and you'll make a good decision either way. It is perhaps an opportunity to add a new Schwinn.

Man, I wish we were the same size. I'd take any one of several (Merckx, DeRosa, Sachs...) of your bikes that you have no attachment to for a fair* price.













* A couple six packs of Yuengling would be fair, right?