Chugging up a hill in Manhattan when my rear wheel suddenly seized. I got thrown down. My elbow took most of it, except for the right thigh, which took a blow transmitted through my phone, my keys, and the blinky that I knew I shouldn't have put in my pocket. Right there in the middle of the street, pedaling, upright, then WHAM. Down.
Though the new Nashbar Trekking bars bent at an amusing angle (pics coming), there seemed to be nothing wrong with the wheel. Karma may have played a part though. I had just pulled away from a confrontation. The guy in the Nissan who did 45 mph to beat me to the red light didn't appreciate my open amusement when I rolled through the empty intersection. Now, we've all seen "Bewitched." Is it possible he stuck an invisible road pump through my spokes using magic?

If your quick release wasn't tight enough the torque produced by your sprint may have been enough to shift the rear wheel where it would jam against the stays. I did this once at a stop sign and almost went over. Keep away from adrinilin.

Also, did you snap an axel?

David

hard to say, but it does sound like the quick release released. that or something like the axel breaking which would effectively behave like your quick release opened a bit.

glad to hear you're mostly ok

Interesting diagnosis. My LBS told me that the derailleur was bent, and so was the wheel. But on the way home, I heard a definite "clunk" going over a heavy bump. I had two pretty full panniers, but...how can you check for a cracked axel?
And here's a picture of the bent handlebars -- this was their maiden voyage to the city. LBS managed to straighten them pretty easily, but still.... I guess that's why they cost $9.97 at Nashbar right now. (Does Nitto make trekking bars??)

Hope you are okay...sorry to hear about your bike/leg/bars.

Speaking of the bars, I have a pair of the same that I am taking off my old commuter. I am not going to use them anymore. I did wreck them once (not hard - going about 8 mph), and they have scratches/gouges on the right side. They are structurally sound, though, and the scratches would be covered by bar tape.

If you are interested, I will ship them to you for only the cost of shipping (should be like $4-5).

Heal quickly, and get back on the bike soon!

If the derailleur cage got pulled into your spokes then that makes sense, I don't really see any other way that the RD could cause the wheel to seize. This generally happens when you downshift to your lowest cog in the back, and your RD is misadjusted - sending the derailleur cage into the spokes.Then again they can see the bike first hand, and presumably know what they're doing. As opposed to myself

If the axel were broken, you could spin one end independently of the other once the wheel was removed from the frame. I've broken a rear axel before, and never noticed it while riding. I came across it when I relaced the wheel (unrelated problem).

Personally, IF I crashed a bike and bent the bar, I would dump it. It is now weaker and if crashed on again is more likely to bend/break at that spot (or perhaps suffer what Douglas Adams calls a total existance failure.....)

I saw someone walk into the bike shop once where his old steel bike had a RD tear loose. It bent his right rear triangle and tore the hanger off.
You said there was nothing wrong with the wheel, are you sure you didn't just slip? It was raining for a while uptown.

Bent handle bar=new bike? umm, ok....

Me, slip? Quite impossible. I'm still going with the Nissan-driver/voodoo theory.

My first thought is that the wheel slipped out of the dropouts enough to lock-up. I only say that because I had a wheel slip out like that while griding up the steep little switchback on the Hudson Greenway in my 'hood. Lucky for me all that happened was a loss of chain tension at 5mph so I was able to hop off injury free.

I would dump the handlebars too. Just get another bar if you want to run it. Aluminum isn't meant to be bent back, and you don't want the bar to break in half when you're riding.
P.S. you can mount the levers on the front of the bars instead of the back like you have them. That will allow you to stretch out a bit.

Yeah, I'll probably dump the bars. Even before the accident, I was a little alarmed at how flexy they were. But I'm getting used to them. Harris Cyclery also sells a trekking bar, although it's a slightly different shape...this is for a different thread, but have a look, meanwhile.

Maybe it got wedged into a crack and briefly locked up.
The voodoo theory does sound plausible though, check to make sure your testicles are actually shrunken to confirm that theory.

My God! You're right! Or maybe that's this cycling underwear that's a size too small....