The wind broe my Fork.
 

It's really windy here today in Silicon Valley. I was riding to work. Going 25 (according to Garmin). A gust lifted up my front end. Seriously, I got lift, and turned my front wheel a little. When my wheel touched the ground the fork snapped in half, broke. I tore up my arms something fierce. My heart rate monitor chest band is scraped out of commission (thank god I was wearing it and my chest is ok.) My fork snapped in half. My front wheel had a few spokes pull out of the hub. So I need a new wheel and fork. I've got some road rash and maybe micro tears in the muscles in my shoulders. All things considered, I'm alright.
It was an unpleasant experience, accentuated by the fact I've been waiting for a month to get my steer tube cut, which I finally got this morning. My poor, poor bike. She's only got some 500 miles. RIP(es) fork.

The wind stole the K in my headline to... tricky wind.

Holy crap. Glad you're ok!

Glad to hear you're Ok. Sounds odd that you were going 25 mph with a wind gust that strong to lift you up in the front. Guess carbon fiber forks are not all that they're 'cracked' up to be...

makes me wanna replace my cf fork. ofcourse a gust of wind that lifts my 235 lbs would be one hell of a gust.

Geez what other parts of CA are windy as hell? Riding to and from class was crazy today, a few times I thought the wind was going to push me to the ground.

I've been tossed side to side many a times. The best have been in OC when the Santa Ana's are whipping off of Saddle Back coming down from Santiago Peak on Japelin. But I've never been lifted.
I was riding with a tail at the time. Tail/Cross wind. I got just enough lift to move the wheel sideways. Not like I was lifted all the way off the ground but the wind took my front end and lifted it and turned the bars.

I fully believe this would have ruined any fork. Steel would have bent really far, Al would have bent a bit and cracked and CF just snapped. I've got a good 20K+ miles on carbon forks and can't hold anything against them, this was a freak accident.

Lht fork could have taken it.

Wow! Sorry to hear about that. Hope you heal up soon! That's a serious bummer. Glad I wimped out and drove today, I guess.

So you were "just riding along", the wind picks up your front wheel and then slams it down folding your fork.:innocent:




Now what part of the bike, did the curb hit?:p

Where do you go from/to?
I go from Redwood city to Santa Clara.
My route:
Alameda De Las Pulgas -> foothill
L Edith, L San Antonio R Almond L El Monte R El Camino Real
L Shoreline R central L bowers R scott L San Tomas Aquaduct.
A couple of miles and work.

You commute regularly or on this route at any point?
It's 22.5 mi one way. I can do it in an hour on a good day. HATE lights. lose at least 5-10 min one way.

Fantastically enough, beacuse of my Garmin I can prove what happened =P.
Or at least that no curve was involved...

For anyone wondering how windy it is... A cable just broke on the Bay bridge.
http://cbs5.com/local/bay.bridge.cable.2.1274773.html

Ouch!

I <3 Garmin. If not for it, my chest would look like this too.
http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/q...l/P1000727.jpg

wow, the cf Bontrager fork on my trek has taken jumps of 6' ledges and hundreds of potholes I guess I'm lucky. I can't imagine how fast the wind must have been moving to lift a human being, how much do you weigh?

Glad your ok!

Sorry you had to bear the burden of another catastrophic carbon failure.
Steel might bend or even crack, but it doesn't fail like that.

What kind of rims/spokes do you have that lets the wind pick it up that bad?
Let me guess Mavic Aksium's with the flat spokes.

Dude.

I've had the wind lift my front end a few times. Not high, but enough for it to side sideways a little. Very scary every time.

Yup, Mavic Aksium Races with the flat spokes. they are great usually. And I've put a HARD 7k miles on em already. Everyday coming home from work is a wicked head wind, the wheels help a lot.
How'd you guess btw?

You're right I hadn't thought of that. Steel wouldn't have failed so completely like that.
Still, though never gonna give it up.
Never gonna let it down.
...

I now feel validated for riding a 50 lb. Raleigh DL-1.

:P

Yet another reason CF scares me (let alone for the guy at the LBS telling me that a CF bike has to "break in" and you'll hear clicks and pops as the resin settles... :o )

I've never heard that, that's scary. I have to admit, I've ridden a lot of frames and done serious time on a few and nothing compares to my now forkless System 6. I had an aluminum custom Simonetti Sprinters frame and it was amazing. Before my system 6 I had a Six13 carbon/aluminum. Carbon down and top tubes, and aluminum rear end (which I tore apart) and that was cool. But, when I got by system 6 as a replacement for the six13 I broke. The difference in ride quality was like day and night. I'd never been on a bike that feels like this. It's like the bike has a motor. It just bursts forward with power. I've also ridden every type of mountain bike you can imagine. And had at least 20k miles on the Simonetti before I broke it, and 7K on the six13. Nothing comes close to how the CF fork/frame act.

I don't have first hand experience but I know a few people who use those and they've always complained about how susceptible they are to cross winds. I even saw one guy in front of me wobble much more than me when a really hard gust hit us. I guess the flat spokes act like a wall especially against cross winds.

I've never experienced cross wind issues. Though my route works out such that I don't have many.
Going home I cut over on Bowers to Central Roll up Central (head wind) and go from Shoreline over to footfill at edith (not much wind/head wind on almond). Then up foot hill and Alameda is a headwind.
I guess I'm lucky.

Sorry to hear about your new ride. At least you're okay!

I was literally knocked off my bike last year when the Santa Anas were blowing hard too. I went around a corner and the wind hit me like someone ran and pushed me. Nothing broke for me except for that some people on campus saw me fall, broken ego.... hahaha

Thanks, I'll pass on the sorrow to the next of kin.
You didn't break it right? You just bruised it? It's a lot harder to heal a broken ego. Were you trail riding? Where were you when the Santa Ana's hit you?