Commuting Crash
 

Erg I just crashed the hell out of my commuter.

I ran over a little stick, grinning at the plush ride of my big squishy tires, when said stick jumped up between the fender and front wheel. Destroyed the fender, ripping it free of its rear mount and balled it up between the wheel and fork.

Sent me over the bars of course, landing hard on my left shoulder. At least it wasn't my head. Managed to remove the fender - all of the fasteners were completely loose, I assume from the impact since I check these things fairly often...of course maybe I just wasn't careful enough last time I went over the bike.

Went to continue on my way, and couldn't figure out why I suddenly had tons of toe overlap and my disc caliper was brushing the spokes...gee it also handles real funny. Yeah, my fork - a steel Kona P2 mountain bike fork - was bent inwards.

This post has no real point, just wanted to share. Think I'll go get a beer. My knee hurts too.

Aw hell, that sucks dude! Glad you are basically Ok. Enjoy the beer, you've earned it.

Sorry to hear about your accident. I had almost the same thing happen to me a few years ago, just minus the stick. (The mudflap of my fender caught on the tread of my tire, believe it or not). The steel fork of my old Schwinn Le Tour Luxe got bent. The good news was that my bike mechanic was able to bend it back into place, leaving pretty much no indication that anything happened to it. He said that these can usually be bent back successfully as long as the metal isn't crimped. That's one nice thing about steel frames. Other than that, I had to get my shoulder x-rayed - nothing broken, but it hurt for weeks.

Hope you heal soon and get that bike fixed up!

Jim S.

Yep, Did that last year on my Raleigh Competition. No real damage except for the fender and my right thigh that got scraped on the handlebar. You bent the fork? Wow.

Good luck on getting back on the road.

-G

Wow. What kind of fender? I don't think mine are the ones designed to break free if that happens, I can't remember what brands do.

I've seen a P2 bent in a (relatively minor) MTB accident. It was crimped/crumpled, so no safely bending it back. I guess I'll put it on my "avoid" list.
As for commuting accidents, I recently slipped off my pedal and put my foot through a paired-spoke front wheel, breaking 3 spokes and sending me over the handlebars into the asphalt (cracked my helmet to boot). I made sure that the next wheel I built was 3-cross 32 (and learned to not mash on my pedals before being fully clipped in).

Sorry to hear of your mishap, but glad you are basically going to be okay.

I would agree with modernjess, have a beer. Might I suggest a BlueMoon Pumpkin Ale or perhaps a Fat Tire?

Get well soon!

Sure glad you are ok. Bottoms up!

Newer fenders come with breakaway tabs. I gotta get some eventually, you can get some now! Glad you're ok... replace the helmet, ice the shoulder.

Ouch, that sucks. Feel better soon.

Now I have SKS P-series fenders on my bikes. They have the break-away clips, but I'm not convinced that would prevent all of these types of accidents. The fenders I was using when I had my accident were a Planet Bike Freddy Fenders set. They were pretty flexible, which allowed the front fender to basically fold in half and jam up the wheel and fork. I wonder if a rigid plastic fender would have shattered instead and possibly avoided the accident. Are the Planet Bike Cascadia fenders flexible like the old Freddy ones? Just curious.

Jim S.

My thoughts exactly.

Oh, man, that sucks. Glad you're OK.

Glad your okay. Lucky there wasn't a car right behind you!

Cripes. That sucks big time. I'd be buying a 4 pack of Smirnoff's, instead of a beer after a crash like that. It musta been after the latest storm there.

Mine actually were the SKS fenders with the plastic clips. However, I didn't use them - the bike in question, a Kona Sutra, makes accessing those braze-ons a bit of a puzzle and I just didn't have the clearance for them. A smarter man would have simply made up some spacers...you can be sure I will next time.

I don't know either if they will necessarily stop an accident like this, but my knee and shoulder are telling me it's worth a shot.

Thanks for the kind words all. Commuted on my cross bike today, can't let a little spill keep us off our bikes. Yay for having spares.