badger1

Quite.

ThermionicScott 

"Good" is debatable.

MacNasty

Have it from a good source who knows a guy, who knows a guy, that saw a spectator throw a banana peel it front of AC on the downhill.

peskypesky

I have never, ever been knocked out of the TDF by a cracked Specialized frame.

prathmann

I bet you would have if some of the newscasters at the time had made incorrect statements that it appeared the Mercedes had spontaneously broken apart.

I'm not a fan of Specialized for some of the other things they've done, but in this case I think they were in a no-win situation. When there are damaging statements being made about your brand it's important to counter them as quickly as possible. Of course you also want the statements to be accurate, but I can understand why they wanted to get their statement out as soon as they thought they knew what happened.

Eds0123

I Heard AC is out of TdF, I heard his frame had failed. I heard that His frame was broke. Then I read the news article and I learned specialized was the frame manufacturer, that Specialized was the sponsor. I did not have no idea. They issued explanations. They changed their story few times. Why? If they were confident with the quality of their product why rush to explain, make excuses, come up with plausible not so plausible scenarios and stories explaining what might have had happened. If they had confidence in their product why didn't really wait to find out what had happened with their frame? Kibbish? just curious, I don't have any beef against any bike frame manufacturer

Thank You. Why Specialized didn't make it simple and come up with something like what FBinNY said here. Thank You FBinNY.

jon c. 

You can blame the telecasters, but ultimately Specialized shot themselves in the foot PR wise by issuing multiple conflicting statements. Made it sound like they were trying to cover something up. I agree it was likely just haste that caused the initial incorrect statements, but it underscores the reality that it's better to remain silent until you can actually determine the truth.

Eds0123

well, I don't know much, I am just a newbie around here but; it makes me think, If those great professional grade CF frames made for racing at TdF break as a result of a collision with another bike on top of another car or another car going over it, what can I expect from a chinese made consumer grade, casual rider grade CF frame? On my weekend rides I go above 35mph regulary down a winding road. I dont know if I would be happy to see my expensive CF frame is broken and I can not get home if I crash there. Never mind my initial investment on the high tech frame.

Jseis 

I hear Alberto was hungry and munching on his energy bar and while that normally isn't a problem, Specialized built his frame out of carbon fiber enhanced energy bars and for a hungry rider that is a problem. ​

bigbenaugust 

So will Rivendell be sponsoring an all-steel team at the Tour next year?

CbadRider

Moved from Commuting to Pro.

FBinNY 

Thanks for the compliment, but consider that I was typing undisturbed at my leisure without folks sticking a microphone in my face.

The news cycles are very fast these days, and folks are pressed for answers faster than they can gather the facts and know themselves what happened. We also have situations analogous to the "fog of war" where information is passed along and becomes garbled in the process. With so many versions circulating it's easy for the wrong info to get in front of the right info.

In hectic situations we have the choice of a bad answer fast or a good answer slow. In the race to get the story out first, the bad fast answer always has a head start. This is true here, just the same as it's true when a plane crashes or whatever.

lsberrios1 

Just what I thought. The belkin squad felt threatened by Contador's great climbing abilities therefore they ran him over with their car so he would be out of contention.. Case closed.

tjspiel

Since the pros seem to be less concerned about durability and have spare bikes following them on cars, it wouldn't surprise me if consumer grade frames are actually tougher.

FWIW the previous steel fork on my bike was destroyed when a small branch got stuck between the spokes of the front wheel. My son was riding it at the time and was going maybe 15 mph tops. Contador's bike was on top of a car going one way and got tangled up with a bike on top of a car going the other way. Even if the cars weren't going particularly fast, there's a lot more inertia involved in that situation than there is when you and your bike are going 35 mph down a hill due to the mass of the cars.

How many bikes do you suppose are wrecked because they were sitting on the roof of a car and somebody (who forgot they were there) tried to park in a garage? The car is only going a few mph.

DVC45

' might have been caused by the steak he had eaten? Too much grease on the pedals?

DVC45

Wut?

mconlonx

Is anyone in the current Tour riding anything but CF?