So I had my first crash on my new road bike yesterday, my wheels got kinda tweaked- I brought those into the LBS and they got them trued up. But I just kind of realized that I didn't really look at my fork too much. It wasn't that bad of a crash, and I don't think the fork really hit the ground.

I looked at it, and I didn't see any fractures on the surface, is there anything particularly I should look for? I rode it today, and I heard a weird creaking noise (only one time, not repeating) but I looked at it again, and I didn't see anything on the fork- but now I'm a bit worried. What do you think?

what kind of crash?
low side, high side, head on, fall into a pothole/trench?

A dog ran under me... then I fell off to the left. There was a curb that the front of my front wheel hit. It was kinda slow, maybe like 5mph, because I had tried to break pretty hard. I think most of the actual fall was on my left knee.

I'd check the top tube and downtube for any kinks or creases, might want to have your headset races looked at, since those can get pitted.

otherwise if you don't see anything on the fork, it's unlikely to have taken any damage at all.

Did you give the dog owner a sufficient ration of crap? I would have.

Ok, good, that's the news I was hoping for. I'll definitely keep an eye on it though, and check out what you mentioned.

I told her that she should keep her dang dog on a lead, because of a local law. Someone else nearby yelled at her, so I was glad about that.

How the heck do you high side on a bicycle?

sorry for the triple post, but I thought I'd snap a pic. The sides of the fork seem fine, this is the only weirdness that I can find.



also, I'm just thinking... is the entire fork CF? this certainly doesn't look like CF (it's a Trek 1.2 Triple) sorry for being such a noob about this.

No, the crown and steerer are aluminum. That's just the normal hole at the bottom.

That's what she said. Boom!

ok, so that little chip isn't much to worry about?

edit: nice.

Might want to simply re-torque all the front end steering components - stem and handlebars. A low impact jarring might have loosened something, and CF is notorious for creaking when not tightened. Procedure is to loosen first, then re-tighten to spec. Sometimes CF assembly paste, or a light layer of lube where CF parts meet is required to kill creaking.

A creak sound could come from the Quick releases, since he got an accident there is a chance that the front QR is damaged in its plastic components and the sound is coming from there. Just my 1 cent.