Jbaker8390

I had it standing up next to my table in my house, And my dog accidently ran by it(i was asking for it) and the bike fell! So the worst part about it is it fell on the Shifter and it bent inwards, the handle bar shifter. Should i be really worried? what can i do, should i push it back into place? :[

alexvpaq

yep, push it back into place.

I once fell and the shifter took the whole hit in its face the guy at the shop just pulled it back into place... tryed it, and he was like : That's it.

adclark

Yeah, just move it back. Every time I have gone down, my shifter is moved around a bit. Make sure you don't try to push it by the levers, but just move it back. If it won't go, loosen the bolt holding it to the handlebar, move it where you want it, and tighten it back up.

Jbaker8390

Alright sweet, I was like Crap! My shifter just got bent :[ and they're not cheap as you know haha. Thanks for the feed back :]

Velo Vol 

Sometimes gravity stinks.

Apart from any cosmetic damage, the bicycle should be OK.

eippo1

You should race cyclocross. I've been racing while banging my shifter back into place with my fist on more than one occasion. Shifting has always been spot on.

fishymamba

Crashed on a downhill road at 30mph a couple of months ago. Both my shifters were bent in 90 degrees. A rider behind me stopped to make sure I was OK. He just bent the shifter back in place and they have worked perfectly since. They just got really scratched up. My whole bike was ok, but I wasn't.

Doohickie

And people still don't like kickstands cuz they say it's bad for the bike....

dnuzzomueller

Took a pretty bad fall in traffic over the summer. Also slammed my shifter "inwards" . Just bend it back. The way the shifters are attached to your bars makes this not even really a "bend". There is a metal ring that goes around the bars and attaches to the shifter. If you were to pull back the hood and undo the clamping bolt a bit you could rotate it in or out with no trouble.

Only time you might need to be worried about the shifter twisting like that is if you have carbon bars (it can chew up the carbon when it twists) or if your shifters have suffered some VERY NOTICEABLE DAMAGE. Otherwise its gonna be mostly cosmetic.

mazdaspeed

It's pretty unlikely that the bike will be damaged falling from a stationary position.

travkat

Just be careful if you have carbon bars and you spin the levers like that. It is a good idea to untape and check that the clamps that hold the levers on didn't score the bars underneath. Aluminum, you are a ok.

BentLink

My 140 lb Mastiff is afraid of bikes from a similar event ;-) There's an allen-head bolt on most popular levers as dnuzzomueller noted, under the rubber cover or inside when you squeeze the lever. Loosen this before moving to avoid marking the bars....tighten it up when you've got 'em where you want 'em.

Carbon Unit

I use a Click Stand and have never dropped my bike. If you click on the link, my bike is the road bike with the white Polar bottle.

https://www.click-stand.com/Click-Stand_Products.html

RacerOne

The only bikes I owned that have 'fallen over' have all had kickstands. A bike properly resting against something solid with 4 points of contact isn't going anywhere. Strong gust of wind and a kickstand? Not so much. So you say, what if there is nothing to lean it against? Just lay it on the ground. Things don't fall off the ground.

Copperhed51

Probably best to get a new bike. That one can't be trusted now!

Peter.J

Unless the top tube hits an edge from a desk nearby, then you'll have to send it for repair (Calfee). I'm Still pissed.

AngryScientist 

it's likely that your shifter clamp will have loosened up a bit in this event, if it was even tight in the first place. the right way to do this is to loosen the clamp slightly, rotate the shifter back into position, and tighten the clamp. this is very easy and done with a hex headed tool (allen wrench), which you should really have if you intend to get at all into cycling. the bolt to tighten/loosen the band clamp will be under the hood of the shifter.

look to the park tools website for details on whichever shifter you have.

adclark

A tent pole and zipper pulls for over $30? Good idea, but it seems easy enough to make one for a lot less.

Creatre

Poor luck.

Doohickie

My experience is exactly opposite.

kleinboogie

Agreed, check the bar if carbon. Unwrap the bar, loosen the clamp and inspect. If all good, reposition, tighten and rewrap. If aluminum bar just spin it around. GL

p.s. kickstands, that's hillarious.

Carbon Unit

If someone has the mechanical aptitude to make one, sure. The guy that started my bike club tried to make one and it never worked right. I think he probably spent $7.00 on materials. I have had mine for about four years and I use it every time I ride and it looks like the day I bought it. To me it is worth the money.

mazdaspeed

True, but my bikes would just break the desk... lol

island rider

Being a mechanical savant I can probably invest the time to make it right, I'll give you $300 for it. It did fall after all...

SingleSpeeDemon

This is what you need.