CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting

Went down like a sack of spuds

(58 posts)
  • Started 6 years ago by dessert rat
  • Latest reply from dessert rat

No tags yet.


  1. dessert rat
    Member

    This morning on Great King St - could have been a million times worse I suppose. Only a week from charging down the Granites etc...and numerous hills ie Dundas around town etc... Still if it's going to break, I'll take a 12kph, flat (if cobbled) car free road any day.

    I ended up driving into today, so I'm wondering what the mechanism is for applying for relief on my Soderberg score.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  2. gembo
    Member

    Sorry to see that @iainmcr. I thought you said you were looking to be pushed about in a wheelbarrow? That would keep your large Soderberg number high.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  3. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    [Rule 2] [Rule 2] mate. Terrifying. You alright?

    Reminds me to strip, inspect and rebuild entire bicycle. Want me to have a look in the Bike Station for a fork?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  4. earthowned
    Member

    That is a spectacular break! How old was the fork if you don't mind me asking?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  5. unhurt
    Member

    Yikes yikes yikes. Very glad it picked a slow section to fail. Still. Lots of fs.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  6. dougal
    Member

    #justrollingalong

    Posted 6 years ago #
  7. dessert rat
    Member

    Bike is 6 yrs old, never been crashed. Heavily used in last 18 months (about 8,000km), in the previous 4yrs maybe 2,000km total.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  8. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Is it possible that the headset was a fraction loose? And is that a quilled steerer I see before me?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  9. amir
    Member

    @IainMcR - that's scary. And you've made us all a wee bit nervous as well.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  10. rider73
    Member

    @Iain

    Bloody hell, glad your ok - could have been very very nasty!

    Posted 6 years ago #
  11. dessert rat
    Member

    Not a quilled stem.

    Still waiting on Soderberg panel ruling wrt enforced car use due to bike knack.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  12. gembo
    Member

    @iainmcr, Soderberg Committee have sent me a rather cryptic telegram from Sweden, ruling on your situation as follows,

    n + 1

    Posted 6 years ago #
  13. dessert rat
    Member

    To be fair, I did try to continue my commute on a +1, but got about 1km in and decided that it was mental - so turned round, went home, loaded knackered bike into the car and drove to work via bike A&E.

    Much as I want the exemption, I realise they are just being firm but fair.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  14. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    Nasty. I'm glad you're okay.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  15. unhurt
    Member

    @Iain McR I think I might have taken the day off to contemplate my mortality etc. (And probably eaten cake as an anti-shock treatment.)

    Any chance Soderberg Committee would issue free cinnamon buns as a gesture of sympathy?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  16. gembo
    Member

    Perhaps we could encourage Wilmington's Cow to run for President of the Soderberg committee. My reasons are two fold, to entice him back to the forum (I confess mostly as I love when he takes the huff with us and fecks off) and also because I suspect he makes delicious cinnamon buns and he could use this as platform for his campaign?

    He is also returning to a real bicycle following a serious injury. You will be able to spot him with his white evil knieval lid.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  17. dessert rat
    Member

    I often have microMcR on the back of that bike.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  18. unhurt
    Member

    Everything just got even worse. Not OK.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  19. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    At the risk of getting flame-grilled maybe there should be an option to get some kind of MoT for a bike? Just wheels, brakes, steering and frame.

    Edinburgh commuting is very hard on components and potentially quite unforgiving if something major goes like this.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  20. neddie
    Member

    That's shocking.

    The manufacturer at the very least needs to know this has happened (and probably the bike shop, soshal medya, & the distributors as well).

    A safety critical item like that should prompt a full recall from a responsible manufacturer.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  21. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @nedd1e_h

    Not commenting on this incident

    You would be amazed at what people ride. I once wrote a receipt for a bike recommending that it be scrapped after repairs but the customer rode it home anyway.

    I've seen headsets so loose that the bearing cups have been thrashed loose. Without an MoT system there's no way of knowing if it's component failure, neglect or both.

    EDIT Just realised the second last sentence is a Tears in the Rain parody.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  22. dougal
    Member

    @IWRATS Interesting idea re MOT. Most bike shops have 2 or 3 levels of Service but it's never totally clear what is included and what that means.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  23. Ed1
    Member

    I must have done 8000 to 10000 miles on my bike don’t know don’t keep track but do a minimum of 70 miles a week commuting and going to shop. My bike is often loaded and has been crashed twice I think also taken over the pentlands and ridden through a few fields and carried much weight, wheel kept breaking spokes so got a tandem wheel fitted (been fine since then). I must have spent 350 ( at least) on repairs last year.

    It may be cheaper if get new bike from cycle to work scheme but I am used to my bike and its faults how to set the brakes bb5 has the strong wheel used to the way it cycles so not overly keen on changing it. However did wonder how long before bike fails. I would imagine bikes are not designed with a heavy use in mind as most possibly never do over a couple of 1000 miles and used in hot summer with no load no salt.

    I don’t know how much redundancy is built in to a bike but even a Boeing plane (I see on tv) if used long enough in a way manufacture does not expect will fall apart and crash a bike is build light like a plane. I see on line that aluminium bars can have catastrophic failure and carbon fibre bikes can crack and fall apart.

    If buy a new bike on cycle to work scheme can be bought below cost of even a low wage/ regulation country, even good bikes made in farway places. Repairs in the uk cost more than labour to build bike. It may be cheaper to buy a cycle to work bike with government subsidy making below cost than keep a bike going that is wearing.
    I do wonder more out of interest when is bike past its best when is it fatigued.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  24. rider73
    Member

    just googled Soderberg - (un?)fortunatley a shop is not close to my work place or where i live, because i would have to cycle to the moon and back with the amount of tasty baking goodness i would eat there/out the door/riding home/home.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  25. chdot
    Admin

    “I do wonder more out of interest when is bike past its best when is it fatigued.”

    I think ‘impossible to know’ is the best answer.

    There is also the steel v other materials question.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  26. HankChief
    Member

    http://road.cc/content/news/234889-88-year-old-nottingham-man-appeals-return-vintage-bike-hed-had-1949

    "her father had owned the "faithful friend" since 1949, riding more than 300,000 miles on it."

    Posted 6 years ago #
  27. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    I think ‘impossible to know’ is the best answer.

    Indeed. One of the reasons I'm so keen on my seventeen year old alloy frame is that it has survived seventeen years of dog's abuse. I conclude that the welds are good, which they certainly were, but are they still?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  28. rider73
    Member

    @IWRATS - your dog rides an alloy bike. sounds a bit woof. (rough!)

    Posted 6 years ago #
  29. chdot
    Admin

    “I conclude that the welds are good, which they certainly were, but are they still?”

    Clearly, but it’s not just welds that fail.

    On steel frames, tubes can fail next to the lug, or even pull out of lugs if not enough brass used.

    I had a Dawes Galaxy frame collapse once. The downtube sheared where it connected to lug joined to headtube.

    Fortunately I wasn’t going fast (on Union Canal towpath) and even more fortunately the toptube didn’t fail as well.

    I assume the framebuilder had put too much heat into the braze.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  30. dessert rat
    Member

    a few pains and bruises today - esp right elbow.

    Keep thinking other scenarios - think I got off lightly.

    New fork ordered.

    Posted 6 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply »

You must log in to post.


Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin