Advice for after a Fall?

[Ben Mihovk]

Hello!

I've been back into riding since November of 2019 and just yesterday fell to the ground from a moving bike for the first time since then (fell a few times when I was in middle school, too!). It was the stupidest thing and I'll only say I wasn't going too fast and I tried to wave at a polite driver as I was out to the saddle trying to get up to a fast enough speed to shift to an easier gear. It was humiliating and I'm lucky that I only have a sore shoulder, elbow, and thigh from it.

The bike seems fine, but here's where I need help. The basket on a Mark's rack on the front took the heaviest beating...totally bent and the diving board on the rack bent, too. My grip tape on the right bar and the metal barrel adjuster got scraped up, too. The chain came off the chainring, but went back on quick. The impact caused my handlebars out of alignment, so I fixed that with my mini tool, got on the bike, and rode to a park and had my wife come pick me up. 

Again, I know this is not a serious wreck, but I would like to know what you all typically check for safety and reliability on your bikes after they've taken an impact. Wheels aren't wobbling, brakes are working, bike shifts fine, etc... But should I worry about my fork since the basket and rack got twisted? 

Finally...I did hit my head on the pavement hard enough that the foam in my helmet cracked. It was a Thousand helmet, which I liked...but if anyone has recommendations on safe bike helmets that don't look goofy, I'm all ears.

Thanks!

Ben in Omaha 

[Patrick Moore]

I'm glad you were not hurt, and kudos -- if you fell, at least it was while being friendly.

As someone who has had his share of falls, for reasons reasonable and very stupid, I'd guess that the very fact that your basket was bashed about quite seriously is an indication that your fork is not damaged -- the basket acted as a crumple zone. I "guess." But if you examine your fork closely and see no damage, I'd guess (again, that weasel word) that it's fine. Forks can take some beating.

What bike? If the bike is a Rivendell model, especially one of the stouter models, a fortiori and so forth.

Patrick Moore, who at age 12 or 13 once bent a fork by stupidly concentrating on rubbing a preceding rider's rear fender with his front tire -- and running into a timber-built ice cream cart, in New Delhi, India.

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

[Ben Mihovk]

Hey Patrick,

Thanks for your thoughts (and sorry about that ice cream cart). It's an Atlantis (2019 MIT) so I'm guessing it's one of the stouter forks they make.

Thanks again!

Ben

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[exliontamer]

I got rear ended by a car(while riding my Atlantis strangely enough) years ago. Granted it was pretty brutal to me and the bike(the front wheel taco'd, the rack was bent, etc). I took it to a shop that I knew had proper frame aligning tools and would recommend you do the same to be safe. They were able to bend my fork blade back in place and get the rear spacing back as they were thrown out of whack from the impact. I think it's a smart thing to do for safety and peace of mind.

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

I don’t have any useful advice but to those of you who have been hurt in wrecks:  it hurts this nurse’s heart to hear it. I’m just so sorry. Ben, I hope you are totally ok, and that your bike is as well. Exliontamer, geez what a story. Rear-ended! Ugh, awful. So sorry, you guys.

[Erik]

Hey Ben.  I'm really sorry to hear about the accident!  I went through this back in January after another cyclist rammed into me head-on.  I was riding my Appaloosa.  I crashed really hard.  The initial impact with the other cyclist damaged my brake lever and bars.  The subsequent crash into the ground and skidding along the road damaged my rear derailer and derailer hangar.  It likewise damaged my shifter and other brake lever.  My saddle was scuffed up as well.  The front basket ended up taking the brunt of the impact, but the front rack (a big ol' Nitto) was a bit bent as well.  The housing on my Edulux light was scraped up but still worked.  In the end, I think the basket / rack took the brunt of the impact on the fall and likely protected the bike from worse damage.    

I posted about it here asking a similar questions.  I took everyone's advice and brought my bike into a local shop with mechanics I trust to get the whole thing inspected.   I do all of my own wrenching, but I felt it was important for my future safety to get the whole thing thoroughly inspected.  They looked at everything in great detail including frame alignment.   No fork or frame misalignment, but I had dents and chips in the frame from the impact with the ground.  The wheels were good.  They wrote up an estimate for me for insurance and for the court (about $1300 with a new paint job at D&D Cycles).   I ended up just eating the dents and paint chips without getting them fixed, but replaced the handlebars, brake levers, shift levers, rear derailer.  I was able to bend the basket back into shape and get the rack re-aligned myself.  I also did a minor correction to the rear derailer hanger.  I put some pretty orange Testor's model paint on the chipped areas.     

These bikes are pretty tough.  Steel, after all.  But I'm really glad I had it inspected by a good mechanic and had them write up a total repair estimate.  I've just recently been able to start riding again after healing from my injuries and I feel pretty confident with the safety of the bike.   I cracked my helmet in the accident too.  I've replaced it with a Giro Caden in matte gray.   

Good luck!  

     

[exliontamer]

Erik's 100% right on about steel's resiliency. The mechanic was pretty amazed that the Atlantis was able to go back into perfect alignment with relative ease. Especially considering the wheels , bars, brake levers, etc, were comically bent up. 

I'm sorry to hear about everyone's wrecks. I feel like I got off so easily considering. The guy who did it drove off but I happened to be present enough get his license plate number. Three joggers witnessed the whole thing and were kind enough to stay as witnesses. The officer who filed the report came up to me as I was being loaded into the ambulance to let me know that they caught him in downtown Nashville. His insurance company covered everything. I think they were happy that I wasn't filing a lawsuit. Kind of a strange night in the sense that despite the negativity of that pecker doing a hit and run, the joggers, police officers, doctors, and emt's made my faith in humanity even stronger...I still remind myself of that night when I start to feel misanthropic feelings coming on. 

Anyhow Ben, I'm glad you're ok. If you're anything like me, it takes about a week of riding again before I start feeling confident again after wrecks. I also want add that if aluminum bars bend(or any aluminum parts), get new ones. It's not BS. The lose their resiliency with bending and strong impact. I have a Laser Helium helmet and would recommend it for ventilation, comfort, and adjustment. I'm also in the muggy southeastern US. Also I don't think helmets are capable of looking cool outside of this. 

[ascpgh]

Ben,

I had a big dump in south central CO that separated my shoulder, cracked my helmet and tossed my water bottles every which way. I knew I was OK when my focus was getting my bottles, pump and bike out of the road. My rear tire flatted and precipitated the fun but the wheels were OK, brakes functioned and drivetrain operated well. Must have been spared the obligatory impact that deflects the derailleur hanger. I was bloodied up from the impact and attempted slide on the chip top road surface. It latching onto me is was what tore my shoulder apart.

I figured I got a pop to the head since I jumped up to grab all my stuff from the lane of a road that had no traffic in the previous hour as if anything was going to get run over. My cohorts were in shock as I changed my tube and began on one of the other's tire, flatted from running off the road when I went down. 

Everything may look good and check out when given a whole bike diagnostic. I recommend continuing to look over your bike in the most stressed joints (right rear dropout, downtube at headtube and downtube at bottom bracket) for a while afterwards. Things may pass muster for a bit but it's clear your incident delivered some energy to your bike that was beyond what was intended. Things can happen later, it did for me. My right rear dropout broke. 

Not that I could remotely connect my crash with the outcome I describe, it was the only event with that bike I could recall since new. RBW too charge of the repair and had something better than stock that replaced BOTH rear dropouts then they had Joe Bell repaint it in the creamsicle orange with cream headtube. A big deal. 

Anyway here's what it looked like: 

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh