marwahnur27

I front wheel smashed into a pole coming down a ramp at full speed, fell off the bike and now the front wheel touches the pedal when I do turns which it did not do before. Also when I try to do no handers the bike wheel veers right making it impossible to do. I can’t provide pics because I’m new to the forum but if anyone can help I can send pics through email or something. I’ve been researching all over the internet to try and figure out what’s wrong, in the pics I have the front wheel looks completely not aligned with the front fork. Plz help, thanks. It’s my dads bike and he still doesn’t know so I’m desperate.

AdkMtnMonster

Frame/fork is/are bent. Bike is probably not safe to ride. The frame, fork legs, steerer tube (or all of them!) could be cracked from the impact. Were you wearing a helmet? Could be the bump on your noggin has impaired your judgement and critical thinking skills, and left you with somewhat of a knowledge deficit. Be careful out there!

Koyote

This seems possible. Do not ride the bike one more foot. Take it to a shop, show it to your dad, whatever. But don't ride it. It might be hazardous.

marwahnur27

nothing was cracked, my noggin included was left intact. I have ridden the bike multiple times after and it works fine but not as smooth as before. It feels completely safe to me but as I’ve said no handing is not possible anymore and the front wheel probably got pushed back next to the pedal which is why it touches when I try to make turns. I just thought maybe I would be able to get away with it unnoticed if there was a quick fix to it. Thing is I don’t know exactly what to search to fix it because I don’t know which part is what and what part is wrong.

GlennR

Could be the fork, the frame or both.

Bring it to a shop and have it inspected.

marwahnur27

cmon man, the whole point of this forum is so we could help each other out without needing to go to the bike shop for every little thing. No one knows why a front wheel would steer to one direction automatically when doing no hander? I know it has something to do with the fork maybe???

Homebrew01

As already said, the frame, and, or, fork is bent. Can't tell how bad from here.

CAT7RDR

Do you have a younger brother you can blame it on?
Just kidding, man up and be honest about what happened.
Hopefully it is just the fork and the bike can be salvaged.
Do NOT allow your father to ride his damaged bike under any circumstances.

marwahnur27

from looking straight down the top frame and head tube the front wheel is literally to the left of it all

marwahnur27

So far the back i up plan has been to blame it on my uncle, because my dad has not ridden it since then but he knows my uncle usually takes it I’m out so a ride. However everyone keeps saying that the bike is highly dangerous to ride but I literally went down the same ramp like 15 minutes after again and it was fine, and has been ever since which was like 3 weeks ago. I just wanna know if I could restore it myself, I’ve literally tried pulling the wheel with all my strength like a fool so it could get away from the pedals like a fool. There has to be a diy fix somewhere on the internet.

Trakhak

No one is suggesting a quick fix because we know enough about bent frames and forks to know that there is no quick fix. Your choices are to (1) tell the truth about what happened or (2) lie about it.

rsbob 

Borrow a wheel and mount it in your fork. If it still is off center, it may be your fork or frame like others have suggested. If it centers you will more than likely need a new wheel. Perhaps it could be trued too, but dont know if I would trust it. Good luck

Koyote

Dude, we are helping you. Don’t whine.

Put some photos on a third-party site and post a link. Or grow up, tell your dad that you crashed his bike, and the two of you can figure it out together. Blaming it on your uncle is a weasel move.

AdkMtnMonster

Sounds like the bike is just fine, in your opinion. Whatever you do, though, don't try to deflect attention from the destroyed bike by having a quick affair with your dad's wife! Make good decisions, ok?

GlennR

Ever have a car with an alignment problem and pull to one side?

That's what you have and its do to something being bent.

cmon man, if you crashed your car and it pulled to the right, you wouldn't bring it to a shop?

You came here for advice,you just don't want to hear it.

spelger

Take the serious responses here seriously. I had a similar incident many years ago and like an idiot i continued to ride it. i had a near catastrophe going downhill and ended up going over the handlebars. this was before helmets were mandatory, not that it would have helped any. i the street face first turning my Adonnis looks into hamburger. not pretty at all.

GlennR

Where is this?

spelger

New York. sometime about '78, '79, or '80.

VegasTriker

There have been a fair number of riders who have been injured or even killed when a fork breaks. You can look up the number of bike recalls on the CPSC website regarding forks that looked perfectly good but had an annoying tendency to fail without warning. Your crash damaged the fork or frame enough to move the wheel back. That's far worse than a poorly assembled or designed fork when it comes to the potential for failure. I've also witnessed a frame break and have the rider end up in a heap with the frame in two pieces. Fortunately the rider, a young teenager, was just starting off from a stop and only his pride not hurt.

GlennR

https://www.dot.ny.gov/display/programs/bicycle/faq
"In New York State, all bicyclists under the age of 14 years old are required to wear safety certified bicycle helmets when they are operators or passengers on bicycles (Sec. 1238(5)). Children aged 1 to 4 must wear certified bicycle helmet and ride in specially designed child safety seats. Children under 1 are prohibited from being transported on a bicycle (Sec. 1238(1)(2)). Any parent or guardian who permits his or her child to violate the helmet law is subject to a fine of up to $50 (Sec. 1238(3),(6)(a)). Certain communities in New York have passed local ordinances regarding helmet use for bicyclists. For example, Rockland and Erie counties require everyone riding bicycles on county property, regardless of age, to wear approved bicycle helmets."

It's not a state law for adults and trust me... it's never enforced, unless there's an accident that involves serious injury.

Mr. 66

I would tell him, does he turn green when he's angry? If he's not the Incredible Hulk I'm sure that all is good enough and you won't become a statistic.

You say ramp, are you jumping your dads bike?

Koyote

From his posts, I'm guessing the OP might be <14 years old.

Iride01 

Well if you want to go out and buy $200 to $500 worth of tools and fixtures to check your wheels and frame alignment then we can get some data to tell you something. Might be that money didn't find a problem with what those things check and you still won't have fixed what an actual mechanic at the bike shop can tell just by having both hands and eyes on the bike.

Some wheels are pretty high tech nowadays and need a little more care than just twisting the spoke nipples with a wrench to line up the rim again. I used to do that myself all the time with old, heavy steel rims. But with carbon rims and light aluminum rims, I take them to someone that has all the fixtures and tools to check and adjust them properly. And I'm normally a cheap bastard that won't spend a dime.

DIY'ing your bike should start with learning how to work on it and service it when everything is running properly so you know what that looks like in a detailed way. Then when something is wrong, you'll know it, and you'll know what needs to be done.

There is a gallery on this forum that you can upload pic's to. Also, you can just write the URL of the location to your pics in the plain text of your message. Remove the https:// and put a space on either side of any dot "."

GlennR

You're probably right.
"It’s my dads bike and he still doesn’t know so I’m desperate."

GlennR

Nice....

I see a career in politics in your future.