woowoowoo

Disclaimer: Made this thread so I can feel better and wallow with my fellow compadres.

So it happened today. Fell because I couldnt clip out in time. After putting 150 miles on my bike I finally fell. I read the "you'll fall eventually" threads and I told myself that I wouldnt fall victim to that. I clipped in and unclipped really well up to this point. I was coming up on one of those slight rights when I noticed the light was going to turn green and cars were going to come my way so I had to slow down. Unfortunately for some reason my usual effort of unclipping didn't result in unclipping so I toppled over onto the sidewalk. Needless to say I'm pretty happy I didnt get severely hurt but I can't lie, my pride is kind of bruised at the fact that I fell over at an intersection with cars just starring at me.

Brushed myself off and rode home. I tried to look for damages and the only thing I found were some scratches on the pedals and one or two nicks on the rear derailleur which aren't a big deal to me. My paranoid side tells me THERE HAS to be some sort of damage on the frame. That I can't fall over and just escape with some cuts on my arm and scratches on the derailleur and pedals. I just can't believe that. I really somehow convinced myself that theres damage that I'm overlooking, even though I looked over the bike four time.

That being said, its upsetting to scratch the bike so soon after buying it. Its like 6-8k like the S-Works or Cervelos that some of you are riding but its still a good chunk of money to me

Has anyone crashed on their primary expensive bike and not a back up bike?

raisinberry777

I've crashed my bike into the back of a car which I was following too closely in the city, I went through the windscreen of the car doing tendon damage to my elbow, the bike on the other hand had a scratch the length of a fingernail on the frame. No structural damage. They're a lot stronger than you think.

Buffalo Buff

I was hauling ass around a corner and noticed a big patch of loose gravel too late. I had two options. Hold my line and slide out, or ride straight towards the sidewalk while slamming the brakes and hope for the best. Chose the latter. Flipped over the handlebars and rolled out of it, totally unharmed. Bike had some scratches on the handlebar plugs and the corner of the hood where I never put my hand, so I didn't get too worked up about it.

I also felt dumb doing it in front of a bunch of people, but I got a good laugh from it too.

gregf83 

I've crashed a few times on various bikes but never damaged a frame. Shifters usually get scuffed and knocked out of position and I've bent a rear dérailleur. I've yet to see anyone I've ridden with damage a frame in a crash either.

Canker

I crash all the time on my expensive bike but it is a mtn bike so that is to be expected . Haven't crashed my cheap road bike yet.

Drew Eckhardt 

Sure. I ride my Campagnolo equipped Litespeed year round, and used a spare wheel set with 27mm cross tires mounted for snow-day commuting in Boulder, CO. Crashed a few times on ice. Crashed two times with an uncommanded down-shift off a worn big-ring. Crashed once for some reason I don't remember. It happens, although scratches don't show much in unpainted titanium/silver anodized aluminum/clear coated carbon fiber.

My Chorus ergo levers and rear derailleur had a few dings by the time I replaced them 15 years later:


Lesser mishaps include scraping a carbon crank arm on a speed bump and chipping the clear coat on a carbon brake lever.

I don't bother with a cheap backup bike I wouldn't enjoy the same way I don't have a spare car to drive in inclement weather instead of my Audi.

cale

I only crash expensive bikes. It's what I do.

nastystang

I have done the clipped out to late thing and at the time it was a $2000 bike, expensive enough. Now that I have a bike with $6000+ invested, I have yet to crash. But like anything new and shiny that first scratch is going to hurt the most. Found out later my kid seen me adjusting the clip in/out tension on my pedals and he helped me out by tightening them all the way. New pedals and cleats, my first experience with clippless, he just expidited the inevitable. I am certain this only happens when lots of peope are around to witness such an event.

OldsCOOL

No crashes but I've performed some entertaining acrobatic maneuvers to stay out of a crash. I'm sure there were smiling and cussing motorists.

garysol1 

If you scratched and nicked the rear derailer you may want to take the bike to your LBS so that they can check the deraileur hanger for straightness. They hanger is designed to tweak and bend in case of a crash to help save the frame and can effect shift quality.

pdedes

yes. sometimes my fault, sometimes others were to blame

crazyravr

OP... you call that a crash??
Giant TCR Comp 0 crashed at 44kmh during a race.
Me = 38 stitches total, skin grafts, concussion, cracked helmet, torn jersey and bibs.
Bike = not a scratch.

K.Katso

I crashed a $7K Bianchi at 25mph. I scratched the bar tape, the right lever and pedal, and the rear derailleur. I also bent the derailleur hanger. Some new bar tape, new hanger, and a little bit of black touch-up paint and it was all good. No damage to the frame. I still have the bike and I've been riding it for the last 3 years after the crash. The frame should be the strongest part of the bike so I would expect it to hold up well.

isuckatbiking

Geez. How did the bike out come out unscathed in that situation?

Wesley36

I would guess that his body protected the bike.

FLvector

Any damages to the bike can be frustrating, especially when its something so simple and you know its your own fault. You'll get over it. Kinda like the first ding on a brand new car. It's going to happen eventually. Consider yourself lucky it wasn't much worse. No broken parts or broken bones. I crashed and toasted a nice carbon frame a few years ago. I would have repaired the frame, but the components were near end of life, so time for a new bike.

tycobb73

I don't worry about it, in all my hobbies. Bikes are made to be ridden, guitars are meant to be played and pots and pans are made to be cooked in. I don't abuse my stuff but I don't baby it either.

StanSeven

I went down and my new $300 saddle was torn up from the slide. The worse didn't involve me but my wife drove her SUV in the garage with my commuter bike on top

Panza

If you can still ride it I would be happy, it makes the more interesting story to tell. I broke a new bike a week after riding it, it was unrideable for a month because I had to wait for frame components to fix it. It was agonizing not being able to ride on my only bike for that long in the peak of the season.

intransit1217

I had a Motobecane that was my only steed in high school. Was out for a sportif with the guys and between efforts we'd just loll around. So we're lolling near a car dealership and I decide I want to tour the lot and go straight into one of those low slung chain barriers, over the bars and onto the ground, thankfully not fast. I felt so stupid for not seeing what I knew was there. The chain went up the tire and hung up on the head tube and badge, dinged it up pretty good. Still sad about it. I loved that bike.

Number400

On my newly acquired Scott addict, there was a crash right in front of me. I had a split second to scrub off some speed but was being pushed from riders behind. There was a rider sliding sideways on his back and I could not avoid him. Hit his abdomen and did a front flip landing on the top of my head and shoulder. I never let go of the shifters during my flight so they were undamaged. Got up and finished the race but I could tell that the hanger was bent but other than scratches on the RD, the bike was good. I was broken but the bike was nearly fine because I cushioned it with my body :-)

indyfabz

A few years ago, while on my custom IF, someone riding in front of me kicked up a small stick. It hit my spokes, got spun up and lodged between the inside of my fork and the rim, above the brake bad and parallel to the ground. Front wheel licked up and I went flying through the air. Had been doing about 16 mph. Split the end of my collar bone. The stick remain lodged but the bike was otherwise fine. The wheel didn't even come out of true.

RR3

I went over the bars at 45mph on a carbon framed Shimano Dura-ace equipped bike in the early 90's?

The bike was fine. Still is.

rms13

Falling over is not "crashing". That said, I started riding with some cheap bikes so by the time I got anything close to a nice bike I had the clipless thing figured out. One of my friends did buy a Supersix Evo for his first road bike and he did fall over in the parking lot the first day he tried clipless pedals. It's all part of the learning curve. It sucks to get the first scratch but they'll be a lot more.

mprelaw

A zero mph fall because you couldn't clip out? Unless your bike is made out of rice paper, 99.999% chance that it's fine.