Orkun KnighTR34

Hi Guys

Nowadays, bicycles with alluminium frames are common. I'm curious that can they be damaged by hail? Everyone knows that body panels of cars can be damaged by hail. But, material of bicycle frames are thicker than car body panels. But can they still be damaged from hail?

Andrew R Stewart 

Sure, if the walls are thin enough and the hail stones are large enough. But I suspect you not want to be outside during such a bad hail storm anyway. I also feel that you'd have other more immediate concerns then frame damage if you were riding through such a storm. Andy (who has ridden through hail a number of times and the worst part was trying to balance the bike when the tires were effectively rolling on nature's ball bearings)

Orkun KnighTR34

Sure, I won't ride when hail falling but if hail suddenly falls when my bicycle is parked and locked outside and I'm in places like school, library, cafe; it might suffer from hail, is it true?

Trevtassie

If the hail is big enough, yeah. My brother was in a storm that had baseball sized hail. It smashed through metal roofing in some cases and mangled cars. So if one of those hit a lightweight bike in the wrong plus it might not end well. But then, what are the chances of getting hail that big.

CliffordK

It would depend a bit on the bicycle.

I'd presume that many aluminum mountain bikes and department store bikes would be fairly resilient to hail.

On the other hand, an old Vitus aluminum bike might be totally destroyed.

I'd keep an eye on the weather forecast although I know things change quickly in the midwest.

Darth Lefty 

Andrew R Stewart 

I might suggest the opposite, The Vitus/Alan bikes had fairly thick walls of a smaller diameter then today's stuff. So the dent sensitivity is rather less then today's Al tubes.

But this thread is somewhat funny to me. After 45 years in the trenches of the LBS industry I thought I had heard about every question/topic riders had about their bikes, hail damage is new on my list. Andy

CliffordK

Have you spent time in the Midwest & South?

They can get some monster hail storms.

Golf ball to baseball sized stones coming down.

I don't think I'd want a fancy carbon fiber road bike out in the stuff.

I think many people in Missouri hurry to park their cars out on the street whenever a hail storm comes along so they can collect the insurance payments, and not get the vehicle repaired.