Mountain Biking - Failure

[ttora4runner]

Decided to hit up one the local trails here in Bountiful - Muller Park to Canyon Creek. The trail itself is uphill from both the Muller Park and Canyon Creek trailheads with some nice downhill either way you decide to go.

Well, just a little ways in I hear/feel this sound like something is binding or about to bind up. Next thing I know "SNAP" and this is what I see.:Wow1:

Cell phone pictures -

Hum, I wonder how it managed to do this?

Lucky, for me I wasn't injured when it happend. Fortunately, I had bought a bike tool with me and I was able to remove the derailer and was able to coast the bike back downhill. Looks like the biking season is over for me since this bike has been giving me problems for the past 2 years either with the gears, chain or the derailers and this just tops it off. So.............

Time to save up for a new bike. :sombrero:

So what other failures have you all had while biking??

 

[Funrover]

Looks like a good canidate for a Single Speed conversion till you find your new Geared rig!

 

[Scott Brady]

ouch. Glad you are ok

 

[ttora4runner]

Looks like a good canidate for a Single Speed conversion till you find your new Geared rig!

Ya, I thought of that but with the trails around here it's nice to have a lower gear for those uphill climbs.



**fixed my spelling/grammer in first post. I think? :coffeedrink:**

 

[RHINO]

looks like it smacked a rock,,,

 

[Funrover]

Ya, I thought of that but with the trails around here it's nice to have a lower gear for those uphill climbs.



**fixed my spelling/grammer in first post. I think? :coffeedrink:**

I understand that! I love my SS, but there are many a time I am glad I went out on the geared rig!

 

[ntsqd]

Since my SS uses a vertical drop-out frame I use a short cage road derailleur for a tensioner. That allows me to run a "Greasy Grannie" for those days when the climb exceeds my fitness level. No front derailleur, I move the chain back and forth with by hand.
This pic doesn't show the cog in place (I was more fit in my Chico days).

(That is the bicycle shopping trailer that I built while in Chico. With that to go shopping with my car would sometimes go several months without being started.)

 

[mtnbike28]

no pictures, but...

So far this year...

I was out for a night solo ride on a local rails to trails route when 8 miles out, I felt the bike was "off" harder to pedal, etc. I get off and check the bike and feel a ton of drag on the rear wheel, I start walking toward home when I come to a stop... the rear hub nuts were tightening as I rolled. It was a long hike a bike that night.

3rd race of the year, the rear derailer sucked into the wheel, ripped off the derailleur.

4th race of the year, the chain snapped in half.

Now I carry a full tool set, and have had no more problems....

 

[Funrover]

So far this year...

I was out for a night solo ride on a local rails to trails route when 8 miles out, I felt the bike was "off" harder to pedal, etc. I get off and check the bike and feel a ton of drag on the rear wheel, I start walking toward home when I come to a stop... the rear hub nuts were tightening as I rolled. It was a long hike a bike that night.

3rd race of the year, the rear derailer sucked into the wheel, ripped off the derailleur.

4th race of the year, the chain snapped in half.

Now I carry a full tool set, and have had no more problems....

WOW.. sounds like a bad year

 

[Christophe Noel]

D

Hum, I wonder how it managed to do this?

If I had to guess, I'd say you were going up a good climb, had the chain in the second to largest cog in the back, needed to shift one cog lower which put you in the lowest gear and because your hanger was already out of alignment before the ride, it put the derailleur into the wheel, which in turn rips the poo out of everything else. This scenario is played out DAILY across the globe. It is the single most common rear derailleur failure. Head over to the Bicycle Tools thread where we discuss the importance of a properly aligned der hanger. It's very hard to get hurt when this happens, but it can cost hundreds (or more) to repair.

This is just my educated guess, by the way. Outside of the above scenario, it's extremely hard to shell out a hanger like that.

 

[ttora4runner]

If I had to guess, I'd say you were going up a good climb, had the chain in the second to largest cog in the back, needed to shift one cog lower which put you in the lowest gear and because your hanger was already out of alignment before the ride, it put the derailleur into the wheel, which in turn rips the poo out of everything else. This scenario is played out DAILY across the globe. It is the single most common rear derailleur failure. Head over to the Bicycle Tools thread where we discuss the importance of a properly aligned der hanger. It's very hard to get hurt when this happens, but it can cost hundreds (or more) to repair.

This is just my educated guess, by the way. Outside of the above scenario, it's extremely hard to shell out a hanger like that.

Good guess. I was however already in a lower gear - number 1 gear up front and 4th in the back. When it did happen I looked back and the derailer was twisted up, the bottom gear/sprocket on it was pointing at me, then when I took my foot off the pedal it released the presser on the chain and it all came apart.

The crappie thing is I had it at the local mountain bike shop about a month prior to this to have it aligned but I've had an alignment problem with it for about 3 years and no shop that I have taken it too (about 5 different)have been able to fix it.

 

[Christophe Noel]

The crappie thing is I had it at the local mountain bike shop about a month prior to this to have it aligned but I've had an alignment problem with it for about 3 years and no shop that I have taken it too (about 5 different)have been able to fix it.

Alignment of the hanger is no biggie. That's easy and takes all of 60 seconds to do with a true-ish wheel. Are you talking about adjustement of the rear derailleur and how it shifts?

If you weren't in the lowest gear when this happened, then we have a real mystery here. Could be a number of things all related to your derailleur itself. What a bummer.

 

[nonamegiven]

That sucks!

I've had a crank, rear hub, and spoke break on me. Luckily not at all one time and on different bikes.

 

[Bogo]

All on road bikes years ago. I bent a bottom bracket on a Klein racing frame during a hill climb during my first race. On the next race, as I was gaining on the leader, my rear wheel blew out in the 2nd last turn before the finish. Went from second to tenth place. Yeah I rode across the finish line with a flat plus road rash from the wipe out. I was riding my Cannondale touring bike as my Klein racing bike was still out of commission. After that I talked Cannondale into making a matched pair of custom racing frames.:bike_rider: Years later on that same touring bike I was heading to class when a car forced me into a bad line around a corner. Went across a pothole and bent both rims. Amazingly both tires continued to hold air and I didn't wipe out. Other than those three incidents my bicycles have been 100% reliable.

 

[MisterTinkle]

I bent a bottom bracket on a Klein racing frame....

WOW!!! That takes some serious forces!! :Wow1: