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Determining damage to road bike post-crash

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 VS4b 28 Mar 2014
Following yesterday's incident involving a fairly fast deceleration following me colliding with a car door unexpectedly opened in front of me I'm wondering how to tell how damaged if at all the bike is.

It looks ok,but so does my helmet which I certainly will be replacing but how do I check the carbon forks and ally frAme are ok? Will a bike shop take a good look at do you think?
 sleavesley 28 Mar 2014
In reply to VS4b:

Cheap way would be the sound it makes on the forks. Expensive would be x-ray.

Any work doing I can suggest Vernon Barker from personal experience.
In all fairness an ally frame can take some stick - check the headset as that may need refacing or a straight swap for a new one.

How fast were you going?
OP VS4b 28 Mar 2014
In reply to sleavesley:

about 17mph
 sleavesley 28 Mar 2014
In reply to VS4b:

Is the headset loose? Buckled front wheel?
Myself - I would drop the fork out and have a good look at it, put it back in - tighten it up, check the wheel and carry on.

That or decide it warrants a new bike - buy bike and put other bike on turbo trainer to annoyance of other half.

If new forks are needed - carbon can be had for £100-£200.
 blurty 28 Mar 2014
In reply to VS4b:
I took my bike to my LBS and just told them to get on with it. They replaced bars, stem, forks (It's not worth the risk) and, in my case, both wheels (buckled in the side impact)

The bus that hit me's insurance co paid up without a murmur
Post edited at 20:44
 blurty 28 Mar 2014
In reply to VS4b:

I didn't see the post yesterday - are you in the CTC? I think they'll represent you post accident once you join
OP VS4b 28 Mar 2014
In reply to blurty:

No I'm not a member nor Bc who do the same. Might need a no win no fee job
 Timmd 29 Mar 2014
In reply to VS4b:
Personally I'd replace the carbon forks as a precaution, but checking the frame visually for any paint distortion/rippling and cracks etc should be enough, and 17mph 'probably' won't have done much, anyway.

I understand that ( for road bikes at least) carbon frames and forks are plenty strong enough when loaded how they're designed to be, but crashes and knocks can load them in a way which creates weakness, so they can fail.

Well made MTB carbon frames etc are plenty tough, but with road bikes being more delicate, and carbon tending to fail without warning (when it does fail), I'd always have in the back of my mind that it might have been weakened, if I wasn't able to find out for sure with an Xray or something like that.
Post edited at 21:38
 Gone 29 Mar 2014
In reply to VS4b:
It's hard (although possible, I know) to represent a car dooring as the cyclist's fault - you may be able to DIY by doing a small claim for the bill presented by a reputable bike shop. Seek a solicitor if you want to get involved with injury compensation as well.

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