Ster Elektrotoer

This photo from Pez Cycling News is from stage 3 of this years Ster Elektrotoer in the Netherlands. Amazing photo, we can all image what happens next.

Specialized Eipc

Within 24 hours of purchase Nik went off the road into a concrete block, breaking his frame and his hand.

Another Garage Incident

Brandon sent me these photos of his road bike which was on the roof rack when his friend drove into the garage. His carbon mountain bike was on the rack as well, while it didn't break, he's wondering if it is still safe to ride. I don't suggest he just try it and see.

Easton Carbon Fork

Alexander sent me these photos that he took of a friends bike after some sort of unspecified incident the occurred during a race. I'm not sure what you do to break your steerer tube, but the Spinergy Rev-X wheel is fine. Still, I'd triple check that Rev-X before riding it again.

Tank Matrix

Mou sent me these photos of the broken fork on his Tank Matrix. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it involved a Toyota. It's also nice to see the time and effort he put into photographing his busted carbon; great photos!

Broken Fork on a Giant OCR Alliance Comp

Peter just sent me these photos of his bike with the following story:

About a month ago, I had a minor spill on the way to uni and came off at just under 30km/h. I hit the ground quite hard and got some road rash and a chipped tooth. Apart from that everything was okay. I then got up to check the bike, and was absolutely amazed that the front fork had completely sheared in half, halfway down the fork blade. The top of the fork is still attached to the headtube and steerer, whilst the bottom half is still connected to the dropouts on the front wheel.

You can read the full story over at the Cycling News Forum.

Specialized Handle Bars

Kevin sent me this photo of the Specialized handle bars that came with his 2007 Tarmac Pro. They were clamped to spec and yet Specialized won't replace them.

Trek Y33

Pete just sent me this photo of his broken carbon seat post, but his carbon framed 1997 Trek Y33 is still going strong. These frames have a lifetime warranty. If it broke I wonder what Trek would replace it with? Nothing as cool, that's for sure. I love looking at these old mountain bikes, when Unified Rear Triangle was considered hi-tech, now it's only for Walmart bikes.

Sebastian Lang's Specialized Tarmac SL

Lukas sent me an email letting me know about Sebastian Lang's Gerolsteiner Specialized Tarmac SL team bike from the Tour of California. I'm not sure why it's blurred out, we all know what type of bike it is.

Levi Leipheimer said:

Today in that crash, we had Sebastian Lang come down pretty hard and had to abandon. His bike was broken into three pieces... I was in front, but I think somebody hit a pothole and lost their grip and crashed.

Giant TCR Advanced 2

I received an email from Christian that says:

Here are some pics of my 2 month old TCR Advanced 2. I went into the back of a car that stopped suddenly on a roundabout. I was going only about 15 kph. Front forks snapped at the base of the steerer tube. There is almost no damage to the carbon frame except to the small area around the steerer tube bearing ring at the base of the headtube. I got 10 stitches in my face.

Ouch! That sucks. This is mostly a busted aluminum, but there is a small amount of busted carbon too.

Unknown Carbon

I just received a photo of this "unknown" brand of bike with the following comment:

The bike was merely being ridden and had not been involved in a crash of any sort. The whole fork column came straight through the head tube without warning! As can be seen the aluminium cups that support the carbon have come away completely leaving the bare carbon. The head-tube has failed completely. Scary!

This story came from the inside, so all identify marks and names have been removed.