Indoor Wolrd Champs 2010 in Ballerup, Denmark

Andreas just sent me this email:

I Believe that's half a bike flying. Photo taken during the Women's Scratch at the Indoor World Championships in Denmark 2010. 17 year old rookie Julie Leth crashed near the perimeter and slid across the track just in front of the peleton which led to a minor incedent. ;o) I saw at least 3 riders ride directly into her back.. .anyhow Julie got on her bike and finished 9th.

Yikes. I never crashed during my time as a track racer, but I sure came close. I guess I just didn't do it long enough.

Mavic Cosmic Carbone Ultimate

From Le Tour de Langkawi 2010 in Malaysia, Alex Candelario tears apart his rear wheel in the final sprint. Amazingly, he stays upright. Check out the YouTube video of the finish.

Waller Cup Bohermeen

Huge crash at the Waller Cup Bohermeen, check out Irish Cycling for more photos.

Cyclocross vs Carbon Seatpost

Steven sent me this photo of a carbon seat post that failed during a cyclocross race. If you are going to be leaping onto your bike 15+ times per race, you need a strong seat post.

Annoyed? Burn it with fire!

This is one of the stranger emails I've received. After Ritchey and Cambria both refused to warranty his fork, Wayne decided to burn it in protest. He then sent a photo of the burning fork to the customer service departments.

More Shipping Problems

This time it happened to Rick:

Specialized broken in shipping.. whatever happened, the box wasn't even damaged

Delta 7 Arantix

If I paid $4,895.95 for a frame, I'd be annoyed if the head tube popped off.

Carbon Fiber Zoom In

And now for something completely different. Lets zoom in on some carbon fiber several million times.

Kestrel Bars

Grom Geoff:

This Kestrel EMS Pro/SL "carbon aramid" 800k bar, (old-school 26mm diameter), snapped on the OPPOSITE side of impact with the side of a Mercedes that had swung an unannounced right turn across my path. We were traveling the same direction. I locked up the brakes at about 23 mph, so probably hit at 10 mph or slower, at an angle, as I swerved with the vehicle. Impact point was my left elbow. (Lacerations, contusions, muscle spasms, but nothing broken except the bars.) Maybe I better take a magnifying glass to my Trek carbon frame before riding it again.

No Comment

I have no idea. (Please give me details when you submit photos)

Stevens Cross

From Ed:

1/2 hr into my first ride in Belgium a car blows through an intersection taking me out big. Aluminum, ti, carbon, it wouldn't matter in a case like this. They would have all been toast. The carbon just looks more dramatic.

I agree, very dramatic.

Broken Handlebar

From Ernesto:

I'm sending to you two pics of a broken handlebar of a Orbea Orca from a colleague of a discussion forum. He brought the bike from Spain on Iberia Airlines. To his surprise, upon opening the box, the handlebar was broken.

It shouldn't really be a surprise that an airline would mistreat luggage.

The two minute trispoke

From Brett:

I broke this up at Trexlertown on the first Tuesday night of this past season. A whole slew of guys went down right in front of me and I couldn't go up or down the track to avoid them and went down as well. I think someone's pedal was responsible for the damage you see here. I got less than 2 minutes of use out of the wheel. :(

Here's a helmet cam documenting the crash - I was right behind the guy filming.

2 minutes is the new record. The video reminds me how much I miss riding track, but my local velodrome has been closed for a few years now.

Bike vs Child

From Mart:

Here are my handlebars that were broken due to an child crossing the street, during competition.

I hope they broke avoiding the child rather than hitting the child.

Busted saddle rails and much more

Reid just sent me a link to his blog, which details the meeting of his bicycle and the hood of a Volvo. His carbon seat rails broke, and the rest of the bike is pretty banged up. Such a beautiful bike sent to the scrap heap.