The first "Moment" drops bent, not happy!

[Ivan Ardon]

I'd replace handlebars if they were crash damaged, same with forks.

+1

Listen to what the man says if you have alloy bars and value your face / teeth / head.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

And I was feeling sore because I'd slipped and let the bike slide down the corner of my wall putting a long scratch on the top tube (hopefully T-Cutable)

Lesson learned, old fashioned propstand purchased and fitted (it kind of suits the bike anyway)

But though your "first scratch" is much worse, every old bike tells a story, when you've had it a while you'll comment on everywhere it's been, all the things that have happened, and laugh about the ill-fated "first ride" which will have become part of the bike's "character"

 

[swee'pea99]

Kind of while the handlebars are of topic, does anyone know of a general rule for the rotation of them, as in what angle the drops should be, horizontal, slightly sloped in one direction or another? I realise its probly a personal taste thing, but its good to try out benchmarks and then alter to suit, rather than start from scratch.

Bummer! Many sympathies - and all credit to you for having emerged cheerful enough to come on here & tell us all about it. FWIW, I've always understood that the basic answer to your query is to set the bars so that the flat sections at the bottom point directly back at the rear brake mounting point.

 

[ASC1951]

Its got to be a pretty common bike injury right? Since the handlebars are 1st thing to hit the deck.

Not for me!

I always set the bolts on my bars so that they can be moved. I do the same with the headset/fork bolt. This setting is slightly looser than the shop sells them at and is at a point where you have to use most of your bodyweight to move them. So when I have a crash like yours, my bars and forks simply twist out of the way, undamaged.

I'm not saying this to sound smug. I have had plenty of offs over the years. We all do - it's part of cycling and the skill is in minimising the damage to bike and rider.

 

[Rob3rt]

Not for me!

I always set the bolts on my bars so that they can be moved. I do the same with the headset/fork bolt. This setting is slightly looser than the shop sells them at and is at a point where you have to use most of your bodyweight to move them. So when I have a crash like yours, my bars and forks simply twist out of the way, undamaged.

I'm not saying this to sound smug. I have had plenty of offs over the years. We all do - it's part of cycling and the skill is in minimising the damage to bike and rider.

Good idea, but dont they shift when you are accelerating hard and pulling at the bars?

Ill have a look on wigggle for some new bars as soon as cash permits, total bummer, lol! Any one know what price bracket the cannondale C3 handlebars fit into? I'll want to replace with something of similar level rather than upgrade.

 

[ttcycle]

Sounds like an unpleasant off -I'm also unsure how your bars could have ended up misalligned like that without witnessing the fall- this is probably cautious but I would replace the bar and get the front forks checked out down the LBS as if they have had impact from a crash you cannot be sure they're not going to fail on you when you least expect it.

I have Look Keo sprints- used to ride with Time RXS- have found the Looks much easier to clip into due to the larger platform for the cleat to connect into. I got the hang of it after riding with them (though you'd never guess from my weekend performance of cleat misses and misalignment-natural if been off the bike). There's a kind of technique to it, put your foot - point toes down and press in on the midpart of the foot, unless racing it's usually ok to not clip in straight away as long as you maintain a stable and not too fast speed, ensure your steering etc is straight and you're not coming into a turn/pothole etc. I sometimes put my foot over the pedal letting it hang there and clip in when I have time to do it if I've just missed the clip in when accelerating from lights-can slow the acceleration down as you can't pull up but is no big deal on a leisure ride/commute. The best thing is to concentrate ahead and not look down to the pedal unless you really need to as that gets you used to focusing on the road and clipping in becomes second nature (which you may need to pick up again if you spend any significant time off the bike).

Take it easy, it happens to us all.

 

[Rob3rt]

Sounds like an unpleasant off -I'm also unsure how your bars could have ended up misalligned like that without witnessing the fall- this is probably cautious but I would replace the bar and get the front forks checked out down the LBS as if they have had impact from a crash you cannot be sure they're not going to fail on you when you least expect it.

The forks were completelly unscathed, the bike sort of just rolled over, like if you just let a bike go and it falls over on its side, the bars and right pedal took all the impact (well and me since I was under it too), non of the frame touched the ground, its still pristine, the rims scuffed the kurb a little (the scuffs on the rim buffed out with some glass paper in a few rubs), but it wasnt impact damage, just scuffed.

I was over the moon that the frame wasnt scratched up

 

[ttcycle]

in that case just look at replacing the bar.

You probably spend most of your time riding on the hoods (the top bit where the shifters are) but if you want to start riding in the drops, it's best to get ones that haven't shifted with a crash as riding in the drops puts a bit of pressure onto them.

BTW - I had many bruises from bashing my shin on overzealous clip in attempts with the Time RXS pedals - less so with the Looks, so it could be worse!!

 

[Rob3rt]

I really dont know how the bars got bent, I thought it wouldnt be unusual but from what people are saying it is quite hard to bend them, lol - I can only guess that it was my weight on them as they took the impact. Although I'm not not 100% sure they werent mis-aligned to start with because last night, after I'd fuly calmed and was no longer angry took a closer look, and the same drop is also a different distance from the ground to the other, with the nature of the off im not sure how they could have been bent in that direction.

The bike is a Cannondale CAAD9 '10, and the frame is very well made, so I dont think they would put crappy in-house parts on it, but what do I know.


Also the bars on the Cannondale flex noticable more so than my fuji fixed bars do, even on the non-crashed side.


I know what you mean about riding in the hoods most of the time, I ride on the top of the bars on my fuji most of the time, only really use the drops when im going flat out or up a hill. But this might change with the roadie.



I was tempted to just whip all the bar tape off on that side and inspect the bars, but I dont know how to re-tape them up, hah

 

[ttcycle]

Yeah it doesn't sound right, is the bike new? Might be worth taking it to the LBS - though if the bars were misalligned/bent in a crash they wouldn't be covered by warranty - it is possible that they could be bent with enough force

 

[Rob3rt]

Yeah it doesn't sound right, is the bike new? Might be worth taking it to the LBS - though if the bars were misalligned/bent in a crash they wouldn't be covered by warranty - it is possible that they could be bent with enough force

Its like a week old, brand new yeah. So far Ive had a puncture riding it home form the LBS (Evans) and then this on my 1st proper ride (which I was hoping to be 40 mile but ended up being 7, lol) so noting but bad luck so far!

As great as the service Evans always gave me I might go to a diff shop, somewhere with no vested interest in the bike and see what they say then. I'd have bought from them probably but they dont deal with Cannondale, its all Trek, Specialized and Bianchi.

 

[ttcycle]

Should still be in warranty then. Take it back to your evans but be warned that if you've crashed the bike, you may have very little room to have something done under warranty.

If you want a second opinion- do take it elsewhere but they will usually ask for a fee to check out the bike.

 

[Rob3rt]

Alternativelly, in like 5 weeks time I get a free service/checkup on it (plus have vouchers for other more thorough service options if need be), so during that I will tell them, check out my handlebars, and Ill pay for the tape if they say they are okay. If they say needs new bars, I'll pay for new bars, I guess. Im not going to bother trying to claim on warranty for say a £30-40 set of handlebars after a crash, because to be fair even I cant for sure say if the crash caused it or not. It just so hapened I noticed after the crash and assumed thats what caused it. The only thing I do know, the bar end was smashed in the crash, so the very end of the bar definatelly took the impact. I took it out and had a feel and look n the tube at the end for damage but havent bothered to strip back all thebar tape.

By then I'll have cash to buy new bars. I only ride it on sundays atm because thats the only time im able to ride in the light (being a PhD student massively detracts from personal time) so its not going to be taking a lot of riding between now and then, I ride my fixed during the week.

Thanks for all the advice

 

[ASC1951]

Good idea, but dont they shift when you are accelerating hard and pulling at the bars?

Good grief, are you some sort of gorilla?

The test I use is this:-
- forks/headset: if I stand in front of the bike and grip the wheel firmly with my legs, I can only just move the alignment if I yank hard on both ends the bars.
- bars: if I sit on the saddle and grip the bottoms of the drops and suddenly push down hard, I can't shift them, but if I stand on the floor and do it, I can.

It takes a bit of experience to get just the right degree of looseness, but I think it's worth doing. Like all other couplings on a bicycle, they should be done up as tight as function requires but no more.

Going back to your bars, I certainly wouldn't be changing them just on account of this particular off. I have been riding bikes for half a century and have come off plenty of times, but I have never had a set of bars or forks fail on me, before or after. It does happen, sure, but it's very rare.

 

[Rob3rt]

Well I dont know if I would move them if set up as you do, possibly not. But I have to admit, whether its good or bad technique I pull on the bars pretty damn hard when accelerating from stationary in a low gear (like on the fixed).