Races and tech failures...

[Grant McLean]

I was reading the L-B-L race report this morning, and took
a look at some of the letters from last week on cyclingnews.com

Amazing how much bad press the Trek "fork" thing is getting
from Roubaix. Outpouring of grief for GH having his P-R chance
destroyed by his broken bike.

Here's a thought: Today Karsten Kroon flatted out of the break, with about
20k go, and was done for the day, his chances gone. Kroon has
been on fire:

8th Tour de Flanders
4th Amstel Gold Race
3rd Flèche Wallone

When was the last time everybody screamed at their TV if a
rider got a flat tire? Shouldn't that be considered a tech failure?
Over 100 years of bike racing, and riders chances are still
out the window because of flat? Everyone accepts flat tires as
a given. How come?

-g

[e-RICHIE]

Over 100 years of bike racing, and riders chances are still
out the window because of flat? Everyone accepts flat tires as
a given. How come?

-g

'cause the tires are worthless without air.

[Dr. Doofus]

cause a puncture-proof tire would be so heavy and thick as to be unrideable at race speeds


we accept the design limitations of tires -- they're going to break, kids


we don't accept broken forks -- because its been proven time and again that you can make a fork that will take, say, cobbles, and not blow up. there are no expected and inheirent design limitations for that doodad that make frequent failures accepted (at least now...it ain't eugene cristophe's day, ya know)

[stevep]

all a team manager can do is play the odds. a flat tire is bad luck. you can plan for it by using the correct tires for the event and not pushing your teams luck by using risky, ultralight tires for a road event. but sadly , every once in awhile, you will be bitten by the snake.
i will say, though, that these common sense rules are constantly broken and the piper is often paid by some ultra trick fool part going bad...
i do have about 10 related stories.
here is one brief one:
usa cycling junior world championships 1990 team time trial: good usa team.
broken down into 4 qtrs. first qtr. usa leads italy by 12 seconds . they are in first place
at half way. usa leads italy by 24 seconds. they are going great and pulling away.
3/4 one kid flats. team pulls over for quick change... gt superbikes at the time..wheels require an allen key to release for aerodynamic benefit ( no skewer!...ask tullio if this is a good idea ). mechanic gets out. no allen key. seconds go by. cannot find allen key... the 3 kids have now lost the lead and the race. i forget what they finished... should have won going away.
this is what is called idiot decision making and incompetent team management.
it was not the flat that was the problem it was the fool that was deciding the equipment long before the event even started.

[e-RICHIE]

this is what is called idiot decision making and incompetent team management.
it was not the flat that was the problem it was the fool that was deciding the equipment long before the event even started.


what - this kinda' decision making from the springs?
mon dieu.*





*french for my dieu

[ada@prorider.or]

I was reading the L-B-L race report this morning, and took
a look at some of the letters from last week on cyclingnews.com

Amazing how much bad press the Trek "fork" thing is getting
from Roubaix. Outpouring of grief for GH having his P-R chance
destroyed by his broken bike.




well i think a broken fork cost live´s before
like fabio
and was also the team lance was in
beleive me in the team there went a storm about this
altough they would not say it
it was also a alu fork that cause fabio death
meaby thats why the bad press
well thats my 2 cents

[manet]

well i think a broken fork cost live´s before
like fabio
and was also the team lance was in
beleive me in the team there went a storm about this
altough they would not say it
it was also a alu fork that cause fabio death
meaby thats why the bad press
well thats my 2 cents

errr... huh??!!

[Dr. Doofus]

well i think a broken fork cost live´s before
like fabio
and was also the team lance was in
beleive me in the team there went a storm about this
altough they would not say it
it was also a alu fork that cause fabio death
meaby thats why the bad press
well thats my 2 cents

so fabio's death was due to the alu steer tube failing, causing him to lose control on that descent?

iirc those were kestrel forks on the merckxspeedcalois they were running

[e-RICHIE]

errr... huh??!!
it's his two cents atmo

[ada@prorider.or]

so fabio's death was due to the alu steer tube failing, causing him to lose control on that descent?

iirc those were kestrel forks on the merckxspeedcalois they were running
that what inside riders told me in the tour that year
i was there since on that day chiapucci rode my stuff that day ,and night before i talked to fabio in his hotel
after the crash when i talked to a rider in his team he told me that that made him crashed
that the fork broke just before he fell
as riders rode behind him and saw in a split second what happend

[chrisroph]

I never liked those treks.

[ada@prorider.or]

I never liked those treks.

i do

[Grant McLean]

that what inside riders told me in the tour that year
i was there since on that day chiapucci rode my stuff that day ,and night before i talked to fabio in his hotel
after the crash when i talked to a rider in his team he told me that that made him crashed
that the fork broke just before he fell
as riders rode behind him and saw in a split second what happend

That's down right false!!!

His actual race bike from the stage is on display at the chapel
La Madonna del Ghisallo

http://forum.bikemag.com/photopost/data/500/1119P1010027.JPG

check out the fork!!!


-g

[ada@prorider.or]

That's down right false!!!

His actual race bike from the stage is on display at the chapel
La Madonna del Ghisallo

http://forum.bikemag.com/photopost/data/500/1119P1010027.JPG

check out the fork!!!


-g


indeed seems that you right no briken part´s as far i could
see only bending
i wonder why he told me that then???
i only told what they said too me at that time
never seen the bike after the race
so i am sorry for this this!!!!!!!!!!
:confused:

[Grant McLean]

indeed seems that you right no briken part´s as far i could
see only bending
i wonder why he told me that then???
i only told what they said too me at that time
never seen the bike after the race
so i am sorry for this this!!!!!!!!!!
:confused:


I understand that you were only repeating the story.

g

[manet]

indeed seems that you right no briken part´s as far i could
see only bending
i wonder why he told me that then???
i only told what they said too me at that time
never seen the bike after the race
so i am sorry for this this!!!!!!!!!!
:confused:

http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/6060/hug.gif

[ada@prorider.or]

I understand that you were only repeating the story.

g
yes it only bothers me lot
the rider told me that he could not control his bike anymore
and he said was due of his broken fork
i hate this............
but evry one and also me where really down that tour
so i just beleived what he said why should he not told me otherwise meaby it was in his mind

again i hate this ............
:confused:

[Grant McLean]

uploading photos is finally working again...

[jerk]

uploading photos is finally working again...


the jerk heard the same story as cees. that fork is not a normal merckx mx leader fork. it could be aluminum and the steerer could very well be broken. who knows?

jerk

[Dr. Doofus]

the jerk heard the same story as cees. that fork is not a normal merckx mx leader fork. it could be aluminum and the steerer could very well be broken. who knows?

jerk

iddnthat one of them merckxspeedcaloi ti jobs?

[e-RICHIE]

the jerk heard the same story as cees. that fork is not a normal merckx mx leader fork. it could be aluminum and the steerer could very well be broken. who knows?

jerk

why would they have a mx leader fork
in a ti frame atmo? oh - i know. it's the
same team that had the al steerer at pr.
diabolical-isimo.

[jerk]

iddnthat one of them merckxspeedcaloi ti jobs?


yeah it is and that looks like one of those mad painful aluminum unicrown forks instead of the mx leader fork that were usually on those bikes....anyway, having been to the ghisallo chapel a bunch, the jerk never really looked at the bikes in a technical way before and it feels sort of wrong to do it now knowing that place...let's put it this way, that chapel is sort of like the italian equivalent of the baseball hall of fame for the jerk; its the closest an agnostic washed up bike kid can come to a religious experience.

jerk

[stevep]

ill be there this summer. ill bring a magnet.
i remember looking at it the last time and noting that that was the wrong fork on the bike...but as it was caloi related somehow figured it had to do with that.

[Grant McLean]

yeah it is and that looks like one of those mad painful aluminum unicrown forks instead of the mx leader fork that were usually on those bikes....
jerk


so what are you saying dude?

I'm saying with very great certainty that fork did not cause an accident.
It held up to massive crash pretty darn well. Please explain to me
how a "broken" fork gets bent from an impact? If the fork was indeed
broken to the point where it caused an accident, there is no way it would
be bent from crash. Since it's a threaded headset, obviously it's a steel
steerer. I think it's 100% steel tig welded fork, but even if it's bonded to
an aluminum crown and legs... it absorbed enough impact without breaking
to get that bent. Any frame builders here want to add anything ?

-g

[e-RICHIE]

ill be there this summer. ill bring a magnet.
i remember looking at it the last time and noting that that was the wrong fork on the bike...but as it was caloi related somehow figured it had to do with that.
good sleuth work pooch.

[e-RICHIE]

so what are you saying dude?

I'm saying with very great certainty that fork did not cause an accident.
It held up to massive crash pretty darn well. Please explain to me
how a "broken" fork gets bent from an impact? If the fork was indeed
broken to the point where it caused an accident, there is no way it would
be bent from crash. Since it's a threaded headset, obviously it's a steel
steerer. I think it's 100% steel tig welded fork, but even if it's bonded to
an aluminum crown and legs... it absorbed enough impact without breaking
to get that bent. Any frame builders here want to add anything ?

-g
we need a neurologist, not a frame builder atmo.

[jerk]

we need a neurologist, not a frame builder atmo.


grant-
the jerk isn't saying anything except that a bad enough crash that a guy dies could have broken alot of stuff....the jerk has no idea what caused the accident. he heard the same story as cees that's all....wrong or not, it made little sense to fabio's friends and fans that a rider with bike handling skills like his would have punched out in that situation....maybe those folks just needed someone to blame but the fork is still freaking hideous imho.

jerk

[Grant McLean]

grant-
the jerk isn't saying anything except that a bad enough crash that a guy dies could have broken alot of stuff....the jerk has no idea what caused the accident. he heard the same story as cees that's all....wrong or not, it made little sense to fabio's friends and fans that a rider with bike handling skills like his would have punched out in that situation....maybe those folks just needed someone to blame but the fork is still freaking hideous imho.

jerk

Well, with all respect, I don't buy the story. If people saw Fabio's bike on
the ground, and noticed the bent fork, it's easy to see how the story
about it being "broken" would be spread. A tragic accident for sure.

-g

[jerk]

Well, with all respect, I don't buy the story. If people saw Fabio's bike on
the ground, and noticed the bent fork, it's easy to see how the story
about it being "broken" would be spread. A tragic accident for sure.

-g


word.

jerk

[Grant McLean]

word.

jerk

hugs?

-g

[manet]

hugs?

-g

!! ROTATE !!

[William]

I was watching the 95 tour coverage when Fabio went down. The cameras didn't catch the actual crash, but they were there immediately afterward. After reviewing the footage (I have it on tape), that fork looks bent, not broke. Bars still attached and fairly straight. Not definitive, but a good indicator that the tragedy that day was not caused by fork/steerer failure.

That was a sad day, even for me watching it 6,000 miles away. My ride following the coverage just wasn't as sweet.

RIP Fabio.


William