Broke my bike - some questions

[ajhapps]

So, I need some help/advice here. Every couple of months, I do something stupid. Welcome to this month's stupid.

Had the bike on my roof rack, driving through my apartment building's garage, and clipped a low-hanging pipe with my saddle. You can see what happened in the pictures. Rack is also bent, but car looks ok. I think.

Anyway, two questions:

1. Anyone have any ideas on removing the portion of the seatpost stuck in the seat tube? I tried pulling it out with a vice grip, but no dice. Someone recommended a headset puller, someone else epoxy and a PVC pipe. Any other thoughts?

2. Looking at the cracked headset (sorry Chris King), what would you imagine could be problematic that I can't see? Checking the steerer tube on the fork for cracks, but didn't see anything. How about the head tube? Chance it could be bent? How would I check?

I feel like I'll just drop this off at a shop, but wanted to do as much investigation as possible on my own. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions are much appreciated!

[Cicli]

I wouldnt trust the fork either. Check the frame for wrinkles on top tube and down tube.

[ajhapps]

I wouldnt trust the fork either. Check the frame for wrinkles on top tube and down tube.

I'm thinking this is going to be expensive... :crap:

[parris]

Check the head tube to see if it was made oval by the impact as well.

[Veloo]

Ouch.
I had to get into my fork to retrieve a compression plug part.
I got a wire hanger (from the dry cleaning),
cut it with some good length left on it,
bent a small "hook" at the end
and was able to retrieve the part.

My key thing was length. Yours will be length and how tight a fit you have with the seatpost. Might be worth a try since all you need is a scrap wire hanger and some cutters.

[oldpotatoe]

So, I need some help/advice here. Every couple of months, I do something stupid. Welcome to this month's stupid.

Had the bike on my roof rack, driving through my apartment building's garage, and clipped a low-hanging pipe with my saddle. You can see what happened in the pictures. Rack is also bent, but car looks ok. I think.

Anyway, two questions:

1. Anyone have any ideas on removing the portion of the seatpost stuck in the seat tube? I tried pulling it out with a vice grip, but no dice. Someone recommended a headset puller, someone else epoxy and a PVC pipe. Any other thoughts?

2. Looking at the cracked headset (sorry Chris King), what would you imagine could be problematic that I can't see? Checking the steerer tube on the fork for cracks, but didn't see anything. How about the head tube? Chance it could be bent? How would I check?

I feel like I'll just drop this off at a shop, but wanted to do as much investigation as possible on my own. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions are much appreciated!

Take seat collar off, hook a spoke or 2 under the SP 'lip' and pull out.
Take old headset out, trash. Inspect top tube, down tube for wrinkles and head tube for cracks. If the new cups go in w/o a press, headtube ovalized(bad).
Get a new fork. Carbon fails catastrophically. Ouch.

[ajhapps]

Ouch.
I had to get into my fork to retrieve a compression plug part.
I got a wire hanger (from the dry cleaning),
cut it with some good length left on it,
bent a small "hook" at the end
and was able to retrieve the part.

My key thing was length. Yours will be length and how tight a fit you have with the seatpost. Might be worth a try since all you need is a scrap wire hanger and some cutters.

Thanks, will give it a shot.

Interestingly, the fork seems to be ok. No visible damage, uniform "pings" when tapping up and down. I think the headset took the brunt of the energy when it split. Of course, haven't been able to tell if the head tube is oval-ed out.

[oldpotatoe]

Thanks, will give it a shot.

Interestingly, the fork seems to be ok. No visible damage, uniform "pings" when tapping up and down. I think the headset took the brunt of the energy when it split. Of course, haven't been able to tell if the head tube is oval-ed out.

'Seems ok'....ask Hincapie...broken fork really hurts. Yer teeth.
Have renters insurance? Might cover this.

[sales guy]

I would check the headtube. Given the headset cracked like that, you may have ovalized slightly the lower of the headtube.

[ajhapps]

'Seems ok'....ask Hincapie...broken fork really hurts. Yer teeth.
Have renters insurance? Might cover this.

Thanks, checking my coverage now. Yeah, definitely a little nervous to use this fork again - any advice on how to check for damage?

I would check the headtube. Given the headset cracked like that, you may have ovalized slightly the lower of the headtube.

I think I might just drop this off at a shop and have someone smarter than me take a look. My eyeballing it probably isn't sufficient (same for the fork)

[oldpotatoe]

Thanks, checking my coverage now. Yeah, definitely a little nervous to use this fork again - any advice on how to check for damage?

I think I might just drop this off at a shop and have someone smarter than me take a look. My eyeballing it probably isn't sufficient (same for the fork)

You really can't, if you've broken interior strands of carbon, no way to tell, but if you cracked a CK cup, I'd say some stress. The safe thing is to replace. Sorry.

[ajhapps]

You really can't, if you've broken interior strands of carbon, no way to tell, but if you cracked a CK cup, I'd say some stress. The safe thing is to replace. Sorry.

Got it, makes sense. Thanks for keeping my irrational optimism from getting me hurt.

[Blown Reek]

You should change your username to shthapps.

[ajhapps]

You should change your username to shthapps.

Haha, yeah, I never thought I'd be that dude who drives his bike into something while on the rack. Note to self, go back to a hitch-mounted rack ASAP.

[oldguy00]

As someone else mentioned, this would typically be covered by insurance. Can't remember if it would be home, or auto since driving?

[ajhapps]

As someone else mentioned, this would typically be covered by insurance. Can't remember if it would be home, or auto since driving?

Yeah, I'll need to make a claim if there's frame damage. Otherwise, new fork, seatpost, headset, and saddle would only be ~50% covered by insurance after the deductible, so probably not worth the bump in premium for making a claim.

[Lanternrouge]

Every couple of months, I do something stupid.

For the moment, assume it's a total loss while looking into whether your insurance may cover it, since the cost of a new bike is cheap relative to the cost of medical bills in the event something bad were to happen by continuing to use something that's not structurally sound. Check out both your owner's/renter's and auto policies to see. On the bright side, you say you only do something stupid every couple of months, which is far less frequently than most people do so.