Replace carbon fibre forks and helmet after fall?

quenching

I took a tumble from the bike the other morning and was wondering what the recommended procedure is for carbon fibre forks? Bike went out from under me due to hydraulic oil leaking from the automated gates onto the painted surface of the down ramp to an underground car park, luckily I broke the fall with my face, wrist and hip, saving the bike from any obvious damage However, I've been told that damage to carbon fibre forks may not be obvious and they should be replaced in case of sudden failure in the future.

I haven't had a chance to examine them carefully yet as I've been a little preoccupied with doctors, x-rays, and having to get the feckin' bus into work. I'll try to drop it into a bike shop this week.

Helmet took a fair whack too, is that of the replacement list also? Its not carbon fibre of course.

Lumen

I would not replace forks unless they were visibly damaged.

tdo

quenching wrote: »

Helmet took a fair whack too, is that of the replacement list also? Its not carbon fibre of course.

I took a fall myself at the weekend. While only superficial damage done to the helmet, it will be junked (including the carbon fibre bits!) as soon as the new one arrives in the post.

Consensus seems to be that damage to a helmet may not be visible so replace if any way in doubt.

Tonyandthewhale

They say you should always replace your helmet after a fall (provided the helmet actually contacted the ground of course). Don't replace your forks unless they're actually damaged though.

seamus

In most cases your forks shouldn't hit the ground, because the wheel and the bars should hit the ground first, keeping the fork from coming in contact with the road. But with bumpy roads, kerbs, etc, this isn't always guaranteed. I've come off sideways a number of times and it's never resulted in even the slightest scratch on my fork.

Wipe them down thoroughly, let them dry, then examine them for the slightest bit of damage. If they're clear, then you are too.
Forks need a much more stringent inspection if the crash results in odd forces against the fork, such as a head on crash, or being T-boned by car. But a simple wipeout doesn't put any weird stresses on the fork, so shouldn't cause any damage.

Helmets are a tougher one because sometimes you may not even be aware that your head hit the ground. Your natural reflex is to lift and protect your head, so when you're lying on the ground after the incident your head will be up off the ground and you won't know if it flicked down for a split second and contacted with the ground.

For a simple wipeout like you mention, I would check the helmet. If there are no obvious signs of collision damage, then I'd be inclined to hold onto it. If the helmet is in any way damaged (including grazing/scratching across the shell), or the crash was particularly harsh, then bin the helmet without a second thought.

Plasid

check the stem for fine fractures, i had a soft landing a while back after rear ended by a car on a roundabout, LBS didn't notice anything other than damage to rear wheel, guy paid for wheel rebuild all happy... few weeks later problems with stem...

SO replacement, you can swap the stem/fork itself or look for a crash replacement on the frame (very good value on certain models) and have a nice shinny new frame

quenching

Thanks folks, advice much appreciated. I'll check the forks carefully tomorrow but from reading above I reckon they might be fine. However, my head hit the ground fairly hard, my forehead is grazed from the inside of the helmet, so looks like thats for the bin. Although maybe I should pass it on to the moron security guards who decided to do nothing about the leaking oil in the first place