Has this ever happened to anyone?

GS540

http://imgur.com/KGqCRcq http://imgur.com/wdYv4CU

Was coming to a stop and locked up the front brakes and it broke the front left fork. Whenever i usually stop using the front brakes it kinda pulls the front wheel in under the bikes frame.

Squidgy Black

Do not ride that bike as it is. Under any circumstance. At all. Theforce from the disc brake and your body moving forward has snapped the fork, making it totally unsafe. You can replace the fork with one with a similar rake.

GS540

stetyrrell wrote: »

Do not ride that bike as it is. Under any circumstance. At all. Theforce from the disc brake and your body moving forward has snapped the fork, making it totally unsafe. You can replace the fork with one with a similar rake.

I brought the bike back to the shop I bought it at and they have sent it back to the manufacturer. I actually cycled this home when it happened last Sunday. I didn't have a choice as I had no other way to get home and no one to contact.

ford2600

How long have you got bike? Merida hybrid?

Carbon fork or alu?

If any way new I'd be on way back to shop.

Did you buy from shop or 2nd hand?

GS540

ford2600 wrote: »

How long have you got bike? Merida hybrid?

Carbon fork or alu?

If any way new I'd be on way back to shop.

Did you buy from shop or 2nd hand?

I've the bike for about 1 year but have only cycled it maybe 20 times.

Yes it is a Merida Hybrid

I'm not sure but I think its Aluminium.

I bought it from a shop brand new.

ford2600

Unless obvious impact damage, which I assume there is not, warranty should be fine.

Sales and goods and services act

awec

GS540 wrote: »

I brought the bike back to the shop I bought it at and they have sent it back to the manufacturer. I actually cycled this home when it happened last Sunday. I didn't have a choice as I had no other way to get home and no one to contact.

How did you even manage to get home with that? Must have been a pretty hairy journey!

happytramp

ford2600 wrote: »

Unless obvious impact damage, which I assume there is not, warranty should be fine.

I'd say that's an understatement. I imagine after such a potentially life threatening, catastrophic, failure of their product they'll be keen to keep you as happy as possible.

GS540

awec wrote: »

How did you even manage to get home with that? Must have been a pretty hairy journey!

I just went very very slow. I cycled about 3 miles with the bike like it is in the pictures.

ford2600

Doesn't matter now, but you should have walked bike home. It would have took 45mins, A&E wait is usually 4hrs plus plus....

GS540

ford2600 wrote: »

Doesn't matter now, but you should have walked bike home. It would have took 45mins, A&E wait is usually 4hrs plus plus....

I should have, but the roads I was on were quite small so if I was walking on them with a bike at my side it would have been more dangerous.

joxerjohn

Seems like all that was holding the wheel in place was the bolt/QR on the RHS fork. Had that failed or if the RHS fork also broke under the added strain it would have been the front collapsing and you hitting the stem handlebars area hard with your chest and the ground with your head and face !

Doesn't bear thinking about, this kind of failure is a cyclists worst nightmare, luckily you got away with it but for others take heed and be warned. Pretty shocking on a new bike.

GS540

Bit of an update.

I got the bike back Saturday, cycled it Sunday and then today. I noticed a scraping sound on the brakes whenever I cycled, so when i got home i took the wheel of and found that the brake disc is scraping off the brake itself (I don't know what its called to be honest) Here are some pics and a video to give you a better understanding







http://youtu.be/jJnsmKbEp60

mobfromcork

Not 100% about bicycle set up but it sounds like your brake disc is slightly warped. Your brake pads are coming into contact with the disc at a certain point at every revolution of the wheel. When it happens on a motorbike usually the problem is with a slightly warped brake disc. This More than likely happened when the fork snapped and tour weight was pushed forward onto the disc.

The shop should replace that as well as it was a result of the fork snapping. It's not that big a job I would think.

Nit a huge knowledge of bicycles but I assume the discs work on the same principle as motorbike brakes

Mob

GS540

mobfromcork wrote: »

Not 100% about bicycle set up but it sounds like your brake disc is slightly warped. Your brake pads are coming into contact with the disc at a certain point at every revolution of the wheel. When it happens on a motorbike usually the problem is with a slightly warped brake disc. This More than likely happened when the fork snapped and tour weight was pushed forward onto the disc.

The shop should replace that as well as it was a result of the fork snapping. It's not that big a job I would think.

Nit a huge knowledge of bicycles but I assume the discs work on the same principle as motorbike brakes

Mob

I think you are right to be honest. Thanks I would have never thought of that.

mobfromcork

If you have a hydraulic brake system on your bike (it looks like it from the picture) another thing you can do is to cycle slowly or roll down a slope very gently but steadily pressing the front brake lever. If you feel a slight pulse on the brake lever every time you hear the pads scraping off the disc, the disc is warped. What happens is the warped pad temporarily pushes the brake piston slightly back into the cylinder which pushes the brake fluid back up into the master cylinder on the handlebar and it pushes the brake lever against your hand. When the wheel turns a bit the pressure on the pad is released and the brake lever will return to its original position until the wheel rotates to the scraping position again.