[gizzard]

I know there are going to be a number of posts/threads about George's recent mishap, but for what it's worth I don't think it could have been the result of a broken steerer tube. According to cyclingnews.com he was riding a special Bontrager aluminium steerer tube sprayed black. I think it's unlikely that an aluminium steerer tube would have failed in such a fashion.
It looked like either a broken stem or the stem simply slipping off the top of the steerer tube. It's not like he was pulling hard on the bars when the failure occurred, which leads me to believe that it could have been slippage. I'm probably wrong and we'll know in the morning what happened, but looking at it closely on slowmo, it looks like an innocuous bit of slippage. A bit bizarre all the same, no?

 

[rocco]

I know there are going to be a number of posts/threads about George's recent mishap, but for what it's worth I don't think it could have been the result of a broken steerer tube. According to cyclingnews.com he was riding a special Bontrager aluminium steerer tube sprayed black. I think it's unlikely that an aluminium steerer tube would have failed in such a fashion.
It looked like either a broken stem or the stem simply slipping off the top of the steerer tube. It's not like he was pulling hard on the bars when the failure occurred, which leads me to believe that it could have been slippage. I'm probably wrong and we'll know in the morning what happened, but looking at it closely on slowmo, it looks like an innocuous bit of slippage. A bit bizarre all the same, no?

I've seen a freeze frame of the bike and it looked clear to me that the steering tube sheared off clean just below the stem. The fork was still seated up into the headtube/hs races but there was no steering tube showing at the top. It also seems unlikey that the stem would slip up and off unless the both bolts snapped. On the other hand did it really make sense for them to spray paint the steering tube? Wouldn't it been better if it were not painted? Plus what about the sandblast/mediablast job they did to it? Was that a good idea? Seems like they might have botched that and taken away too much material. The bottom line is that it was Twrek.

 

[Henry Chinaski]

Totally lame. Stupid lightweight dangerous junk.

 

[velodoom]

shot peened...

generally you shot peen a surface to give it a bit of compressive stress which tends to give it a bit of extra strength and resistance to crack formation. but, it seems like this fork choice will haunt Hincapie for quite a number of years (atleast until he wins next year since he was the best positioned rider at the time.

man, i was so excited for him until that happened.

cyclingnews.com made a big deal over his deep v cross sectioned wheels - i wonder if a point can be made that they transferred much more shock to the fork than a traditional box section Al rim would have. not that that is an excuse for a fork breaking, but a point nonetheless.

 

[rocco]

generally you shot peen a surface to give it a bit of compressive stress which tends to give it a bit of extra strength and resistance to crack formation. but, it seems like this fork choice will haunt Hincapie for quite a number of years (atleast until he wins next year since he was the best positioned rider at the time.

man, i was so excited for him until that happened.

cyclingnews.com made a big deal over his deep v cross sectioned wheels - i wonder if a point can be made that they transferred much more shock to the fork than a traditional box section Al rim would have. not that that is an excuse for a fork breaking, but a point nonetheless.

So when Scott Daubert said "blasted" he meant shot peened?

 

[whit417]

Doesn't look like it slipped to me.

 

[rocco]

Doesn't look like it slipped to me.

Ah great picture... thanks

 

[rocco]

Doesn't look like it slipped to me.

So I'm looking at this picture and I'm trying to piece the situation together... The compression cap is still there. Did that bolt snap too? The stem bolts look like they're intact (one threads in from the left and the other from the right... I think)

 

[divve]

1) Manufacturer defect
2) he already fell once earlier in the race and may have damaged it
3) mechanic overtightened the stem

...wheels transmitting too much shock.....can't really see this as an influencing factor. I've broken lots of forks due to abuse when I was younger. They always go near the steerer crown or right under where the separate fork legs join.

 

[TitaniumFemur]

Totally lame. Stupid lightweight dangerous junk.

It wasn't even light weight... the fork came from Trek's Satellite low-end bikes...

 

[surftel]

most likely the crash

as much as I think that Trek is junk the most likely reason is the previous crash caused damage that then was just made worse by the cobbles

 

[Friction_Shifter]

should have used a quill stem

 

[RkFast]

Wondering if some dude at Trek beat up rocco when he was a kid or something.

 

[rocco]

Wondering if some dude at Trek beat up rocco when he was a kid or something.

No I've always kept my distance from Twrek... I rode a Merckx when I was a kid.

 

[Under ACrookedSky]

#$*%^ *(&#$ Trek!!!

This is why I would never buy a Trek or a Cannondale or any of the other manufacturers that shave costs by using their own cheapo fake brand components rather than established brands. You have to wonder if Trek or Cannondale is not even willing to put their own name on the stuff do you really want to trust it.

Maybe George's best chance yet screwed.

 

[Dereck]

Have a feeling that bike is going to disappear into a box and not come out of the box until it's deep in Trek's "skunk works".

This incident is going to take a whole herd of political spinmeisters to look any better than real bad...

D

 

[Mootsie]

Out of all the posts I see only one person who mentioned George's previous crash as a possible cause of the eventual failure. Don't you think that at least played a role?

 

[zosocane]

This is why I would never buy a Trek or a Cannondale or any of the other manufacturers that shave costs by using their own cheapo fake brand components rather than established brands. You have to wonder if Trek or Cannondale is not even willing to put their own name on the stuff do you really want to trust it.

Maybe George's best chance yet screwed.

So what did Cannondale have to do with George's mishap today?

 

[aham23]

what a bunch of crap. cause its Trek / Bontrager it clearly was crap or defective? its all speculation! the fact is he did crash earlier and who knows what damage that did. later.

 

[zosocane]

The prior crash was considered "minor," so it's sheer speculation as to whether it played a role in the steerer tube coming off.

Scott Daubert is feeling the heat tonight.