My brother-in-law was on his way back from Gisburn (I think) down the M6 and his bike – Genesis Core – falls off the carrier at 70mph, cartwheeling down the motorway.

The wheels are totalled as are the bars, stem & post. The forks are a bit scuffed as is the frame. I’ve said bin the whole lot and face up to the fact that its a write off.

He’s a bit like, I’ll get the shop to inspect it, it doesn’t look too bad.

I’ve suggested it’s doubtful that it might be ok but it could also be damaged where you can’t see i.e. welds etc and it could well snap.

Would the collective say I’m right?

send it to me for an unbiased appraisal

Seriously though a 70mph tumble, the sort of thing that would total a car, I’d be a bit unsure about riding a bike after that sort of spill

I would just use it as a perfect excuse for a new bike.

He is very lucky he hasnt caused a serious crash, a few years ago, A55 an lgv drove over a bike that fell from a car, lgv tyre went over pedal that punctured tyre, serious delays of hours plus, while the tyre was changed,driver of car charged with having an unnsafe load etc.

Try the insurance and see if there was a fault with the carrier, or he just didnt bother to tie the bike on properley.

I would just use it as a perfect excuse for a new bike roof rack .

FTFY

definitely a new bike, stick the old one on eBay… 💡

Thankfully a wagon behind them did a kind of “rolling road block” thing while they recovered the bike. There were no serious repercussions.

Accidental damage on insurance, if covered for items away from the home AD is probably covered under all risks even if he doesn’t have AD on main contents. Of course the damage happened when he fell off it doing the borrowdale bash or similar, not falling off a roof rack where he might not have secured it properly.

Insurance fraud, classy

Hmm, do something stupid, claim on insurance…..

same happened to my friends on one couple of years ago, he claimed on insurance, ended up with a brand new much more expensive (that’s Wheelies for you) Ragley
He gave me the Inbred, I replaced the bars (carbon, cracked) and seatpost (carbon, no signs of damage), rear wheel (front was okay), rear mech (bent) and swopped the front mech and shifter (cosmetically damaged only) for a single ring, seat (very badly scuffed), stem (again scuffed but was too long anyway), serviced the forks (made an odd clunky noise) straightened the drop out and was away.
I’m still riding it off road 2 years later, with longer travel forks on, frame is sound, I’m still alive

Worth noting though this is a bombproof steel frame not (quite cheap grade) alloy like the Core

Hmm, do something stupid, claim on insurance…..

dont forget to post about it on twitter.

Should be prosecuted for carrying an unsafe load. Think about the possible outcomes of what happened. He’s lucky. Stupid but lucky.

I’d like to know what mounting system he had.

Plenty of people calling him stupid , perhaps there was a fault or faliure with the carrier ,although I would not travel at 70mph with a bike lashed to the back of my car . I know plenty that do and get away with it but I don’t .

Insurance fraud, classy

I could claim for that on my insurance perfectly legitimately.

I’m covered for accidental damage. It’s not like he did it on purpose.

If he has similar cover, why would it be fraud ?

I would not travel at 70mph with a bike lashed to the back of my car .

Me neither, can’t see any reason to go that slow with a decent towball mounted rack.
As for the bike, it’s knackered, get rid.

As previously asked, what sort of rack? Rear or roof?

You would have to prove the rack failed to claim on insurance otherwise it’s negligence.

Traffic police hate bike racks especially rear ones as they tend to fall off/ not befitted correctly. All them bank holiday delays? Prob caused by a bike rack falling off!

Anyway get rid bike will be totalled frame weakened in all the stress points Wouldn’t trust it to go off a curb

Traffic police hate bike racks especially rear ones as they tend to fall off/ not befitted correctly. All them bank holiday delays? Prob caused by a bike rack falling off!

No they don’t.

Happened with my Heckler doing about 60mph it didn’t half bounce some height. The back wheel was a little untrue and some scrapes here and there but it’s fine and still ride it. Give the frame a good check over. If it’s broken the that’s what insurance is for accidents but tell them what happened don’t lie.

Good luck.

Driving back from Mayhem one year, we were behind a car in the middle lane with two bikes on the roof and suddenly one leaned sideways and stuck at about 45 degress. I was flashing lights, hooting and eventually he pulled over into the inside lane, we got alongside and my mate was pointing up at the roof and yelling. They got the message. 🙂

Lucky escape for both of us, I wouldn’t have fancied 30lb of bike through my windscreen at 70mph.
I now keep well back from cars carrying bikes/canoes etc on the roof.

As for your bike, it’s wrecked, just bin it and (if you’ve got accidental damage insurance) claim on that.

Neil’s talking about me by the way, dashing to get home for the Tesco man and not sparing the horses, bike wasn’t strapped down properly :oops:.

Happened the same day as my XTR trail pedals failed too XTR pedal thread

Safe to say I’ve had better days 😀

He’s lucky it didn’t hit a child’s face.

Given the damage most of it has sustained, there’s no way I’d trust anything structural from that bike. Keep the chain etc and maybe the inner tubes.

I can’t understand people who drive around in an otherwise empty car with a bike strapped like a trophy on the outside. With only one or two people inside there’s definitely room for a bike or two, dismantled or just lying flat if you’ve got an estate. Why subject a valuable bike to possible damage, road salt, theft and all the rest, not to mention the worse fuel consumption. We regularly travel with three of us and three bikes inside out estate and we’ve had 4+4 with careful planning and use of the 2/3 split seat.

The hubs are probably OK…

Haha Turnerguy good one.

Globatti why not? We don’t all have estate cars and we don’t all want to put muddy oily bikes in our car. Me I’ll do both, if it’s a quick spin I’ll pop it in the boot. If I’ve had it planned then I’ll put the bars on and it goes on the roof.

I’m not a metallurgist, I just build bikes – but if the frame is undamaged then I can’t see how it could be more likely to fail in future. It may have come off at 70mph, but it didn’t hit much it sounds like, and it didn’t have a rider on it so the forces on the frame were much less.

I’d ride it.

Bencooper, when metal is dropped it does different things, alloy tends to crack, steel tends to bend. This is caused by the way the molicules move within the density of the metirial. Its not always visible. (I’m with you though i’d ride it,but i have a cracked chain stay on one of my bikes i’ve been riding for 3 years now.)

Globatti, I got 3 points on my license and a £120 fine for an insacure load, I had 4 bikes stacked upin the boot of my estateand then straped tothe fixing points.

I used to have one of those tail gate mounted jobbies with lots of bungy cord. That I was OK with, I’ve never liked the look to roof mounted bike transport. But I’m always happier with the bike in the car.

Rscott

What? how did they even come to look? Boot was closed i take it?

Worth noting though this is a bombproof steel frame

glad you think so.

have seen a thule top rack let bikes go. those ones with the clamp that goes on the downtube. low speed out of the car park, fortunately, but this was the second time on a second clamp. he said at the time ‘sure i locked it’, and sure enough, he had. not just done it up tight, but locked it too. think he puts a strap around the clamp now.

This is caused by the way the molicules move within the density of the metirial.

This may be totally true.

But it seems to have lost some credibility while being written down 😀

I used to have one of those tail gate mounted jobbies

I did too, but my mrs used all of her mechanical sympathy to shut the boot with the “dumbell” thing between the tailgate and the roof.

Basically creasing the roof and tailgate in one fell swoop. Really it should have had a new roof, which would no doubt be so expensive as to write the car off.

In the end a back street garage filled it. Don’t worry about it turning up on the 2nd hand market though, shortly after our house was broken into just for the keys so the car could be used in an armed robbery, it eventually turned up burnt out… Not a lucky vehicle.

Now I have a pickup, I don’t worry about such things, and can bomb around on “Autobahns” well above 70 😉

I could claim for that on my insurance perfectly legitimately.
I’m covered for accidental damage. It’s not like he did it on purpose.
If he has similar cover, why would it be fraud ?

Because the comment Jekkyl made which prompted my response deliberately set out to defraud the insurance, if your covered for it then obviously you wouldn’t need to lie about the fact that the damaged occurred whilst being a superhero mtb god.

Well the reporting officer to the incident where a four bike rack nearly went though my windscreen certainly had that view. Plus I do most my riding with serving officers from all different depts. it’s a subject that comes up quite regularly. They all double up they’re racks with extra straps incase of failure. And none use the rear racks. Just my friends opinions then. So in my personal experience yes they do

I got 3 points on my license and a £120 fine for an insacure load, I had 4 bikes stacked upin the boot of my estateand then straped tothe fixing points.

This needs more explanation (and a spelling check).
Four bikes strapped down inside a car, yet you got fined for an insecure load ?
I regularly carry one or two bikes upright inside a Land Rover with nothing more than a bungy strap to stop them falling over.

This needs more explanation

Agreed. Makes no sense at all 😐

Del – Member
Worth noting though this is a bombproof steel frame

glad you think so.

Well I think I know so, given I’ve ridden it for the last 2 years since the incident with not even a creak
That includes Peaks, various trail centres and bmx track
It has been checked over by a pretty decent frame builder and given a clean bill of health

I was towing back a triple stacker trailer with 3 Laser 1 dinghies on, we made sure they were strapped down tight, bows tied to the uprights in the trailer, 1 large strap on each boat.
Late call for the ferry, blasted down the dual carriageway to St Malo and I felt a small rearward pull from the trailer ( I was doing 80mph easily ) and thought nothing of it, then I had a slight right rearward stear from the trailer and I looked in the rear view mirror to my horror as 3 errant Lasers were skimming the road surface all line astern..
Whoooo there Bouy as I applied the brakes. We parked the car on the hard shoulder ran back down the motorway to find the Lasers in the embankment, unmarked, just sitting there.
Thank God nothing was behind me when they jettisoned the trailer… It doesn’t bare thinking about.
1st and only time I’ve ever lost anything off the back..
*shudders just thinking back to the moment*

To explain my earlier Post.

I was pulled over for a check as car was apparently Not insured, It was a new car and the weekend, I showed all documents and all was fine. they looked around my car. And told me the bikes were at risk of damaging a window and they were classing this as an insecure load.

I tried to explain they were tied down and couldn’t move but the officer said that it wasn’t his place to decide and that I would have to go to the police station with the producer.

In the end it wasn’t worth the hassel arguing it and only put my insurance up but £3.