Hi all. Managed to crack and bend the rear swing arm and take chunks out of the down tube when I drove my car under a 6′ 6″ barrier! (Roof rack ruined and big dent in car roof- but more concerned about my bike).

Just spoke to home insurance and the bike is covered. Waiting for call from wheelies, to discuss options. The guy from insurance said they may offer to repair it (depending on severity).

Should I be concerned if the bike is repaired?
(its an Orange five. Would it not weaken the metal if it were heated up again and repaired)

I’d be slightly less concerned of repairing the front triangle, but there are horrible gouges in the frame.

Should I request a new frame?
Any advice much appreciated

Aluminium is heat treated and I’d be very wary of anyone offering to repair any significant damage. gouges will always lead to stress risers and risk of further failure.

Hold out for replacement.

I would imagine a new frame would be what they did. To repair the frame would probably cost more than a bare frame.

That is clearly NOT an Orange Five!
An Orange Five would have destroyed the barrier and come away unscathed.

Serious answer: New frame

Stereotype O’clock shirley?

Roof rack mounted Orange Five, limited spacial awareness and/or memory skills…

Does sir drive Audi perchance? 😉

Seat Exeo (poor mans Audi- couldn’t afford one after I spent all my money on the five 😉

You can get insurance cover for stupidity?

They won’t try and repair it, not a chance. Maybe a new frame, but from memory Wheelies only really go for full bikes I think, so you may end up wanting cash off them to replace the frame (assuming you want the same one) instead

New front triangle might be a sensible option, repair not really.

Hi all. Managed to crack and bend the rear swing arm and take chunks out of the down tube when I drove my car under a 6′ 6″ barrier! (Roof rack ruined and big dent in car roof- but more concerned about my bike).

So after driving your coach under a low barrier on the TDF, and almost bringing the race to a premature end, you then drive a car with a bike on top under a barrier.

Check if there where signs stating the height etc as you may be able to claim off the comapny responsible.

Check if there where signs stating the height etc as you may be able to claim off the company responsible.

That’s the spirit! Where there’s blame, and all that….. 😆

Thanks for the advice guys. Just waiting (nervously) for the call :-/

Oooh, I’ve driven a couple of Exeo rentals, they were OK, like you say poor mans A4, but at least it’s not an actual A4.

I know I posted it on another thread the other day but…

Last piss take, promise… 😉

I concur with the others too, most likely you’ll be requiring a new frame…

and maybe a tow bar mounted rack?

Why wasn’t the bike safely stowed inside the car?

Check if there where signs stating the height etc as you may be able to claim off the comapny responsible.

Surely the only party “responsible” is pretty obvious in this situation?

Where are you Hora? You can give first hand advice on this 🙂

My personal advice re Wheelies would be very, very careful.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/wheelies-cock-up-very-poor-service

Which way was your bike pointing when you hit the barrier?

If it hit it headtube first I’d be concerned about damage to the fork steerer tube as well as the frame, so would thing about getting that replaced as well as the frame.

My advice –

1) Speak to wheelies to see what they say
2) When you realise wheelies want you to wait in all day for their courier to turn up to inspect your damaged bike and it’s a pain in the ass move to step 3
3) Ring wheelies and tell them you’ll get a LBS to assess the damage due to the infeasibility of taking a day off work(ie. what needs replacing/fixing) and get the information on headed paper
4) Recheck you’re happy with LBS views and bear in mind your insurance is designed to bring you to the point prior to your claim – ie. down to superficial scratches of parts if you want.
5) Provide to wheelies for assessment
6) Wheelies will replace parts that they stock no issue
7) Wheelies will try and offer crap alternatives to parts they dont stock or cash at 20% off rrp- ring M&S and complain quoting the wording in your policy doc
8 ) if cant be bothered to argue take the 20% hit on cash offer and source required parts online at 20% discount.

ie. nothing is really fixable as if you replace new bits of a frame with an old bit and the old bit subsequently fails – is it the fault of the repair wheelies provide? – i questioned this and they have no responsibility of this scenario. It’s better to push for new.

Enough with the advice what we really want is pictures 🙂

OP you could have harmed a childs face. I wouldnt want that frame back. Jesus did you hit it at motorway speeds?

Mine bent the front wheel and shot off the back with the bars and all. Thats it. Luckily the car was a rapey-looking Y reg black Volvo so I wasnt too bothered about the roof gouges.

8am+hung over= 😆

are they paying for the barrier too? if so, you may be able to get a good deal on the broken bit. take it to orange and they may make you replacement frame parts. win-win.

The bike has already been heat treated so the answer will be NO.

New bike or frame depending of damage.

Bump for pictures 🙂

Yep I have been there and done that. Bike survived with a few scratches, not the Audi or 2 week old Thule bike rack 😯

And me. 6 hour drive and i Really needed a wee. The only damage was to the car though as the bikes slid down the back.

I’ve done this. Feels very stupid and makes you very cross with yourself. Frighteningly easy though, and I can’t promise I won’t do it again. Rather oddly in my case my Soda frame came off unscathed. Can’t say the same for the forks or roof sadly. Home and car insurance paid out fine. All will be well.