Australian man dies when steerer tube fails

Interesting comments re lifespan of parts.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/should-there-be-a-safe-life-for-bicycle-parts-20161117-gss41s.html

Coroner looking for an N+1 excuse?

In theory it’s tricky, but it is inevitable. Could there be something like an X,000km or X years, whichever comes first? If he did 60,000km over ten years as is suggested then that sounds to me a pretty good lifespan- I’d expect something built to a similar standard on a car to last that length of time (i.e. something built to be lightweight). So the fatigue life in the manual could be 60,000km or 20 years, whichever comes first.

Obviously we’ve got bikes going around that are 20, 30, heck even sometimes 80 years old. But they’re built out of much greater amounts of a much heavier, possibly stronger, material than a modern racing bike.

As was said bicycle parts have such a varied life coming up with an expected life cycle would be impossible. In practise it would have to be so conservative as to be meaningless to normal users.
we’ve all had stuff break this chap was just V.unlucky. I was impressed by this though.

” Mr Stanton had been riding with a friend after having coffee and riding about 35km/h uphill on Kent Street in Deakin.”

And it wasn’t even carbon. Sheesh!

The man was a beast!

That’s a sad tale.

It might be part and parcel of the never-ending quest for lighter stuff, I’d like to think that a 2005 Carbon/Alu fork would be a on a different scale to current stuff in terms of strength and reliability, but who knows for sure? 2 of my mates are still riding hard on 10-year-old MTBs, we kind of though crashing aside, sudden catastrophic failure was a thing of the past.

scotroutes – Member

And it wasn’t even carbon. Sheesh!

If I read it correctly it was a Carbon Fork with an Alu steerer tube.

It also had an inclusion, he got unlucky imo

35km/h uphill

misprint? or am I missing something

35km/h uphill
misprint? or am I missing something

Maybe not – I watched the rear triangle snap off a new Supersix Evo after being rear-ended by the rider behind on our chain gang. We were doing about 35 uphill.

Was thinking about the same thing recently. I have an 8 or 9yo bike with a carbon steerer.

He was very unlucky, an undetectable (to him and the shop) flaw in the worst place to have a catastrophic failure and he fell in a way that killed him.

I wonder what the duty is on a shop to inspect a bike in for servicing.

I also wonder what state the SH ’09 fork I ride are like 😐

I wonder what the duty is on a shop to inspect a bike in for servicing.

The coroner didn’t seem to think there was any, the flaw might not have been visible to the naked eye anyway.

I’d like to agree

I have had a catastrophic steerer fail

I was left lying unconscious who knows where for who knows how long

That was a steel steerer. The fork was incorrectly built IMHO

Luckily its not common

Reports like this make me think I need to get into the habit of doing pre-ride safety checks of my bikes. I happily spend money on and use a torque wrench for initial installation, but I suspect that a pre-ride check is as important as correctly installing a steerer and stem etc., if not not more important. The guidance I’ve read suggests holding the front wheel between your knees trying to turn the handlebars to check for any movement in the steerer/stem.

I guess there will always remain the potential for sudden catastrophic failure without any advance warning of a safety critical component, which seems to have been the case here, but I think that very often there are indications that something is wrong, which a pre-ride check will hopefully identify.

Based on some of the comments on this old CTC forum thread about an aluminium steerer failing, the potential exists for all types of steerer to fail dangerously, even old fashioned threaded steel steerers.

Very sad tale, but many bike parts could fail in such a way to cause injuries of the kind this guy suffered.

Most parts I’ve owned do mention things like lifespan in the instructions (paper stuff in the packaging for those unsure)
Easton certainly used to be 3 years on Alu and 1 if racing. How much I pay attention I’m not sure as my 2009 Allez Elite is currently locked up downstairs at the office and having never taken the fork off I’ve no idea what state it’s in.

I guess there will always remain the potential for sudden catastrophic failure without any advance warning of a safety critical component, which seems to have been the case here, but I think that very often there are indications that something is wrong, which a pre-ride check will hopefully identify.

Riding with a mate at Glentress about 12 years ago when his bars sheered off one side, not too bad an outcome and he was a bit dissapointed but OK as they had done 10 years since he got them 2nd hand!

In many ways it make me glad I moved overseas and binned the boxes of useful one day stuff. Good for avoiding putting something stupid on some point down the line

I took the fork out of my 2010 commuter at the weekend and the split collet inside the upper headset bearing has been rubbing the carbon steerer. It now has a nice ring all round. Similar damage to this (not my image/steerer)
TGI Black Friday, some N+1 bargains out there

Reports like this make me think I need to get into the habit of doing pre-ride safety checks of my bikes.

While a pre-ride check is a good idea, any sudden failure after 60000 km is likely to be down to fatigue. Unless you strip your bike periodically and do some non destructive testing of all the critical parts, you’re unlikely to notice unless it happens somewhere obvious – eg the frame.

Thinking about it, of all the aluminium bike bits I’ve broken (with the exception of wheel rims) all have been fatigue failures. I once saw someone’s aluminium bars snap going down the top section of dunkeld, that was properly unpleasant.

Sad but interesting read. I have also had a steerer go, on a pair of manitou triple crowns, luckily I was going fast enough on a steep enoguh descent that I flew right over the top of the sharp jagged shard sticking out of the head tube. Was proper scary. Looking back there had been a slight knock from the front end, so in hindsight I think the bearings had worn and there was a little bit of play. This made me pretty paranoid about maintenance and any noise is now tracked down….

I do use this as a reason/excuse to regular replace my gear 🙂

Reports like this make me think I need to get into the habit of doing pre-ride safety checks of my bikes. I happily spend money on and use a torque wrench for initial installation, but I suspect that a pre-ride check is as important as correctly installing a steerer and stem etc., if not not more important.

All my bikes get a full rebuild every spring to check what the winter had done to everything, also do it before a big trip away to the Alps and on my return. Never found anything worse than a seized bearing but one day I’l find something scary. Had a random rattle on one bike a fortnight ago I couldn’t find, it went away halfway through the ride. Found I was missing a stem plate bolt when I got home 😯

That’s horrible. I don’t think you can really mitigate against that sort of thing though. I don’t even really think a new bike every 3-4 years would necessarily prevent this* – it’s just a complete freak accident.

The guy sounds like a machine. What a shame.

* I reserve the right to cite this when n+1 beckons.

I dont think the weight of the component is the issue, unless you look at the weight of the rider in comparison. This seems bloody bad luck. My road bike is the same frame and forks since 2002, its my only road bike and has been used winter and summer, racing or training. The frame is 02 my Alu (Spesh SWorks) and the forks carbon (same), Id never even contemplated life expectancy, food for thought.

I hit a stump whilst climbing at about 6mph, enough to throw me over the bars and snap the steerer off at the top of the headset.
I suspect it was a crack that had gradually grown. Quite pleased it happened where it did, as there is a 40mph + descent later on in the ride I’d planned.