Broken wrist recovery. Am I being silly for wanting to sell my ebike?

Broke my scaphoid during an OTB 4 weeks ago and have 4 weeks remaining in cast.

I’m really missing being off the bike and I’m chomping at the bit to get back on it but I know it’s going to be long road of recovery before I’m able to get anywhere near as confident as I was prior to the accident.

Now, I have a Kenevo SL which I like (not love) and I’ve been thinking that I might struggle to manoeuvre the thing when I’m finally able to ride again given the extra weight. So I’m considering selling (unfortunately at a loss) and going back to a simpler, lighter analogue set up.

Is this thought process silly?

Yes

Open wrist fracture and broken hip here from 2 wks ago, I feel your pain. Don’t rush any decisions, this will pass. Do the physio now and later, it will come back. I know I’ll be back racing next year. Good luck in your healing.

Damn that’s rough, I hope you heal up soon.

You’re totally right in saying I shouldn’t make any rushed decisions but it has been on my mind for a while. I’m just not sure I need the extra complication of a motor, weight, etc and after speaking with my doctor and reading a number of other peoples accounts it may well be a good few months before the wrist is strong enough for proper riding.

In all honesty I’ve likely just got time on my hands and want something to focus on. New bike! No motor!

I wouldn’t.  Most of our family have been off the bikes injured at some point and never contemplated selling any of them.

Other half won’t be back on his bike till next year after an incident in Verbier at the beginning of July.

Just on our way back through France after 8 days in Finale. I rode and we walked trails away from the beaten tracks looking for stuff we haven’t ridden before.

Only thing keeping him sane is the thought of getting back out on the Turbo Levo or his Stumpy

Cheers, at least we’ve done it now weather has turned. Winter for rehab and new bike research then. Never one to put someone off getting a new bike. Healing is never easy but do it right and you’ll be back to it sooner than you think. 

I dislocated my wrist, broke my scaphoid and snapped ligaments. You’ll lose a bit of strength from so long in a cast but try to use your hand as mich as you are allowed to so as to limit muscle wastage. I was back on a bike soon enough and it’s a good way to help get the strength back. A good wrist brace can work wonders

Now, I have a Kenevo SL which I like (not love) and I’ve been thinking that I might struggle to manoeuvre the thing when I’m finally able to ride again given the extra weight

I wouldn’t let the weight of the bike make you sell it. Once the bones have mended you want to push the wrist quite hard to improve strength.

From my experience (4 fractures in one wrist after handlebar failure) the quickest way to recovery is to work the wrist hard, by which I don’t mean Porn Hub.
I’m sure your physio will advise.

Is this thought process silly?

Yes. Especially as it’s the scaphoid rather than a big wrist break. Ok they can be slow to heal due to the poor blood flow, but if you’re super careful you can ride with a broken scaphoid – just do not crash on it again!

What size and colour is it champ?

You know ebikes like yours have taken a dip since the new argon batteries and 3 phase linear laser motors came out!

I’d a really bad fall a long while back and it put me off totally. Sold the bikes and after a couple of years off the bike I came to regret it.

So dont sell anything. Take a bit of a breather if need be, and even use the Ebike for a bit of gentle pottering around just the keep to muscles/joints in check, and Im sure after a while you’ll move back to where you were before.

What size and colour is it champ?

You know ebikes like yours have taken a dip since the new argon batteries and 3 phase linear laser motors came out!

S4 grey expert. Prices are a disaster!

What size and colour is it champ?

You know ebikes like yours have taken a dip since the new argon batteries and 3 phase linear laser motors came out!

S4 Grey expert. Prices are a disaster! Which should probably mean I should just keep it and make it work.

Definitely don’t sell,  go for a few gentle rides to see how you feel first and build up from there. 

I had a bad crash in June resulting in some pretty serious injuries and  multiple breaks. I was back on the bike as soon as I was allowed (3 months). Still have to take it relatively easy but it’s great to be back out. 

Broke my scaphoid in 2009 and that healed perfectly with no other complications. 

I was prescribed Vitamin D supplements which is meant to help the bone healing process, might be worth looking into that too. 

 

I was prescribed Vitamin D supplements which is meant to help the bone healing process, might be worth looking into that too.

Ha! I’ve been eating Vit D, Zinc and Calcium for a couple of weeks.

Had my 4 week X-ray on Tuesday, doctor says it’s looking ok and I should be ok to have cast removed early November.

I haven’t spent this long off the bike in years! It’s pretty hard. I have to look at the bike every day too as it’s kept in the house.

I did my scaphoid in an it and was in plaster for 2 weeks (minus the two days it took to drive back from the Alps). The wrist brace. Doc was a cyclist and we agreed if I stuck to the turbo and didn’t go off road then better plaster off. It healed fine.

After spending nine months enforced off the bike due to broken body and subsequent operation to try and do a repair the thought of selling any of my bikes never even crossed my mind.

Knowing they were all there ready to go when I was was the only thing that kept me sane.

As you have seen, eBikes are massively discounted at the moment (Especially Specialized it would appear), so selling now would be a terrible loss. It will be worth more in 12 months time probably.

On the Scaphoid, my advice is to see how it goes, but don’t be shy in strongly requesting a bolt through it if it’s not healing well when the cast finally comes off. Mine was ok then not. I made the mistake of going along with the “we’ll see what its like again in a few weeks” for what ended up 3 months, before it got a ti upgrade and now its almost as good as new.

I did my scaphoid in an it and was in plaster for 2 weeks (minus the two days it took to drive back from the Alps). The wrist brace. Doc was a cyclist and we agreed if I stuck to the turbo and didn’t go off road then better plaster off. It healed fine.

lucky you! The first doctor I spoke to told me not to exercise at all! The last one said light work only, but nothing that might cause me to fall on it. Be nice if there was some consistency but I suppose everyone is different.

And just to clear it up, I absolutely don’t want to get rid of my bikes and not ride anymore, I was wondering whether I’d be better off without the weight of an ebike given weak wrist. From all the replies it sounds like I’ll be back to normal soon enough so I’ll have to stop looking at those Deviate Claymore.

^^^ I wish I was better at quoting. Still getting the hang of this. Only the first paragraph was a quote, the rest are my words :/

1. I would keep it. Use it as an incentive to really work on rehab exercises and strength training once you’re recovered enough to do them. You seem to have a slightly pessimistic take on your position, but this is not forever.

2. It might make slightly more sense if it were a full-fat emtb, but even then not much. I thought the whole point of the Spesh SL stuff was that it didn’t weigh that much more than a non-assisted bike.

3. Go for a nice run/walk and enjoy being outside. It’ll do your brain good 🙂

If no complications then the bones in your wrist will be completely healed after 12 weeks, so you are a third of the way there already. After that, it’s about getting the muscles back into condition, which takes longer but shouldn’t keep you off the bike.
However, none of this has any relevance if you want a new bike. You want a new bike, buy one, it’s good for both you and the bike industry!

I was off the bike for ~12 weeks max when I mangled up my hand, wrist and jaw almost ten years ago. Ended up attending Wessex Rehab Centre for Mon-Fri 0930-1600 intensive physio, staying in League Of Friends shared bungalow and travelling home for weekend for ~5 weeks.

Give yourself time, don’t do anything rash you might regret like selling, first few rides might be a bit sore but it will get easier.

i sold my ebike after a horrible crash 10 minutes into it’s first ride, which saw me having major surgery, a full shoulder reconstruction and a fair possibility of a life changing outcome.
8 months of uncertainty, rehab and now 3 years later, a useable shoulder and back on all the bikes.  I bought a new e-bike around 10 months after the operation, a Levo SL to replace the Orbea Wild I crashed on.
I definitely have lost the appeal for fast and techy riding though – for me now it’s about fun scenic natural trails, very much wheels on the ground stuff.  I find that I am riding my gravel bikes much more than my mtb the past year or so

One of my riding pals has just back after a couple of months off due to a broken wrist, he’s got a full-fat eBike – he’s certainly chuffed that he can just wind up the power to get him through his lack of fitness.

I’ve a KSL and a FS, if I’d had 8 weeks off the KSL would be my go-to bike – even if it’s just for XC to start to get the strength & fitness back.

Dont sell it, I fully ruptured my patella tendon back in June. Just had the brace off last week and have around another 4-5 months before I can ride and another 3+ for full recovery. My bike is just sat in the shed but I am soo looking forward to the first ride back out. its what’s keeping me going, if there was no bike sat there I’m not sure the desire would be the same.

You should be able to make a full recovery from a Scaphoid fracture so no need to sell your bike. Once the cashew nut heals you can build up the strength in your wrist again back to normal. I think the important part is knowing it has healed. I’m sure the fracture clinic/consultant will send you for an x ray in due course to confirm it’s healed then you can start the getting back to normal process.

When I fractured my Scaphoid I just kept riding thinking it was only a sprain. I think it was six months before I got an x ray and realised it was buggered,  a non union fracture.  Once I got the self tapper installed to pull the 2 pieces of bone together it healed quickly. My wrist is now fully back to normal. At the time I thought it would result in a permanent weakness. I was wrong. It just takes a bit of time. 

For recovery this rice bucket training looks very interesting :

Yup, it’ll heal. Buy a road bike and get out on that once the cast is off, even if your wrist is braced.

I broke my radius years ago and never realised until i ruptured all the  ligaments in the same wrist 18 months later and the break line showed up on the X-Ray.

I also has a grade 2/3 ACJ of my left shoulder 6 years ago on the 3 Peaks as was back on the bike by late October with it strapped up and back racing a couple of weeks later. I also did the opposite side last summer, but this time a partial separation from the sternum, that didn’t hurt as much, but took longer to heal, in fact it was autumn before I gained full mobility ack after that one.

It’s an ebike so you can use it for easy rides when you’re healed up and take it from there.

Normally I’d say yeah, sell it, but you’d take a bath with current prices.

Fantastic information here, thanks all.

this though:

I definitely have lost the appeal for fast and techy riding though – for me now it’s about fun scenic natural trails, very much wheels on the ground stuff

I’ve never been one for the jump lines at bike parks and I’m certainly no pro but I do love natural trails… rooty, techy stuff. Hopefully I can work to get my confidence back to be able to ride some of those trails again.

Don’t sell, buy another.

I bought a full suspension MTB 3 months after badly breaking my spine on a road bike.

When I broke my wrist (another road bike incident – smashed myself up more on road bikes) I was on the turbo with a cast on.

Roll on a week or two and the cast was manky. Yuck.

Been off the bike for over a year now, enforced to due issues with bowel cancer and subsequent complications…

My Orbea Rise has been in the garage gathering dust mostly, but can’t wait to get back on it. Nothing else out there that tickles my fancy still in the mid travel lightweight ebike sector, and I’ve even gone as far as splashing out on a few upgrades for it for when I’m ready to get back on it again!The 2nd hand market is an absolute disaster right now anyway, even more so if you own anything from Specialized due to their commitment to ripping customers off during the pandemic and subsequent price shagging! It’s a good bike though, so just keep it. It ain’t wearing out whilst its laid up doing nothing, and its arguably not going to devalue any more in the coming months than it has in the last few months, so…