Ouch! Heavy tumble and carbon fork advice

I went out for my normal ride today and unfortunately came a cropper, hitting ice on a rutted country road (I think that I slid down the side of an icy off camber piece of road; my first crash in years of cycling.

I landed heavily on my ride right and winded myself (I still have a lot of pain in my ribcage on the right side) but (as expected) I’m more worried about my bike and its carbon fork. I’m probably being paranoid but I guess that I’m a still a little nervous about carbon.

I think that I was aware of the bike going down and may of hit the brakes and, as above, hit the ground hard on my right side; my ribcage took the brunt of the impact and there’s a bit of minor scraping on my right knee. The front wheel didn’t hit anything and I didn’t go over the bars (in fact I think I actually ended up in the road in the riding position); the forks didn’t hit anything and show no damage (the only damage anywhere is a bit of scraping to my right barend).

So, no harm done really I think (apart from to me) and I probably just need to man up and ride again – but can I assume that the fork’s good to go or is there anything I need to do beyond a the visual check?

I’m also fairly shaken and kept imagining the bike going again (even on good road) as I limped home; will my confidence return with better conditions?

For reference the fork is an MRP Rocksolid (famously tough) which I was told by the manufacturers could be ridden as hard as a sus. fork, and the bike’s a steel hardtail, so everything’s fairly robust.

It was hard enough walking down our front steps and along the pavement to the car this morning, glad I decided to give the bike a miss.

The only time I’ve smashed a carbon fork, it was really smashed. But then, a car had just driven into it.

Sounds like you didn’t really hit yours, so they should be fine*

* I am not a carbon fibre expert.

I fell over walking down the garden path to put the bin out. Absolutely lethal!

They’ll be fine. Not quite sure why you’d think anything else when they’ve not actually hit anything. If you pop your bike down beside the trail do you worry you’ve damaged your forks?!

Hello op.

Firstly, glad your “ok”. Could have been far worse, so glad that wasn’t the case.

I’m not even a carbon amateur expert. BUT it sounds to me you bought the fork just in case this sort of thing did happen. Or that it’s failure could cause a bad “off”.

I mean to say you bought a good, solid bit of kit and particularly with no marks on it from the crash I reckon you’ll be absolutely fine. Others will be along to say similar I suspect.

Getting your confidence back will take a while but the next time you give the bike/fork a bit of a hammering and find all is ok it will help immensely I would think.

Hope the ribs feel a bit better soon by the way!

I had a similar crash doing the Festive 500 over Christmas. Not high speed, just slid away to the side, landing on my hip. I looked at the carbon bike and could see no sign of abrasions to the stays or fork. It looked like the QR, handlebar and pedal had take the brunt of the impact. So, I’m not too worried.
I did resolve not to go out riding in icy conditions again though. (Which I broke this weekend on my MTB after letting the tyres down a lot.)

Probably me being silly and a bit paranoid (and still a bit shaken). The bike weights 27lbs and I’m not small; when I hit the brakes hard coming down out of the Mendips the forces that go through them must be huge (and they seem to flex less than my sus. forks did) but they’re my first piece of carbon kit and I still can’t get over the fact that if you tap them with a fingernail they sound like they’re made of glass!

I came across another fella walking his bike up the same piece of road; he’d also taken a hard fall and had bent his bars; his carbon forked looked okay too. 🙂

The front wheel didn’t hit anything

If it didn’t hit anything and it hasn’t been scuffed up sliding down the road it will be fine

PJay – look up the pinkbike Santa Cruz carbon destruction test video on youtube – might help you put aside some of your concerns!

I had a similar accident last friday, and I’m confident the forks will be fine. Biggest worry is that the stem span round a bit, but I see pro’s finish races on bikes that this has happened to regularly.

Will pop the stem off and make sure there’s no scoring at the weekend though just in case.

I hit the back of a car full on fast enough to push my face through and smash a rear windscreen, I went to hospital in ambulance but I’ve ridden the bike with no problem for 4 years since..!

Given that you fell off by losing traction on ice, I think the only cause for concern for the forks would be if you had hit a kerb directly with the forks, or some other piece of street furniture.

As you say above when braking hard (your mendips comment) the loads will be a lot higher as the tyre is gripping the ground (at one end of the fork) to provide the braking force, and your momentum (at the other end of the fork) is trying to keep going.

So long as the fork shows no sign of impact, it should be fine.

I’m sure that forks will be fine (probably just me being a nob), I don’t think that the bike took much of the impact; I seem to have been a sort of human airbag.

It caught be my surprise though as I’ve been out in somewhat colder conditions recently without issue, but we had a lot of thick freezing fog around last night which I image got things rather damp. It’s a shame as it’s turned out to be a glorious day (if I’d set out an hour or two later I’d probably have been fine).

Hopefully I’ll have stopped aching by Saturday (although it looks set to rain 🙁 ).

That Santa Cruz testing video is amazing; maybe my next fork needs to be an all carbon affair!

MRP reckon the fork is good to go; it’s just a case of waiting until I am now!

I’ve just bought some studded tyres, winter is officially over the second I’ve got them fitted.