From NYTimes about the Tour/ Lance Broken Frame?

[David L. Johnson]

I*was glancing through the New York Times daily headline e-mail, and
noticed an article about the Tour. When I*went to it, I caught the
following as part of a discussion of what a weird Tour it was:

"He began the race with lower intestinal problems and crashed in stages
one and 15. He also momentarily rode through a hayfield in stage nine
and endured a broken frame and bad shoes. He also lost 10 pounds in heat
of the 12th stage individual time trial."

So, when did he endure a broken frame? Somehow I did not see that on OLN,
nor any reference to it. Maybe Trek sponsors the OLN broadcast?

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Enron's slogan: Respect, Communication, Integrity, and
_`\(,_ | Excellence.
(_)/ (_) |

[Rich Clark]

"David L. Johnson" > wrote in message
...
> I was glancing through the New York Times daily headline e-mail, and
> noticed an article about the Tour. When I went to it, I caught the
> following as part of a discussion of what a weird Tour it was:
>
> "He began the race with lower intestinal problems and crashed in stages
> one and 15. He also momentarily rode through a hayfield in stage nine
> and endured a broken frame and bad shoes. He also lost 10 pounds in heat
> of the 12th stage individual time trial."
>
> So, when did he endure a broken frame? Somehow I did not see that on OLN,
> nor any reference to it. Maybe Trek sponsors the OLN broadcast?

In the crash on Stage 15, his right chainstay was cracked. This is was
apparently also at least partly the cause of the near-dismount that happened
shortly after he restarted: the chain autoshifted due to chainstay flex when
Lance stood and hammered. Apparently he finished the climb and won the stage
without doing much shifting thereafter.

This was covered on all the usual cycling news sites, and Bob Roll did
mention it on the preview show for the next stage, IIRC.

Try this:

http://www.bicycling.com/tourdefrance/experts/columns/0,6717,5612,00.html

RichC

[James Messick]

"Rich Clark" > wrote in message
...
>
> This was covered on all the usual cycling news sites, and Bob Roll did
> mention it on the preview show for the next stage, IIRC.
>
> Try this:
>
> http://www.bicycling.com/tourdefrance/experts/columns/0,6717,5612,00.html
>

Interesting article, but does it smell fishy to anyone else? If the
chainstay flexed enough to cause the chain to skip once it seems that it
would have to happen again while leading the race up a mountain, or to fail
completely. I guess Lance can throw away a bike after every crash, but if
the OCLV can fail so easily then I think those of us who have to purchase
our own equipment would be very wary of them.

[Chris Neary]

>I guess Lance can throw away a bike after every crash, but if
>the OCLV can fail so easily then I think those of us who have to purchase
>our own equipment would be very wary of them.

Two points:

1) There are a *lot* of OCLV bikes on the road, and stories of frame
failures are rare (I personally crashed mine in a paceline going nearly 30
MPH with nothing more than paint damage).

2) If is likely a frame failure such as that described could be repaired for
a fraction of the cost of a new frame.

FWIW,


Chris Neary


"Science, freedom, beauty, adventure: what more could
you ask of life? Bicycling combined all the elements I
loved" - Adapted from a quotation by Charles Lindbergh

[F1]

Also, he had a another bike and rider crash into him and his bike, which
could have contributed to the frame damage.

"Chris Neary" > wrote in message
...
> >I guess Lance can throw away a bike after every crash, but if
> >the OCLV can fail so easily then I think those of us who have to purchase
> >our own equipment would be very wary of them.
>
> Two points:
>
> 1) There are a *lot* of OCLV bikes on the road, and stories of frame
> failures are rare (I personally crashed mine in a paceline going nearly 30
> MPH with nothing more than paint damage).
>
> 2) If is likely a frame failure such as that described could be repaired
for
> a fraction of the cost of a new frame.
>
> FWIW,
>
>
> Chris Neary
>
>
> "Science, freedom, beauty, adventure: what more could
> you ask of life? Bicycling combined all the elements I
> loved" - Adapted from a quotation by Charles Lindbergh

[St Canard]

In article >, Chris Neary wrote:
>>I guess Lance can throw away a bike after every crash, but if
>>the OCLV can fail so easily then I think those of us who have to purchase
>>our own equipment would be very wary of them.
>
> Two points:
>
> 1) There are a *lot* of OCLV bikes on the road, and stories of frame
> failures are rare (I personally crashed mine in a paceline going nearly 30
> MPH with nothing more than paint damage).
>
> 2) If is likely a frame failure such as that described could be repaired for
> a fraction of the cost of a new frame.


3) See how well your light bike handles someone riding over the
chainstay as it's going down.

General consensus is that the crack was not caused by the crash, but
more likely by Mayo riding over top of the bike because he couldn't
get out of the way.

Plus, he was riding a prototype 5900 at the time, not the Madone he
had started with. One where they had been doing some playing with the
chainstays to lighten it.

Wanna bet the finished version will have a slight redesign in that
area?


--
"Divide by cucumber error, please reinstall Universe and reboot"
-- Terry Pratchett, _Hogfather_

[Tom Keats]

In article >,
"James Messick" > writes:

> I guess Lance can throw away a bike after every crash, but if
> the OCLV can fail so easily then I think those of us who have to purchase
> our own equipment would be very wary of them.

OTOH, he was able to continue on with a busted bike.
Kinda like those B-17s that stayed airworthy despite
having chunks blown off of them.

cheers,
Tom

--
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[archer]

In article >,
says...
>
> "Rich Clark" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > This was covered on all the usual cycling news sites, and Bob Roll did
> > mention it on the preview show for the next stage, IIRC.
> >
> > Try this:
> >
> > http://www.bicycling.com/tourdefrance/experts/columns/0,6717,5612,00.html
> >
>
> Interesting article, but does it smell fishy to anyone else? If the
> chainstay flexed enough to cause the chain to skip once it seems that it
> would have to happen again while leading the race up a mountain, or to fail
> completely. I guess Lance can throw away a bike after every crash, but if
> the OCLV can fail so easily then I think those of us who have to purchase
> our own equipment would be very wary of them.

I don't think "easily" is an accurate description of the failure.
Watching the video, it looks like Mayo either rode over it, or maybe
landed on it. That's a pretty tough frame to be ridable by a rider of
Lance's power on a mountain stage after that hit.


--
David Kerber
An optimist says "Good morning, Lord." While a pessimist says "Good
Lord, it's morning".

Remove the ns_ from the address before e-mailing.

[Zippy the Pinhead]

On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 05:44:22 GMT, "F1"
> wrote:

>Also, he had a another bike and rider crash into him and his bike, which
>could have contributed to the frame damage.

Here's something about the Tour that I don't understand.

You have those morons in the little Fiats or whatever kind of
Euro-Mobile they drive, careening all over the roads, endangering
cyclists and spectators alike, for thousands of kilometers. They have
roof-racks festooned with all manner of replacement wheels and bikes,
and they have mechanics to hang out of the car at 30 mph and take
bread wrappers out of the derailleurs.

Why could USPS not have had one of these cars scoot around ahead of
the race and have someone waiting for Lance with a brand-spanking-new
OCLV bike in his choice of color and scent?

[Terry Morse]

James Messick wrote:

> I guess Lance can throw away a bike after every crash, but if
> the OCLV can fail so easily then I think those of us who have to purchase
> our own equipment would be very wary of them.

Very few frames can survive having their chainstays ridden over,
regardless of what they're made of.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/

[Mike CBR929rr]

At the end of the stage Lance mentioned in the french interview (the
journalist was asking was his foot slip from his pedal) that his front
derailleur was not working properly after the chute. So he just stopped
using it.

--
Mike
"

[Dave Olson]

Chris Neary > writes:

| >I guess Lance can throw away a bike after every crash, but if
| >the OCLV can fail so easily then I think those of us who have to purchase
| >our own equipment would be very wary of them.
|
| Two points:
|
| 1) There are a *lot* of OCLV bikes on the road, and stories of frame
| failures are rare (I personally crashed mine in a paceline going nearly 30
| MPH with nothing more than paint damage).

I had a chainstay break completely across on my Trek 5500 (well, to the
point where it couldn't be ridden, and could be flexed significantly with
almost no load). Trek's analysis is that it seems to have been gradually
increasing damage following an earlier accident (moderately major, a crash
at 15 MPH into a curb and on the bounce, into a steel fence). No visible
damage until the final failure (unfortunately the initial crack was right
under a decal, and was missed by the shop in their inspection after the
accident, as well as by me at the time and during later maintenance).

| 2) If is likely a frame failure such as that described could be repaired for
| a fraction of the cost of a new frame.

$600 for the repair at the factory, more for shipping, and a bit more for
the reassembly at the shop. Versus about $1600 for a new frame. And worst
of all, without the bike for 5 weeks, start to finish.

[whitfit]

Terry Morse > wrote in message
> Very few frames can survive having their chainstays ridden over,
> regardless of what they're made of.

Huh? Going uphill, not too fast, and Mayo weighs what, maybe 150?
bike on ground, so acting like a ramp not a barrier... Only bikes
that are going to the silly light end would be broken by such an
incident. Not what I'd consider a normal breakage.


Whitfit