I dragged my buddies Cannondale behind my Truck this weekend

[kona12]

So due to an array of issues I haven't been able to Mountain bike once this entire summer. I have been jones'n to say the least. This last weekend my schedule opened up at the last minute and my main riding buddy and good friend (lurker mag clinger) was going camping up at Loon lake and asked us to go. I recently saw a TR at mtbr about the Loon Lake/ Rubicon Loop and decided to take my bike. I asked him if he wanted me to throw his bike on my rack and he said OK.

My Rack is a hitch mount that folds back so you can open up your tailgate. Well just before Placerville it folded back on the freeway while I was doing 55. My wifes bike hit first and the force of hitting snapped her peddle up and it put a nice huge hole right in the middle of the Carbon Cannodale frame. After that a few pieces of the mount broke and his front wheel hit the ground and snapped his tire in two and jacked up his lefty hub and one of his brakes.

The worst thing about this is this was his dream bike. A year old Rush Carbon (team I think) worth like 6k. I still haven't figured out if it was a human (ie ME) error or a rack failure but it is looking more and more like I am the ass. Either way I want to just crawl under a rock.

I will post pics in a while.

[Tunco]

That sucks.

[Skipig25]

damn that always sucks. It sucks when it is my beater bighit I got for 800 bucks, but it sucks more when it's a buddy's carbon bike. ouch

[Yukonrider]

Wow that sucks hope you get it sorted out

[powdork]

thank god you didn't hurt YOUR bike.

[mobygrape]

I'm suddenly not a big fan of rear mounted racks after getting rear-ended last week. The van was totalled, rack bent, and my carbon frame snapped.

Also, the other driver has no insurance.

edit: Given the damage done to the vehicle, it probably does not matter what kind of rack I had. The bike would have gotten mangled no matter what.

[sethschmautz]

What if it would have been a roof mount rack? Did you roll the car? My take has always been that you're going to have to roll (or forget and drive into the garage) in order to damage your bike on the roof. Would a roof rack have saved your bike?

[TBS]

Kona - that has to suck. Can you make a claim against the comprehensive portion of your car insurance to pay for the bikes?

[kona12]

Kona - that has to suck. Can you make a claim against the comprehensive portion of your car insurance to pay for the bikes?

That is the 24thousand dollar question. I am scarred to call and find out but will tomorrow. Anyone have any experience like this with insurance? Oh ya, did I mention I taco'd both the tires on my wifes bike and also bent the chain ring on my 7 year olds bike?

PowDork, you nailed it! I should do an add for Rocky Mountain. 4 bikes on the rack, 1 totaled frame, 3 totaled wheel sets, 1 bent chainring, one broken brake lever.....and nary a scratch on my bike.

Also, a few pics of the carnage:



and the tire/hub

[RaccoonFace]

Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.

Actually the material lends itself to be repaired rather easily... Maybe if insurance pays to replace the bike they'll let you keep that one and you can patch it. Be sure to get complete saturation of the matrix in your carbon material, alternate your layers, then vacuum bag that shit. Just a thought. I don't know what to tell you about the wheels though.

okbye

[JTrue]

Also, a few pics of the carnage:



and the tire/hub

All manufacturers defects send it back and they should probably fix it. Sorry had to... Seriously though that sucks, sorry man.

[Andy_B]

Best case of JRA I have ever laid eyes on.

[ACHTUNG]

Ouch!


Call your insurance company and find out about the comprehensive.

[kona12]

Ouch!


Call your insurance company and find out about the comprehensive.

So I finally talked to my agent (wanted to talk to him before the claims people) and he said it should be covered under my homeowners. He said they will probably deny me at first but he has already isolated the part of my policy he will get them on.

The damages, a $500 deductable and a 30% increase on my homeowners for 3years ($240 year). So my total out of pocket for this mess is going to be $1220. A pair of skis and mid week pass in my book

[El Chupacabra]

Email a photo to Cannondale with the JRA story, just for kicks...

[powking12]

Hahaha. Not really.

I dropped my buddy's Ellsworth Moment (thanks Pechelman) off my hitch rack a couple of months ago. Fortunately the rear skewer caught on the tray and the only damage was some tire wear (man those Conti Diesels suck!). I could hear a weird buzzing, checked to make sure all the windows were up then looked in the rearview and could only see one seatpost.

After all was set right and we were back on the road, I asked my buddy what he felt when he looked back and couldn't see his bike.

He told me, "Anger. Pure, white fury."

I was just glad it wasn't mine.

[pechelman]

whew!

glad to hear its ok!

and bummer to the OP
could have been worse i suppose though
you ever figure out what was at fault? (ie you or a bad pin to hold it upright?)

[prmulligan]

I once watched a brand new (mine) '05 sworks stumpjumper fsr fall off my hitch rack. We were doing 80 on route 80 between Reno and Truckee. After watching a semi drive over it (between the wheels) I was able to get it out of the middle of the road and rode from Brockway to 89 that night.

Hitch racks other than T2 style suck for MTB.

[Dobish]

what kind of rack was it? take pictures of the rack, and deal with them as well before you fix anything. I have dealt with both major rack companies for things like this, and they are very good.....

[phatfreeheeler]

This thread is turning lame. Advocating fraud on the internet is about as juvenile as it gets. Wait, I'm pretty sure you could take it to the next level

Kona, sorry to hear about the incident. Shit happens. A few years back, I drove a bike through a garage very solidly. Just a few weeks ago, my beloved Reign X was only saved by the pedal that caught on the rack. Neither was the fault of anyone but the operator. In the end, it's only a bike. An honest letter of the incident might get your buddy some new stuff at a good price, so that insurance money will go the farthest. After all, Cannondale is full of people that just like to ride bikes and see others do the same. Honestly, $1200 doesn't sound too bad for such an incident.

[PowStompper]

I had something like this happen to me but luckily at slow speed, on the last hill to packer saddle. I asked the driver if the bike would be ok on the shitty looking rack when we left Truckee, and it made it all the way to nearly the top of the Downeyville downhill without falling off, and luckily we didn't drag it any longer because the assfault started eating paint off my frame after it knawed through my pedals and squre. The thing flipped over and spread out the grinding between both sides so the expensive parts weathered fine.
I hope everything turns out ok for you kona, and at minimal expense. I sympathise

[kona12]

I have been having a bad run for a bit now so I don't want to further upset my karma. For a minute or five I considered some sort of fraud but really at this point in my life I am past that. Considering some of the shit I did when I was younger this is a bold step for me.

You guys have got me thinking though and I am going to fire off honest letters to Cannondale and Thule. What do I have to loose? I will keep ya'll updated.

[kona12]

Finally got to put this to rest on Friday. Went the home owners insurance route and got clingers cdale covered, my sons bike covered and my wifes wheels covered. The only slight bummer is that the rack its self wasn't but I can't really complain all things considered. Anyway, clinger was never totally happy with his rush as it was more CC vs the all mountain we usually do so instead of a new rush, he went with the rize. The local cdale rep through in a $300 damage replacement discount which was nice too. On Friday, the new ride came in and we decided to head straight out to pop its cherry.

The steed:


Clinger is stoked:


nothing like leaf covered fall single tack in the foothills:


A view from my cockpit:


Chasing the new ride:


Alls wel that ends well, higher insurance payment be damed!

[406]

how does he like the rize? I want to demo one...