Potholes: Is my baby okay?

[bluerider]

Howdy,

Just came in from a 2 hour ride. Drizzly rain but no wind = good times! However, I did ride over two massize potholes one after the other (duh) and these were huge suckers. I used my ol' MTB moves and managed to navigate through them but boy did they rattle me and my bike. I stood up to try to absorb the shock but am wondering if I could've done real damage to my bike? How do you check?

I don't have a CF. My bike is a 1500 WSD with aluminum frame and carbon forks and seatpost.

How do you check to see if you've cracked something? I can't bear the thought of my bike being hurt!!!

Thanks!!!

[doc]

The most likely damage would be bending the wheels. You'll need to check and make sure they are still "true". Turn bike upside down and spin wheel slowly. Whatch closely where it crosses the brakes. If you see it get closer then farther then closer to the brake pad, it is out of true. Off to the lbs you go. As for frame cracks, I'm not sure, but I believe you visually inspect the frame. That's it.
Glad to hear you didn't crash!! You took care of the most important componenet - you!

[RoadRaven]

Like doc said, def check the wheels... but also the tyres themselves... potholes can cause imperfections which can slowly bulge and blow, or a small cut may be there... so if you don't already, get yourself in the habit of inspecting your tyres before each ride... for bulges, slashes... and you can also check that you wheels are in true and not rubbing brakes...

[bluerider]

Thanks for the advice doc and Raven. Appreciate your help!!! I will check the wheels right now and be careful of any more man-sized potholes. I would rather take some road rash vs my bike getting hurt! Am I insane? Don't answer that...

[SadieKate]

Bikes can take a good deal of abuse, but potholes can be that. Your hands can take a beating also.

In addition to the above, check your headset for brinelling. A good slam can cause an indentation in the races of your headset. Pick up the front end of your bike and pivot the bars back and forth. If they don't swing smoothly and freely, but feel like they have a notch or hiccup in the swing (probably when the wheel is straight forward), you may have brinelled your headset. If so, you may want to take to the LBS.

[nicolezoie]

I hit a pothole hard enough a couple months ago that one of my water bottles got knocked clean off the bike and I didn't notice it was missing until a moment later when I felt more breeze than usual on my legs. Anyhow, this pothole managed to give my back wheel a rather large flat spot, but the crazy thing was I didn't notice it until a week and a half later when I noticed the brake pad rubbing, and I was riding the whole time. So yeah.. check your wheels and keep checking them - problems don't always show up right away.

[DebW]

When potholes put flat spots in your rim, they are often not conducive to truing in the conventional way. The rim will actually become wider at the point of impact and may rub both brake pads simultaneously, so shifting the rim left or right with spoke tension will not help much. And the wheel will be out-of-round in the radial direction, ie. a small section will be flat instead of round. It may be possible to narrow the wide spot with a special tool or even a hammer (do this on steel rims only). Obvously it becomes time for a new rim when the flat spot is too large, because the ride gets bumpy and the tire may not seat properly. I replaced one of my rims last year and one 2 years ago because I'd put up with flat spots long enough and I'd had new rims sitting around for awhile. Then I had to build a new rear wheel for my daughter's bike because it got stolen.

[RoadRaven]

Me again...

This thread had me thinking and over summer (yes, southern hemisphere so we have had our summer break) I went and bought some yellow fluro spray-paint and have sprayed a couple of places in the road that need repairing because a chunk of tarseal has disappeared itself...

So, I can see them (sometimes I am concentrating so much I forget where even well-known ones are), other cyclists can see them and with any luck, the local council will think one of their crews has marked them and the holes will get repaired...

[DebW]

That's a great idea, spray painting potholes. You could be saving many cyclist from bike or body repairs. But I think that if I were to go pothole painting, I'd do it in the middle of the night.

[RoadRaven]

LOL... if I were in town, I would absolutely do it at night... however most of my cycling is on rural roads... in order to get onto a different road from the one I live on I have to cycle 16km to the first intersection... and so I can hear traffic coming from a long way as for most of the day there is little traffic...

So I can "vandelise" the road in many hues without anyone knowing!

Woohoo... where's that can...?