Just Riding Along: Snap, Crackle, Pop!
A risk analyst likely has a formula to determine the rate of failures based on amount of bikes ridden and for how long – we’ve got a fleet of bikes at Hugga HQ and ride them almost daily.
What I know is after two ride-stopping failures in a week, I’m even more diligent about checking my equipment before a ride. Like a pilot of a plane; especially when I’m heading out for a long ride or race. Both of these failures are unusual, but they happen. In the past year, I’ve been in two races where I rode through the shrapnel of an exploded tire.
First a fork cracked at the tip.
Crack starts middle of the fork at the tip
Maybe it was from stresses induced by the roof-top rack or something else happened either when riding it or when it was manufactured. Heard it snap and carbon makes a very distinctive crackling sound when it goes.
Then this tire sidewall ripped apart. Never seen that happen before.
Did a snake bite that?
We were just riding along and POP! That fork is out of warranty and Reynolds doesn’t make them anymore. I’ve shared the tire photo with the manufacture and remembered the “tubeless incident” from last year.