might never happen

[glueman]

Anyone else ever find themselves worrying about handlebars cracking, seat pins failing, rims shredding?
It's the stuff that's hard to check which makes me nervous, a hairline scrape when the bars go through the stem, growing over the months and years as we heave uphill until it fails as we go down one. Or the continual wear of braking surfaces by grit encrusted blocks until the wheel disintegrates in whirl of razor sharp aluminium and exploding inner tube.

Some people never appear to bother about such things. Hope I haven't spread doubts

[dan_b]

Carbon forks disintegrating is my favourite. For that matter, tyre blowouts on descents worry me.

[random37]

I had a stem fail on a 40mph downhill once. Managed to haul up on the drops and keep control, but nearly crying after I'd stopped.
I also had a pair of bars that after a long ride started to develop white crazed lines around the stem.
Horrible, but if you think about them you'll never enjoy cycling.

[Robzere31]

I've had a few moments when I've thought "what if??"

My main few are....

what if when I hit the brakes at the bottom of this hill ...nothing happens??
what if when I'm doing 40+mph the back wheel isn't tightened up enough & falls off??
What if when I approch this junction the car waiting to pull out doesn't see me coming?? (Happened yesterday)

But as Chriss667 said, if you think about every little thing that could go wrong,
you'd never go cycling.

[zenzinnia]

Well, I didn't used to!

[EdinburghFixed]

the continual wear of braking surfaces by grit encrusted blocks until the wheel disintegrates in whirl of razor sharp aluminium and exploding inner tube.

Yes! In fact, this is the main thing that gives me the heebie-jeebies (although disintegrating bars, and shattering carbon forks are a close second)

In a sense I consider all the parts of my bike (and the bike itself) to be expendable - two or three months commuting pays for the whole thing. So if I snapped the bars getting it out in the morning, fine. It's the fear of doing it while riding that terrifies me!

[ianr1950]

I might just as well worry about getting out of bed in the morning and falling down the stairs.

How many times have you heard about items breaking?

[Si]

In answer to the OP, yes - see my post before Christmas about my crank snapping

Also see my various posts about my frames snapping - think I'm on five or six now with snapped off bits, plus a few dents.

I guess some of it comes from being an MTBer of the early 90s - when lightness was the name of the game and stuff was breaking all over the place. Seen some really nasty incidents - like when a friend had a fractured handlebar go through his leg.

But all you can do is buy stuff with a good rep, check it regularly and if it's a 'fragile' component then change it every now and then.

[julk]

These things do happen, in my 50 years cycling ...

Both brake cables snapped going downhill on my borrowed sisters bike as a lad.

Front rim wore through, but was noticed by brake grabbing, luckily was then replaced before a disaster happened.

Left handlebar snapped off in the dark commuting home in rush hour Edinburgh traffic.

Stem cracked through, dumping me on the road verge.

Pedal spindle broke without warning honking up a hill.

I am still cycling and enjoying it, but I am definitely more cautious now and fit the strongest components I can find. Handlebar snapping was the most traumatic and I now change aluminium alloy handlebars every three years.

[patricktaylor]

... the continual wear of braking surfaces by grit encrusted blocks until the wheel disintegrates in whirl of razor sharp aluminium and exploding inner tube ...

I'm not sure this happens in practice. On the occasions my rims were worn through, I discovered it when the brakes snagged in a hollow in the sidewall. This was well before the point of complete collapse. At least one mountain-biking holiday ruined, but no explosions.

[pigman]

... the continual wear of braking surfaces by grit encrusted blocks until the wheel disintegrates in whirl of razor sharp aluminium and exploding inner tube ...

I'm not sure this happens in practice. On the occasions my rims were worn through, I discovered it when the brakes snagged in a hollow in the sidewall. This was well before the point of complete collapse. At least one mountain-biking holiday ruined, but no explosions.

was out on a clubrun a couple of years ago, riding throught a village on the flat and this happened to a mate. He wasnt braking, just riding along. big bang, bits of rim everywhere, knackered tyre & tube.

but (and its a big but) he used to pride himself on how his rims were nearly worn through, but he'd push it till the end. so I suppose it could have been avoided.

[Deckie]

I've had brake cables both snap on me too - ruined a leather jacket leaning against a wall to stop myself...

Worst was when the front hook for the frame pump snapped off launching said pump forwards in to the front wheel... That hurt

[Mick F]

My latest fear ....
(I try not to think about stuff too much, I wouldn't get out of bed!!)
..... is why do they only fit one drive-belt on rollers? What would happen if it failed? I'm sure I'd be off in an instance!

Two drive-belts would be "belt and braces"!

[gbnz]

Oh yes, forks and handlebars snapping, wheel rims disintergrating and having read a few weeks after the event about Si's crank snapping, cranks snapping. So I do strip the bike down on a regular basis, dismantle wheels, stems and handlebars and check for signs of fatigue and cracks and replace when necessary (Which in the past quarter has included 2 sets of forks, 1 tyre, 1 wheel and a new set of brake blocks!)

Having said that, it's actually quite unusual for accidents to occur due to a failure of a machine or technology . It's invariably human factors which causes the majority of accidents, which in cycling terms, relates to the majority of cyclists being injured or killed as a result of contact with motor vehicles being driven without due care

[random37]

You little bundle of fun.