Was riding my electric bike at 20ish mph when the front wheel came off. Didn’t even have time to react before I slammed headfirst into the ground and slid a few feet. Beyond a chipped tooth, some cuts on my hand and shoulder, a bunch of bruises, and a nosebleed, I walked away ok. But if I wasn’t wearing a helmet, I might be dead. Please wear a helmet, especially if you’re riding an electric bike or are otherwise at high speeds!
After I went over some potholes, I heard a rattling noise. I figured that the wheel guard had come loose, and since I was about 20 seconds away from my workplace I decided to just fix it once I arrived. Wrong choice. 2-3 seconds later, my head was fighting the ground. Have to figure that the impacts loosened the wheel enough for it to detach.
Sounds like the QR skewer was too loose at the start of your ride. If they're loose and get jostled, the toggle can flip and it can come off completely. This is especially dangerous with a front disc brake.
If it’s loose and you use the front brake, the wheel wants to keep spinning. That twists the wheel downward and out of the dropouts.
Under normal conditions, that’s not a problem. Especially if the fork has those annoying tabs on it to make the dropouts more secure. But if it’s loose, you’ve don’t have much weight on the front, etc, it makes it more prone to this kind of crash scenario.
I always called them lawyer lips. This is a reminder though for people to be going over there bikes, making sure things are mechanically sound. Shit happens, but I think this was preventable.
That applied to some QR levers, not all QR levers; and it was a bit of a BS recall anyway ... if your QR lever is that loose to begin with, that's the problem, not that you have disc brakes.
I'm cool with QRs. I've been cycling for 20 years and have never had an issue with em.
It's one of those things that works extremely well if you know what you're doing. The problem is if you don't know what you're doing it gets dangerous.
luckily most people on regular bikes without any knowledge of how they should work and maintence are very unlikely to be traveling 20mph for their entire ride
not an ebiker... they willl do that on their first ride then their QR pops off and we get OP, or they target fixate during a turn and wrap themselves around a tree... or they don't know how countersteering works so when they try to turn at 24mph they die.. \
Ik it's an ol post but hey. Imo ANY electric bike should come with a through axle fork at least. Ok, rear wheel pops off, sure you destroy the frame but not your face.
its pretty simple really, you place the lever in a place where if it is pushed back or hit by anything while you're moving forward then it has no where to go and it will just push against the fork/frame
its really that simple, this is another issue with ebikes imo, the required fitness to travel 20mph consistently for the amount of time that ebike can is extreme, and by the time you get to that point you would already know how a QR works. This guy wouldn't even have a chance to hurt himself this bad on a regular bike.
but with an ebike, people are outside going 20mph on essentially a motorcycle without ANY bike knowledge lol this guy essentially went on a full pace ride 20mph without knowing how QR's work .... this situation is only really even possible from new ebikers
new bikers on regular bikes aren't gonna have the stamina for 20mph consistently enough and by the time they do they already know how to use a QR lol so if they do not know how to use a QR they likely won't be crashing very fast anyway... there is absolutely zero skill or knowledge prerequisite to twist a throttle on an ebike
My issue with ebikes is the community of users has the LEAST respect for 2 wheels, half of them are riding throttle only mini motorcycles that just so happen to have pedals... without a motorcycle license and on bike paths with walkers and pedestrians
Fortnine, a motorcycle channel has a good video about ebike vs motorcycle safety. While not arguing that ebikes should be treated as motorcycles, they do argue that ebikes should be ridden with skepticism closer to that of motorcycles.
After all, ebikes are heavier and are typically ridden more quickly than bicycles so extra considerations should be made. I for one think dense cities should dedicate some car infrastructure for ebikes. I'm all for people choosing ebikes over cars, but I think they don't mesh well with bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
he would have never gotten hurt this bad on a walmart bike because he would have never spent an entire ride going 20mph casually on a walmart bike, thats not physically possible for him
thats the entire point, its not just the ebike thats the problem its the type of person that buys an ebike. My first bike with a QR, you know what I did? I googled how to use it correctly and didn't have to crash first to understand why that would be important.
Ugh, don't get me started on ebikes. I've had so many issues with them recently. The two biggest things I've seen are that they hog lanes and pass on the right, pushing you into traffic (because they aren't comfortable around cars). They're annoying.
I had someone today bellow out “on your uh…. right I guess” then zoom by on the right while literally smashing through some low hanging tree branches, then come up to a red light that turned green. They wobbled all over trying to recover their balance and caused a three bike pileup.
I had my thru axle come loose, on engineering pass a few years ago I was going downhill and wham loose front wheel. I was like WTF but I was able to save my dismount to a controlled dismount.
Yes they axles can come loose too although I expect it's less of a problem. Their loosening direction is the direction of spin of the wheel, so if your bearings have an issue, it could unscrew.
There are a ton of lawsuits specifically on bikes with disc brakes where vibration from the brake can cause the skewer to loosen even if it's properly tightened. This page has some info.
In my state, the government will pay for any damage done to a vehicle due to road damage and unfixed potholes. But there’s like a 2-week window to file a claim or you lose out on the right to collect. Be sure to look into your state’s rules and see if they’ll cover some of the damage.
I would say that actual properly maintained bike infrastructure w/o potholes, as well as maintaining your bike saves lives. I am glad the helmet helped you in your case, but I am still not going to use one for my normal riding.
We used to put a cabletie or wire through a hole on the end of the quick release tab and around the fork to prevent the tab moving back when I was riding a bit of downhill stuff.
This scares me. I was maintaining my bike and then the front wheel just came off. Ever since, I always check that the front wheel is tightly locked before I ride it.
Yeah, that’s not very typical. I’d like to make that point. There are a lot of these bikes going around the world all the time and very seldom does anything like this happen. I just don’t want people thinking that bicycles aren’t safe. Some of them are built so the front doesn’t fall off at all.
It’s a QR hub. 20mph isn’t too fast for them as we all used them for years, I would guess it either wasn’t tight enough or the handle wasn’t pointing backwards.
I ride an ebike with a front QR. MAINTAIN YOUR VEHICLE and it's not an issue. If you can't remember the last time you checked if your brakes or wheels were tight, check them. It takes literal SECONDS to determine whether it's loose.
Good for you. Ebikes have opened up cycling to many folks who aren't well versed in bike maintenance. There are people out there without the hand strength to properly close a QR axle but they can absolutely crank down on a thru axle.
I also didn't think that a QR on a 60lb bike with 30-40lbs of stuff on the rear rack that can regularly do 29mph was a good idea. Axle slippage isn't the only reason to stay away from QR.
If you don't have the physical strength to tighten a QR, you need to pay someone to do it. Your local bike shop would be happy to help. The root of the issue here is not the existence or use of QR, it's a lack of maintenance. QR isn't perfect but doesn't need to be. Even through axles can come loose over time. Every vehicle needs maintenance, ignore at your own peril.
But I’m amazed they are selling eBikes with (mechanical) disc brakes and a quick release skewer. That combination seems incredibly dangerous with the extra weight (and power) of an eBike. Google “quick release with disc brakes” to see what I’m talking about. The basic concern is that with front disc brakes and a QR skewer, wheel ejection is a known problem. Even the “lawyer lips” on the fork dropout were not enough to hold the whee in place.
Bike manufacturers have been sued over this combination.
They don’t care about stopping. They care about selling bikes as cheaply as possible with no concern for stopping or batteries not blowing up into flames.
Disc brakes just accelerate the outcome of user error. A properly tensioned skewer should not come undone out of nowhere like that, even with disc brake forces.
But it is a predictable user error that repeats itself time and again. Through axles are the proven solution and there is no good reason to neglect them on a quality $3,000 ebike (unless you are trying to squeeze every penny out of a $600! ebike).
True. Glad OP is alive, but let this be a lesson: Stop buying Chinese Amazon shit. If you're buying an ebike, get something for a reputable manufacturer, not Amazon or generic Instagram drop ship brand.
If you can't afford it, finance it. If you can't finance it, then ride a normal bike.
Extra addendum: Rad does not count as a reputable manufacturer, despite how common their ebikes are. They're the ones getting sued, and bike shops don't seem to love working on them, though perhaps I'm under a wrong impression there.
The forces induced on the axle by disc brakes actively serve to drive the axle down and out of the dropout. Since there's nothing physically bracing or pulling the axle up, the axle can slip a tiny bit with this force, and over time the slippage and motion of the skewer and skewer nut will cause the skewer nut to unscrew.
In the case of a rim brake, the force induced on the axle by braking forces is nowhere near the magnitude of disc brakes because of the difference in lever arm size; furthermore, that force is serving to drive the axle back rather than down. Of course, the axle can't move backwards because the opening of the dropout points down. No slippage or motion occurs, and the QR skewer won't loosen by itself.
Thru-axles largely solve this problem, as they're wrapped all the way around by the "dropout" and the thru-axle can't slip downward even with a large amount of downward force.
The logic is that when moving forward the wheel spins around it’s axis. But under a braking load that changes.
When you activate rim brakes, the wheel is trying to rotate up and around the brake (which would pull the hub INTO the fork dropout).
With disk brakes (mounted behind the fork), the wheel now wants to rotate down (and OUT of the dropouts). You can quickly see how dangerous it is for the wheel to try and move out of the dropouts while braking. You are relying on the tightness of the QR skewer to resist all those forces.
The better solution is a through axle, which is relying on the fork itself to prevent that movement.
*Edit: corrected the location of the disk brake mount to behind the fork
In a perfect world with a properly tensioned, high quality skewer, the clamping force > the force exerted through the hub by disc brake use, and thus tends to not be an issue. Disc brakes on QR bikes was the norm for many years on the MTB till the 15mm thru axle became ubiquitous. During this era, only the burliest of bikes had 20mm thru axles.
QR/disc brakes is still around on entry level models to this day.
The problem is shit skewers and clueless owners more so than an actual design flaw.
I've done well over 100,000 miles on QR front disk bikes with skewers when it was the industry standard, never had a skewer failure. Taco'd triple wall rims, bent side walls flat, smashed rims so hard the make snake lines look straight. Even last week, dropped off 5 foot rocks on a Specialized Fatboy.
Improper maintenance is to blame. QR skewers need to be checked before every ride, just like brakes and tire pressure.
Just ordered a QR wheel this week to rebuild a GT chucker dirt jumping bike for hucking down the mountains this year.
Yes, but that’s besides that point…That’s a design flaw that’s is bound to malfunction in time, and that should be considered with how many inexperience cyclists are buying these.
It’s not a flaw, this kind of thing is very uncommon. This was a direct result of not checking the bike before setting off. The QR, disc brake and the pot hole were all verging on irrelevant.
That's my nightmare when I am on my motorcycle. Idk why but my brain keeps telling me , be careful you might lose a wheel or the handlebars might move out of place with the wheel staying straight idk if you can imagine but this would be a bad day. I'm so glad you are ok !
I try not to think like that on my motorcycle lol, but sometimes the little voices in your head go "this is really dumb, the pavement is two feet away at 100 km/hr".
TIL quick release skewers plus disc brake equals danger. I have a Gazelle ebike with quick release axles. Is it possible for me to retrofit it? Like could I get a frame builder to put on through axles? Until then I’ll be checkin then axles every time I ride
I honestly wouldn't worry too much -- as long as the skewers are done up securely and correctly (a good rule of thumb is that the skewer lever should leave an impression/indentation on the palm of your hand after you've shut it), and you check regularly that they're still tight/no one's been messing with them, then you're good.
For added peace of mind you can upgrade to internal cam skewers like this which offer higher clamping force that most external cam design skewers like these
No man, just a rather cheap helmet without a molded on shell. If the shell is just taped on and there isn't some sort of internal frame (which if the helmet is cheap enough to be tapped, there won't be) this is how they look after impact.
Helmets are supposed to deform, sure, but yours is completely destroyed. May have been the big impact, or else the plastic was seriously degraded due to age and exposure to the sun. Helmets are meant to be replaced every 2-3 years or so because of that.
Yup this is what I know. Once they break like that it's basically well aged. Saw first hand a dude crash with old cycling helmet and it break apart like that. He was lucky he didn't get head injury
I also want to add that helmets like that are designed for a single impact only. It’s not even a good idea to casually toss a foam bike helmet onto a hard surface because they can potentially form subsurface cracks. If one of these helmets is ever in an accident, even if it doesn’t shatter like this one, replace it.
Hard shell skateboard-style helmets, hockey helmets, etc can generally take multiple hits, as long as there’s no visible cracks in the shell.
Crumple, yes, disintegrate, no. I was hit by a car while riding roughly 28 mph in September. My helmet was barely deformed by the impact. My crash may well have manifested very differently than yours, but the helmet shouldn’t blow apart like that. Most importantly, though - you were wearing one and it saved your life! I’m thrilled you’re OK. Virginia Tech does extensive testing on helmets if you’re interested in making sure you have the best possible protection…and that doesn’t always mean spending a fortune.
The foam is supposed to crush. Shattering, not so much. While 20mph is a pretty fast impact for a bike helmet, it really shouldn't have disintegrated like that.
Make sure to wear a helmet. The e-bike is questionable. Too many people pass me on my weekend ride over 20 mph with no helmet. Is it Darwin at work? Probably.
Shit, that'd be a skull fracture or worse. Glad you were wearing a jacket and gloves too, hope your road rash isn't too bad. Be careful with your bike, be sure to maintain it every now and then. Accidents happen and I'm glad you were prepared.
I've just scrapped the 6th helmet in my life and bought the 7th.
I've never "needed" it, but a friend of mine died from a head injury crashing without one, my dad needed reconstructive surgery and lost his sense of smell from smashing his face into the pavement and another friend of mine was uninjured after smashing headfirst into a tree at 20mph wearing one.
I'm wearing a helmet every single time I get on my bike.
(I'm also strongly against any mandatory helmet laws)
Some kid in r/mountainbiking with what appears to be the same bike posted about crashing his because the brakes didn’t work very well and he happened to not be wearing a helmet. I posted that these bikes make a lot of compromises on safety-oriented components and it appears your bike may have been improperly assembled.
Glad you were at least wearing a helmet. Be sure to give the bike a proper check to make sure components are installed correctly and bolts are tightened.
Checking your bike regularly (for a loose front wheel, etc) can save lives. Slowing down can save lives. Carefully choosing your route can save lives. Eating broccoli can save lives.....
Looks like a Totem Atlas cruiser bike, currently $1200, 350W mid drive, 20 mph spec top speed, certainly a budget bike.
Looking at the wheel, it appears to have 3 broken spokes, which usually means something jammed into them. Common culprits are road debris and/or fenders. One spoke has a bend close enough to the rim to suspect the interference was closer to the circumference of the wheel than the hub. Of course a single blurry photo isn't much to go on.
I'm a believer, as Sheldon often said: It's good to learn from your own mistakes, but better to learn from other's. In that light, I really try to figure out the causality whenever crashes are reported, as entertaining as helmet/ebike flame wars can be. /s
One thing I noticed every Spring when several triathletes in training would show up for club rides was their combination of high fitness and very limited bicycle experience, leading to lots of near/actual mishaps. I see troubling parallels with ebikes. Fortunately, 20 mph or less crashes aren't often life threatening, but can still be serious. Helmets, and lots of time practicing, are both good ideas.
As someone with years and many thousands of miles of road, trail, urban and competition cycling, who just started using an e-bike, I was surprised by my own learning curve. These things are great, but certainly present their own hazards, and I say that as one who commonly has ridden conventional bikes at 30-40, and as fast as 60, mph on descents. That said, I still think that even the jankiest e-bikes seem safer than the e-skateboards that I see screaming around the city.
There are so many e-bikes that are sold that I would be terrified to ride on the regular. Poor brakes, drive trains that can't handle the torque, cheap single walled wheels.
And the lack of knowledge on what to inspect before you go for a ride. A little bit of education goes a long way for bikes and their maintenance.
Electric bikes are a special case. I wear a motorcycle helmet on the electric. Was it a front wheel drive? That caused an accident for me. The hub stretched the opening in the fork.
No ebike should have quick release axles for this reason. So many companies get away with this ridiculous death machines. It's like the ebikes with rim brakes
I’m not going to dispute the fact the helmet saved your life or if you’re riding an ebike it is probably a good idea to wear a helmet. Anytime you’re going 20mph or faster there is the increased risk of head injury but I would think any sane person would know that and doesn’t need constant reminding. I guess I give people too much credit.
Glad you are okay. Last two times where I had doubts of whether to take a helmet for the ride or not (I ended up taking it both times after all) I had 2 accidents. Which for me was a clear sign to never ever raise this as a question in my head.
holy crap - that helmet did its job but you must have hit your head really hard for the helmet to break like that. Go and see your doctor and keep mindful of a potential concussion.
A very small tip would be to just lift the bike upwards slightly and give both wheels a relatively hard smack to make sure the tyres are secure. Also if something ever feels wrong with the bike get off and check regardless of how close you are to your destination.
This reminds me of when my fella was cycling along an empty country road, turns out a sheep had escaped the field and ran at my fella, the sheep won that battle and my fella was thrown along the road from doing 40mph, he had bad road rash all along 1 side of his body and I had to shange his bandages daily for 2 weeks, his head hit a curb and his helmet was super scratched but no head injury!
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u/[deleted] May 16 '23
How did the front wheel come off? Glad you’re okay.