flaw in steerer tube kills cyclist

[Levo-Lon]

There seems to be a lot of seat post there and makes me wonder how much is left in the tube. I am guilty of doing the same thing and it must make it easier for te seat post to give way.

not a lot when you look at MTB''s and the low top tubes.. 400mm etc tho i know what you mean with that bike style..

 

[Chris S]

There seems to be a lot of seat post there and makes me wonder how much is left in the tube. I am guilty of doing the same thing and it must make it easier for te seat post to give way.

The bike had a 20" frame and I'm 6 foot so I had the seat high. The MAX mark wasn't showing on the post so there should have been enough of it left in the frame. It would increase the leverage on it though.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Now the coroner has recommended Standards Australia investigate a mandatory safe life for bicycles components such as the front steering fork, depending on the material and manufacturing process.
Am I being paranoid by proxy, on behalf of Australians, in thinking the Aus authorities may want to use this as cover to introduce more restrictions, like a bike MOT or something in order to discourage Australians from using bikes.

 

[jefmcg]

Am I being paranoid by proxy, on behalf of Australians, in thinking the Aus authorities may want to use this as cover to introduce more restrictions, like a bike MOT or something in order to discourage Australians from using bikes.

Yes, you are being paranoid. The Coroner is an authority, but not 'authorities". She won't be acting in collusion with the Government of another state. It may lead to such an outcome, and the Coroner's attitude to cycling is probably coloured by the helmet laws across the country.

Australians do seem to see cycles as particularly dangerous. This ls clear from suggesting that airplane like restrictions be introduce for bikes, when there is no mandatory life span on car parts.

Also, in Australia's second most populous state, you only need to get a roadworthy (~ MOT) when you sell a car, or if you are unlucky enough to be pulled over by the police and fail an inspection not every year. In Canberra, where this death occurred, you only need a certificate if you are selling a vehicle more than 6 years old. So again this suggestion is much more onerous than that put on car owners.

I wonder how the same Coroner looks at accidents where the brakes failed in a car.

Interesting that there two failures in the death; the state mandated safety equipment proved useless, but the Coroner didn't appear to mention that.

Edit: this seems to be the complete coroners report

http://www.courts.act.gov.au/magist...-into-the-death-of-richard-roger-john-stanton

iii. I recommend that Standards Australia and other relevant international standards bodies investigate fixing an upper “safe life” limit (safe life) for the bicycle front steering fork, depending on the manufacturing process and material construction of the part, after which the owner is encouraged to replace the part irrespective of whether damage is visible.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Yes, you are being paranoid. The Coroner is an authority, but not 'authorities". She won't be acting in collusion with the Government of another state. It may lead to such an outcome, and the Coroner's attitude to cycling is probably coloured by the helmet laws across the country.

I wasn't suggesting the coroner was colluding but that the authorities might pick this one up and run with it.

Anyway, I defer to your knowledge of Aus.

 

[Ian H]

From the above, this was an aluminium fatique failure rather than failure of the carbon/metal bonding. Bike was 9 years old and (quote) "bicycle had previously been involved in one or more accidents". Careful when you use the word 'snap' .

It was a tragic occurrence. But there's a lot of information out there about carbon/aluminium composite forks and the wisdom of replacing them after a crash.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i've seen a clubmate have an alu steerer go, right in front of me. not pretty, but he lived to ride (and crash) again…

 

[Viking]

IIRC, about 15 or so years ago, there was a case in the U.K. where a mtb alloy handlebar failed and the resultant off caused very serious injury. I can remember the make of the bike ('cos I had the same model) but won't name it because I don't think the problem was unique to that make or indeed that particular handlebar. I never had any problems with mine but it had no crash history.

 

[jefmcg]

It was a tragic occurrence. But there's a lot of information out there about carbon/aluminium composite forks and the wisdom of replacing them after a crash.

Both the court expert and Trek do not believe a collision was a factor in this case and the failure was due to a manufacturing fault. I'm sure if it could have been blamed on the previous collision, the Trek engineers would have done so.

 

[Drago]

A lot of hard core off readers and racers replace their alloy bars every 2nd season because they can and do fail.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Both the court expert and Trek do not believe a collision was a factor in this case and the failure was due to a manufacturing fault.

I'm afraid that's not how I read it.

Second thing first: (not a) manufacturing fault. If you read the coroner's report, you will see that Trek DID NOT agree that "the cause of the fatigue crack initiation was an inclusion from the manufacturing process" or at least opined that there was no evidence to suggest/conclude that.
"In Dr Fowler’s (Trek expert) opinion there was no evidence to conclude that the cause of the fatigue crack initiation was an inclusion from the manufacturing process. Rather, Dr Fowler concluded that the fracture appearance at the fatigue origin was typical for a fatigue crack caused by a cyclic stress of sufficient magnitude and number of cycles."

Collision not a factor? The Coroner does not find that it was a factor, nor that it was not a factor.

"there was no contribution to the fork failure from the road surface in Kent Street or from Mr Stanton’s riding of the bicycle immediately before the fork failure.

"Mr Stanton’s bicycle had previously been involved in one or more accidents, the evidence before me suggests Mr Stanton assiduously attended to the maintenance and roadworthiness of his bicycle since his purchase of it in January 2006. I also find that the components fitted to the bicycle had no causal connection to the fork failure."

An accident to a cyclist of this nature is tragic for his family and my heart goes out to them. I hope Richard Stanton was having a great ride. But that doesn't mean we can't learn from the accident, if only to recognise the possibility that a fork will fracture through fatigue, with no outward sign and possibly with catastrophic effect. Whether "one or more" accidents before the catastrophe can have the effect of reducing the fatigue life would depend on the nature of the accident and any abnormal level of stress experienced by the fork/component in question. Intuitively they might, and as the bike ages, and cyclical stresses are experienced . . . .

 

[Drago]

Why the capital letters and bold type? We can read.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Sorry if the volume was too much but the fact that he didn't agree that point (manufacturing fault) was why I thought @jefmcg had it wrong. And the 'immediately' emphasis was with regard to whether previous riding had caused the failure, and had been carefully phrased by the Coroner. "Mr Stanton’s riding of the bicycle immediately before the fork failure" was not a contribution. Leaving open the possibility, alluded to in the next paragraph, that his riding (specifically the one or more accidents) may (or may not) have been a contribution to the fork failure. HTH