safety QRs and old forks

[slisk]

Hey Folks,

I figured that I should probably put this out there to remind many of the dangers when using old forks that do not have the safety ends to prevent a wheel coming off if the QR opens unexpectedly. Several months ago one of our best riders (who rides a classic steel Colnago) attempted to bunny hop a road bump while traveling about 25mph. As he was becoming airborne, the front wheel came off and the resulting wreck left him a quad for life. If you use older forks that do not possess the safety feature to prevent a wheel coming off, please be careful.

I thought of this while viewing some very nice older nagos today.

[Boonen]

Ouch, that sounds horrible Slisk!

I've never had these taps on any of my forks, and I don't think there is anyone who races who does, but it does give food for thought ...

[Fibre-Lyte]

Not a nice thought!

It reminded me of something I discovered while out cycling in Tenerife years ago while visiting my mother. I was cycling downhill quite quickly from a place I was visiting. As I was travelling down the very smooth road at around 30mph I suddenly saw what looked like a sewer grate in the road. If I remember rightly I bunny hopped the grate and stopped as soon as possible afterwards. I cycled back up to the grate and realised that it was a sewer drain right across the road with approx two inch wide slots around a foot or so long, basically big enough for a road tyre and possibly a mtb tyre to slot into . Needless to say if I hadn't jumped my front wheel would have slotted into the drain and I would have gone straight over the top. My downhills in Tenerife since then, especially in the urban areas, have been a lot more cautious.