Bike on roof rack + Garage = ARRGGHH

jonlong

Member
:
2003.5 Black MP5
I feel like such an idiot. I was getting ready to leave my apartment at college to come home for the holidays. I am an avid mountain biker and planned on doing a lot of riding over break. After I was all packed up and ready to go, with my bike on top of the car, I remembered one of my headlights had burned out last night. I decided to put a new one in before I left for home. So I opened my garage and went to pull my car in slightly, not all the way, just so that my car wasn't sticking into the street. As I'm pulling the front of the car in, I hear a horrible cracking, popping sound, and my bike swings down and hits my driver side window. I went numb. I got out to check the damage and found out that I had cracked my front fork at the dropouts (a $650 part). i also managed to pop the roof rack off the car on the driver side. I have the 2003.5 with no factory rack, it was a Yakima roof rack. It dented the rear part of the roof where the pad of the rack touches the car. I need to drive back to my apartment tomorrow to get my bike and check for any other damage. I'm worried that I might have messed up the headtube on the frame or something. For all of you non-bikers...sorry for using some terms you're not familiar with. Anyway, I've relaxed a little bit and I just need to figure out what to do to get things fixed and how to get the money to do it.
 
s***, that sucks. I did something similar when I drove off at full speed with an extention cord still hooked up in the garage inside the door of my audi a month ago. I realized how lucky I was later that I didn't kill/maim a pedestrian. it screwed up the cord but it could have been SO much worse if someone got taken out. maybe it'll make you feel better when you think of how bad the damage would have been if you were going faster.
 
As an avid Mountain/Road Biker/Racer ... I feel for you man.

Last year while on a racing trip, I had 3 bikes on the back of my then-car, a pontiac vibe.

We were going pretty fast on some rolling hills (60mph ... 55mph speed limit) and we hit a real big one.

Not just a big ... but a REAL big one.

The vibe was airborne for at least a second or two. Came down with a horrendous CRUNCH. The 16" snowtires I had on did a lot of shock absorbption ... but all was lost.

The strap on the bone's rack I had had loosened up enough so that the bikes on the back ended up hitting the pavement. One of the bikes snapped clean off the rack and went flying into the air. The wheel, I am told, was at least 20+ feet straight up bouncing, almost into a local pond. Both wheels were wrecked, but at least the frame on that bike was ok. Scratched to hell though. The 2nd bike on the rack stayed on, but the impact had dented the frame on the top tube (Specialized S-Works Road Frame) ... $1200 frame.

MY Bike, the 3rd on the rack, closest to the car ... received no damage.

Guess who felt like s*** for a week? ;)

Of course, I laugh about it now ... and my teammates kid me about it. But then ... I know exactly how you feel mate.

At least you'll know that it'll never happen again! :D
 
Man that sucks! Yeah, that'd be one of the cons of having a roof rack vs hitch rack. Few cons to hitch racks too, but this is how I fly :D

myp5bikes3.jpg
 
Sportworks!! Got a two-bike version for the back of my Miata. It's wider than the car!

Jonlong, sorry to hear about it. A buddy of mine drove his P5 into a parking garage with his Waterford custom road bike on the roof. No problem going into the garage, no problem in the garage, but on the way out, he caught the seat of the bike on the hang-down "max height" bar thingy. He was accelerating out of the garage to make the light. Tore up the bike and the car. Dented the roof at all four tower locations, folded the top tube of the frame.

Big bummer.
 
I know how you feel. I've done that twice with my jeep!
Now I have a receiver rack to hold the bikes behind the jeep. at least for me it
was just my jeep and I don't care too much how many dents I have in it.
 
What kinda fork you got? and or what would you possibly wish to replace it with?
What kind of bike, and most important what material?

I've worked at shops for about 10yrs of my life, and ave seen many such cases fortunately you're likely alright. I'd check your handlebars/stem, though. But honestly, get at me if you don't need instant replacements. I really wouldn't be too worried about your frame unless it's a lightweight aluminum or scandium or someother ium hardtail. Details of damage control here man... If I were still directly in the industry I'd be able to realyl hook you up, but I do still know plenty of ppl. I should be able to atleast swing you some sweet deals.
 
Poseur, thanks for the support. Luckily, I worked in a shop the past 5 years, and they're having me work temporarily since i'm on winter break, so I have all the connections I need. I checked out my stuff, everything seems fine except the dropouts on the fork were broken. It's a Fox Float RLC100, btw. I'm sending it back to Fox to see if they'll warranty it, if not, then i'll pay to have it fixed, which shouldn't be too bad. The body of the brake levers (hayes mag plus) took the hit, but you wouldn't notice it unless i pointed it out. The damage is so insignifcant. And just to throw it out there, i'll give you the rest of the details about my bike, just cuz that makes me happy, lol.

Santa Cruz Blur, black anodized w/ Fox Float AVA
Fox Float RLC100
'03 XTR Crankset
'03 XTR F. Der.
'02 XTR R. Der.
'02 XTR shifter pods
Hayes Mag Plus (carbon fiber lever) disc brakes
Chris King ISOdisc hubs
Mavic X3.1 UST Tubeless rims
Thomson Elite Seatpost
WTB Laser-V ti saddle
Chris King headset
Race Face Deus stem
Race Face Lo-rise bar
Time ATAC pedals
SRAM pc-99 hollow pin chain

I think that's all the parts, its a pretty sweet ride and I can't wait to be riding it again. Hopefully soon. And more importantly,

what bikes are you guys riding?
 
Here's a pic of my bike, before the accident. And the next pic is one of the fork. The damage is so little, but renders my bike useless for the time being...unless I put the rigid fork from my single speed on it...that'd be great. A bike w/ only rear suspension. I've decided to use this time as an excuse to do a complete rebuild of my bike. I'll strip it down to the frame, clean and lube each component, and put it all back together w/ some nice new shifter cables & housing.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0292.webp
    IMG_0292.webp
    37.1 KB · Views: 848
  • IMG_0928.webp
    IMG_0928.webp
    45.2 KB · Views: 857
Thats one hooked up bike! Mind if i ask what that would run the average joe?
 
Yeah, that happens alot. Knew a guy in Phoenix that did that once with his new titanium bike. Bike was unharmed but the roof of his 4Runner was peeled back.
 
Sorry to hear about this, that Fox Fork looks (looked) really nice. I have wanted to try one of those. Hopefully nothing is wrong with the frame either, but does Santa Cruz have any frame warranty that would help ?
 
It's not a bike but I can feel your pain! My mom bought a 1200.00 icebox and my little brother had it in the back of his 73 3/4 ton ford when he backed into the Garage. Of course being 17 he was going way to fast and it hit the roof, took out the garage door, the overhang, the frig, and his back window! My mom mad him claim it on his insurace, they paid for every thing and them dropped him!
Hope this makes you laugh! Sounds like you need it.
Marry Christmas!
 
Warrenties are not going to cover this damage. Manufacturers warrenty their stuff against screw-ups on their part, not for indestructibility.
 
it sucks when you put so much care into your car and try to keep other people from harming it and then it ends up being the owner that makes the mistake. you live and learn i guess.
 

New Threads and Articles

Back