My Ridley Helium (13.75lbs now)

[woz9683]

Oh yeah, and these are ready to ride now too. Vittoria Corsas, 21c. But, I've got some Veloflex Extremes that I want to put on once they age a little more.

[woz9683]

Well, we knew the wrecks were coming...




Crit in Tuscaloosa, rider in front of me wrecked after a left-hand turn at the bottom of a steep little downhill. It looked like he just lost traction on his rear wheel, and slid down right in front of me. I went head-over-heels over him, and landed on my head and slid on my face

Surprisingly, I don't even have any damage worth showing to my bike. We were probably doing about 35mph minus whatever last second braking might have taken off. Bent the derailleur hanger, scuffed the saddle and the handlebars, and tacoed the front wheel. I got the wheel back in true, but the spoke tensions are all over the place, I should probably go ahead and just replace the rim.

So, no harm no foul. But this did make me get off my ass about repairing my backup (identical) frame. I'll post progress pics this evening. It's almost done, and I think it looks pretty good. It feels solid, which is of course the most important thing. It's not going to be the prettiest job in the world, as I'm not going to bother repainting anything, just a quick clear coat to protect the carbon.

[Johnny Rad]

Glad you're ok - more or less. Sounds like your spirits are fine, too. Commendable.

[fa63]

The pictures of the road rash on your face made me cringe a bit, but I am glad you are all right. Hope the back-up bike turns out looking and riding as well as this one was.

[woz9683]

Thanks, I was kind of bummed until I checked out the bike and saw it was ok. At this point, just glad my head wasn't split open. New helmet came in yesterday, so I'll be on the road tomorrow. Good thing, I'm tired of the trainer already, it's too pretty out to be inside.

The build list for the backup will take a while to come together, but I'm starting to accumulate parts. Ritchey bars and stem, Red shifters, Force derailleurs and crank, Rival brakes, Reynolds Solitudes for foul weather, and my recent build with the Alpha 340s for fair. I'm building a generic 38mm tub wheelset that will go to the race bike, and the 404s for low risk situations.

[jghall]

Wow, painfull to even look at. Glad your are ok.

Killer looking bike.

[btompkins0112]

Thanks, I was kind of bummed until I checked out the bike and saw it was ok. At this point, just glad my head wasn't split open. New helmet came in yesterday, so I'll be on the road tomorrow. Good thing, I'm tired of the trainer already, it's too pretty out to be inside.

The build list for the backup will take a while to come together, but I'm starting to accumulate parts. Ritchey bars and stem, Red shifters, Force derailleurs and crank, Rival brakes, Reynolds Solitudes for foul weather, and my recent build with the Alpha 340s for fair. I'm building a generic 38mm tub wheelset that will go to the race bike, and the 404s for low risk situations.

Man, those pics are brutal........glad you are alright and ready to get back on the bike. Let me know if you are going to ride this weekend, I am in Charlotte for work or I'd be in for a Shiloh ride Thursday.

[woz9683]

jghall, thanks and thanks!

Brad, work permitting, if a group goes off from Holmes or lawyers I'd like to do one of those Thursday (so I can hide in the back). Shiloh this weekend for sure though.

Here are the repairs:
1) Sanded down (top tube and right seat stay)


2) Intermediate layer on seat stay (3 layers deep overall)

3) Final layers and sanded (ready to clear coat)



Like I said, nothing spectacular, but seems quite strong. The little spiralling marks are from the tape I used to provide compression while the epoxy cured. I could have definitely cleaned this up a bit, but once its clear coated, I think it will look quite even.

[lightclimber]

Wow, scary looking road rash... I had the same exact kind of road rash on my cheek from a wreck once too. I was super scared that it would scar my face (the scratches were quite deep). All I have to say is that Polysporin is absolutely incredible!
I hope you are doing well now...

As for the carbon repair, who did the repair work? How much did it cost?

[jmilliron]

looks like he did the repair!

Great looking bike. Glad it didn't take too much damage in the crash and glad you didn't break your jaw. I've done that before in a crash and the recovery was pretty awful!

[woz9683]

Thanks for the concern, looking much better these days. The chunk that was missing still doesn't look 100%, but it's much better, just a dime sized spot of new skin that will hopefully continue to blend in over the next few months. Neck is at about 95%, a sudden twist still stings just a bit. And yes, polysporin was very helpful. I didn't realize the differences from neosporin, and will stick to polysporin in the future.

I did do the repair myself. I got a pretty large sheet of carbon fiber and a quart kit of West Systems epoxy for under $100. I've got a couple projects in the works for later on this year, so I wanted some excess to play around with. Other than that, I had a good kit of high grit sand paper for finishing and it took a little bit of time. The bike is built up, I've been riding it pretty regularly around town in training, and it saw its first crit last weekend (in which I sucked, but the bike performed just fine). I'll try to take some pictures of the finished build. People notice the top tube (which I kind of like, cause I am proud of it), but no one even notices the seatstay was redone until I point it out (even though the weave doesn't match).

Also, moved up to Cat4. Yay!