Was my bike assaulted? Pic included

[blingUK]

Hello all,

Well I've been away for 1 year to the tropics and have returned to shock and horror. My rear hub seems to have snapped itself off? The bike is hardly ridden, maybe a 20 min ride before I left for the tropics. This bike has largely been in my bedroom and is more of a show bike than anything else. I've asked the family they are adamant no one has touched it or gone near it. I just can't work it out, was it done by Aliens? The cut seems pretty smooth, there doesn't seem to be any blunt trauma anywhere. You decide?

[artray]

If only Sherlock Holmes or Columbo could investigate . Im with the Alien theory .

[prendrefeu]

Serious question: do any of your family members (or roommates, persons who share your living space) have disdain for your cycling passion?

[blingUK]

Thanks for the replies guys. Notice the dust on it? This means its not been ridden, I just dont get it. There are no damage marks, the cut is clean. Unexplained mystery.

[prendrefeu]

Just a random, remote guess - it could be a failure of the hub's flange, all around - and the spokes pulled the flange towards the middle.

[LouisN]

Sun ?

Maybe heat coming from the sun, maybe even a small opening in the window. Gives stress to the metal, every day, for repeated days, same stress...
...And then, BOOM !!!
I had a bike lying in the sun for 30 minutes, and BOOM! a spoke snapped on the front wheel right there.

Louis

[chipomarc]

Carbonfiber sucks

[blingUK]

Carbonfiber sucks

snap was on the metal bit.

[mvacolnago]

suicide, the hub was depressed because it was never used?

On a serious note, be grateful it happened while sitting in your home instead of on a fast downhill.

[ultimobici]

Is the break clean an an even colour all the way round? If it is dull in one spot that might indicate a flaw in the offside flange that was present from day one.

[blingUK]

Is the break clean an an even colour all the way round? If it is dull in one spot that might indicate a flaw in the offside flange that was present from day one.

Many thanks for this I shall check when I get back home.

[madcow]

Believe it or not this isn't the first time I've seen a failure like this in the last year or two, though to be honest the other wasn't an FRM hub or a full alloy one. The other one had only been ridden a couple of times as well. Though unfortunately for him the flange let loose while riding.

Nobody broke your wheel, it was just a defect or possibly stress corrosion. Sergio from Extralite had the simplest explanation of stress corrosion:

"This phenomena happens to high-strength alloy when the part is constantly subjected to an excessive tension and this lasts for a long time (the excessive high tension is normally produced by an excessive and/or uneven strain).
Additionally storing the bike with the tensioned part in a humid place will significantly speed up the stress-corrosion process.
After the "stress-corrosion" starts to show its signs the part is not repairable and its not usable anymore.
The usage of the bike and the part is not a cause of the stress-corrosion, the reasons are excessive tension and storage in a permanently humid environment."

[xnavalav8r]

The same thing happened to an old-school Nuke Proof hub on my mountain bike back in the mid-90s. I was deployed for 6 months and left my bike locked in a storage unit. I came back and the rear hub had failed at the flange...

[Waldo]

Common with Nuke Proof hubs and not unheard of with others.

Here's a Nuke Proof hub that was sitting in Schwinn's offices. It was a special edition Homegrown presented to the governor of Colorado in the Boulder days.

[mjduct]

I love it when a "nukeproof" hub breaks sitting in an office on a trophy bike. Makes me really sweat my ultra-fragile carbon clinchers!!!