Damage done to my bike by a pothole tonight - advice needed.
 

Literally less than half a mile from home tonight, and in the dark I hit a big pothole at 30. The bike jolted so much, it felt like I hit a curb as I was literally bounced upwards and forwards off the seat; and I also heard a loud "clang". I didn't drop the bike but stopped to see what I'd hit, and the hole was a really weird one - perfectly circular about 6 inches across at road surface, and like a tapering cone shape down to the centre which was about 4 - 5 inches deep. The road is a mish-mash of repairs and tarmac types, and the hole appeared to be in one of the newer repairs, as the tarmac was darker. Nearest I can tell there must have been an air pocket underneath, and the recent heatwave melted the tarmac to the point where it sunk down to fill the pocket, as the hole was exactly the same shape as water draining out of a sink. Because of the shape of the hole and the darkness of the tarmac, it never lit up in my headlights, so I didn't see it.

Anyway, my first concern was for my wheel, so I rode the bike home and checked it over, but couldn't see any immediate damage. I figured I'd leave it an hour and see if the tyre started to deflate. Went out about tennish and the tyre was fine, so decided to take the bike for a little low speed, local run to see how it was - I didn't wear gloves, and wore my MX helmet so I could feel and hear better. There is definitely a problem - at every small bump in the road I can hear a metallic noise and feel a small jerky movement through the bars - I've gone over the entire front end, and every parts seems solidly in place, but obviously it's dark so I'll get a better look tomorrow.

Obviously it's too dark to get pictures of the hole tonight, but I'm going up there first thing in the morning with a ruler to record it's width and depth, so I can try to claim off the council.

My first question is this - does anyone know what type of damage could have been caused to my bike?

The second is - Apart from the photos of the hole, what other evidence will I need to claim the cost of repairs from the council?

Cheers for helping, Matt.

e mail a picture to MCN i'm sure they would be intrested! i sent a pic of my belly pan today which had been shot to bits by a newly surfaced road of gravel glued to tar! £60 that colour match paint job cost me!
sorry back to your bike :oops: dont know much about front forks really?

Lord,
you want to come and ride around sheffield, all the roads are like that.
Some places you can count the decades by the patches on the road.

And I cannot believe that you have ridden your bike without gloves.

that is mental...

If you can't feel any pulsing in the brake, and your tire isn't loosing air, your likely ok

I bent my front wheel slightly in a pothole, I could only feel it at low speeds in the front brake

Go & take a picture of the pot-hole & take a picture of the damage to your bike & ring the council roads dept. on Monday morning... I'm sure you can put a claim in against them :!:

Re: Damage done to my bike by a pothole tonight - advice nee
 

I might be talking out of my ars........ sorry, hat, here, but if everything seems solid but you're getting something through the bars then could your head-bearings have been trashed?

This is definitely not B.A.S.A.T. compliant, just my musing to myself.

Either way - you might want to get your bike looked over and, if anything's wrong, get an estimate for the work and contact the County Council. Actually, contact the County Council anyway and they will want to know about the hole.

Claims against the Council are tricky. If the hole has been prviously reported then you are quids in. If this is the first report it may be more difficult.

Best of luck

Re: Damage done to my bike by a pothole tonight - advice nee
 

Also not B.A.S.A.T. approved, but I would tend to agree.

in your photos make sure you have a ruler, maybe the bike standing next to it, and a general view showing the location relative to buildings etc.

You may need to seek some advice, the council/highways dept will deny responsibility, whether that's right or wrong. They will work on the principle that few people will proceed with a case against them.

Make sure there are no cracks in the frame :shock:

i trashed a moped due to a large pot hole it was on a red route, so i had to complain to the highways agency i took pictures of the bike & the hole with my lid next to it. i got the price of my bike, clothing , lid & bus fares after lengthy talks (about 4 months) with the company responsible it takes time but u will get there.

Thanks for the advice guys - here's what's happened today.

Got some pictures of the hole:
http://www.thebikereview.com/iup/get8.asp?ID=921
http://www.thebikereview.com/iup/get8.asp?ID=922

That's a 30cm ruler.

Spoke to my local councillor, and he told me that he's been campaigning for over a year to get that road re-surfaced, and will send me all his correspondence to back up my claim... so that side of things is looking good.

My mate and I looked over the bike today, and it appears as though the head barings have collapsed, but obviously, I'm going to take the bike in to be looked at thoroughly to see if there's any other hidden damage.

Touch wood, it's all easily repairable and will be paid for.

In response to various comments:
I only took my gloves off for a low speed run round my block so I could feel if there were any problems - when I rode home originally I was obviously wearing my gloves and didn't feel anything, so it was probably a good job I did what I did on the second run.

I'll be sending a mail to MCN shortly

And finally, what is B.A.S.A.T.?

Cheers, Matt.

Am quite surprised any damage occurred as the hole does not look that big

oh you would be surprised what damage even a "small" pot hole can do.

BigApe Sound Advice Test, if you say you are approved you are claiming that it is something you do actually know about and you're not bull****ting. Mostly a joke.

I'm surprised you've got noticable damage from a hole that size, perhaps your bearings were on the way out, anyway.

Someone else pointed out that they weren't very good pictures, so I took a few more lower angle ones on the way to work this morning:
http://www.thebikereview.com/iup/get8.asp?ID=936
http://www.thebikereview.com/iup/get8.asp?ID=937
http://www.thebikereview.com/iup/get8.asp?ID=938

Hopefully these'll show the width and depth of the hole a lot better - you can see why I didn't see it in time, as the shape camouflages the size, even in daylight.

The depth from the rest of the road surface is just over 4 inches at the opening - that's the equivalent of hitting a brick at 30mph; and the head barings were brand new... only replaced at the start of June in order to pass my MOT, and I keep all my paperwork.

If you ise the newspaper, and cut all the letters out of it, You can then send the council a threatening letter :P Pay up or the Mayor gets it :D

If you give me the address of that hole, I will bring my 44 tonne truck round and enlarge it a bit more :P

From that angle you can see how wide the dip actually is

You can see that there are more holes further down the road. I'd deffo complain to the Council. If it's recently been patched then the Council will pass the claim on to the contractor.

Did the front or rear wheel take the majopr shock from the pothole? There's also bearings in the rear suspension where the "dogbones" are connected and there's the bolts on the dogbones. if one side broke, you may not notice it at low speeds but the bike may lean to the side some.

wayne