Paris-Roubaix: Mean Time Between Failures
by Softie on Apr 9, 2009 9:17 AM EDT
50 comments
An engineer once told me that bicycles are designed to withstand some enormous number of vibration cycles before failure, with each cycle being the equivalent of riding over a cobble. Something like a half million or a million cycles. The engineer then told me that the design spec amounted to about 25km of cobbles.
Paris-Roubaix has 53km of cobblestones.
Not surprising, then, that the Queen of the Classics played host to the strangest mechanical ever---Hincapie's broken steerer tube. And we can pretty much count on one contender being taken out by a mechanical Sunday. So I've created a poll so that the Cafe can weigh in on what will happen this year, with parenthetical examples of memorable mechanicals from the past.
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Surely the broken steerer tube isn’t the strangest mechanical ever?
by plinytheelder on Apr 9, 2009 10:17 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
sorry, I don’t seem to know how to talk today – everything coming out of my mouth (or off my fingertips) seems to be caustic. What I meant was, it would be interesting to look back over the history of P-R, I bet there are some other really bizarre mechanicals, I don’t know anything about the history of the race but the inventory of mechanicals that have occurred there is probably really interesting.
by plinytheelder on Apr 9, 2009 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'm all about the loose bottle cage
Sounds like a great way to go. Sort of like Spinal Tap’s drummer choking on someone else’s vomit.
When I'm on the mic, I'm like global warming, you can't ignore me.
by tehGrindCrusher on Apr 9, 2009 10:49 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
You can't very well dust for vomit...
by Mr Van P on Apr 9, 2009 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Comment of the week nominee
"Never swing a small stick. " Andy Hampsten
by Hons on Apr 9, 2009 5:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think spontaneous combustion should have been a choice
Dozens of people spontaneously combust each year. It just doesn’t go widely reported.
When I'm on the mic, I'm like global warming, you can't ignore me.
by tehGrindCrusher on Apr 9, 2009 8:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
please -
nothing bad for george
nothing bad for george
nothing bad for george
by cg. on Apr 9, 2009 11:50 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods.
They break our steerer tubes for their sport.
"Sean Kelly? Sorry, I am not so good with cycling history. I just want to race." --Edvald Boasson Hagen
by majope on Apr 9, 2009 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Wheel Issues
Did not George have wheel issues last year (2008), about the time that the pre-winning move went up the road (Boonen, Fabian, Ballan, Stuey, Maaskant)?
by Yossarian12 on Apr 9, 2009 12:26 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Yes, he had a tire or wheel issue. I remember him standing at the side of the road
looking exasperated while waiting for the team car, my shattered dreams on the ground next to him.
by ZoeRochelle on Apr 9, 2009 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
its very easy to get emotional over these things at 5:30 am having already watched
90 minutes of racing, alone, in the dark, on a Sunday morning, on only 4 hours of sleep.
by ZoeRochelle on Apr 9, 2009 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
One of the reasons I'd like to see George eventually win it is
to put Zoe’s mind at ease. I remember last year’s thread – you were almost as anguished as he was. I didn’t know who to feel worse for.
"I didn't look for him and I didn't see him. If you base your race on another rider, most of the time you lose."
Tom Boonen
by Drew... on Apr 9, 2009 12:51 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
but not quite to the same degree as Backstedt
Now, I really, really LOVE my 808s, but whoever convinced Maggie that slamming an 81mm carbon rim into cobbles at 55+kph would be a good idea . . . well . . . we know how that turned out.
by R Mc on Apr 9, 2009 12:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think you said as much on the live thread last year :-)
"I didn't look for him and I didn't see him. If you base your race on another rider, most of the time you lose."
Tom Boonen
by Drew... on Apr 9, 2009 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
He's exactly right
As he was last year
"I didn't look for him and I didn't see him. If you base your race on another rider, most of the time you lose."
Tom Boonen
by Drew... on Apr 9, 2009 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think the cycles to failure wasn't important until aluminum and carbon fiber became popular
If I rember rightly, steel only fails if something catasrophic happens, that is, something above a certain threshold. The newer materials do fail after a finite number of cycles, so they have a life span even for mere recreational riders.
Or my memory is failing and steel behaves that way, as well.
I vote for wheel (non-tire).
by pigilito on Apr 9, 2009 1:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I think that's right
there is a comment to this effect in this article on the steel Willier Ballan rode in the 2006 edition of the race — steel bends, it doesn’t snap, so a rider might be able to keep going on a damaged frame.
Viva la Lactique
by nrs5000 on Apr 9, 2009 1:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
so the BMC team will also be testing new bikes - are they asking for trouble?
“BMC will have half its crew riding the classic full carbon ProMachine SLC01 over the Roubaix cobbles, while four other members will be testing the new SLX model.”
read more here
by lyne on Apr 9, 2009 1:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Testing new stuff during P-R
Now there is formula for success…
More Muur...
by Jimbo... on Apr 9, 2009 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'm guessing the guys with no chance of finishing for BMC
will be on the new bikes.
"I didn't look for him and I didn't see him. If you base your race on another rider, most of the time you lose."
Tom Boonen
by Drew... on Apr 9, 2009 1:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
They might as well do *something* with the afternoon
It’s not like we expect to see any of them in the main group after Arrenberg.
Brooklyn Chewing Gum: Vlaanderens Mooiste
by Koppenberg on Apr 9, 2009 3:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The broken seat thing
happened to Jens!, but I think that was during the TdF, not P-R
More Muur...
by Jimbo... on Apr 9, 2009 1:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
happened to him on the
Champs Elysees, if memory serves me
Viva la Lactique
by nrs5000 on Apr 9, 2009 1:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
That must have been a sign of the Greatness of Jens! to lose it where he did.
Mon coeur appartient à les forçats de la route.
by Josenka on Apr 9, 2009 6:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I picked a wheel issues but it
won’t be Mavic reflex or anything by Ambrosio.
Guys are pushing the limits of carbon wheels. Hopefully not the wider 303’s that I was gushing over earlier in the week.
by Mr Van P on Apr 9, 2009 1:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
The 303s
were my inspiration for the poll. I used to ride on cobbles pretty frequently until I had a spectacular wipeout on them, and I cannot imagine subjecting a carbon wheelset to high-speed cobble duty.
But if you’re a pro, and someone gives you wind tunnel results with a 20-watt savings, you might gamble on having the set of 303s that makes it to the end without detonating. They’d be a sacrifice wheelset, but hey, Paris-Roubaix is well worth a Mass . . .
by Softie on Apr 9, 2009 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
my choice is missing: fork
someone’s going to go for weight or comfort and regret it.
by JFS_PGH on Apr 9, 2009 3:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Time to repaint the Leader MX w/ the cro-mo battleship forks
to match the new team’s colors!
Brooklyn Chewing Gum: Vlaanderens Mooiste
by Koppenberg on Apr 9, 2009 3:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Inspired by you lot
I took my lunchtime ride up and down a few cobbled hills. Just enough to remind me that it’s better experienced as a spectator.
by Sui Juris on Apr 9, 2009 4:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
lol
I remember riding the one up to Georgetown, near the Key Bridge. Gah.
by gavia on Apr 9, 2009 7:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I avoid the ones in Old City here like the *plague*
And those aren’t even hills TYVM.
by Ed K on Apr 9, 2009 8:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
That's a dangerous place to ride
The odds of getting hit by a stray latte or iPod touch are astronomical. I’ll take the Arenberg, thank you very much.
When I'm on the mic, I'm like global warming, you can't ignore me.
by tehGrindCrusher on Apr 9, 2009 9:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Wait a Minute
Are we supposed to pick the failure we think will occur, or the failure we’d really love to witness?
There is a difference.
"Age and treachery will overcome youth and skill"
-- Fausto Coppi
by TCWriter on Apr 10, 2009 1:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
As in
Hennie Kuiper making a comeback, suffering a complete frame, wheel, fork + steerer breakdown in the Arenberg, fighting his way back , catching and passing the leaders on Carrefour de’l Arbre and soloing to victory?
by Jens on Apr 10, 2009 3:16 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
no - that was way too pedestrian
"I didn't look for him and I didn't see him. If you base your race on another rider, most of the time you lose."
Tom Boonen
by Drew... on Apr 10, 2009 8:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
just because
Jens forgot to mention the part when Hennie welds his frame back together in the blacksmith’s shop out back behind the Bar du Carrefour
Viva la Lactique
by nrs5000 on Apr 11, 2009 12:19 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Ok - now that's a story
"I didn't look for him and I didn't see him. If you base your race on another rider, most of the time you lose."
Tom Boonen
by Drew... on Apr 11, 2009 7:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Pedestrian?
As in: person who walks around carrying his bike on his shoulder?
by Jens on Apr 10, 2009 9:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
As in - boring. Like a flat, southern stage of the Vuelta
Actually, I was just tweaking you to see if I could draw out TC Writer. I know he’ll be around tomorrow :-)
"I didn't look for him and I didn't see him. If you base your race on another rider, most of the time you lose."
Tom Boonen
by Drew... on Apr 11, 2009 7:42 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
"Leave the Vuelta Alone!"
(sorry, I’ve just been looking for a reason to re-use Sui’s Post of the Year)
by Jens on Apr 11, 2009 7:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
You just had to go and do that, didn't you.
No negotiations, just straight to the nuclear option, eh Jens?
What’s become of diplomacy on this site?
"I didn't look for him and I didn't see him. If you base your race on another rider, most of the time you lose."
Tom Boonen
by Drew... on Apr 11, 2009 8:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Breaking chain
Isn’t that a hilly kind of mechanical? Rider is stuck in a gear that is too heavy and tries to push through?
by Lopex on Apr 10, 2009 2:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Chain suck
On the cobbles – or other random bumpy terrain – the chain can get stuck between the chainstay and the crankset. Breakage is often the result. Happens especially if it’s muddy.
by gavia on Apr 10, 2009 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Chain suck
Bane of my dirt existence.
by Sui Juris on Apr 10, 2009 7:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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