Having a dental appointment on Friday 7th December and having been a nice
sunny morning, I decided to cycle down to Steyning on the A281 via Henfield, Small
Dole and Bramber. I had opted to ride my old Viking bike today as I would be leaving
it outside the dentist in Steyning.
Fortunately I only needed a bit more amalgam to fill a small hole in one tooth and
a cleaning so half an hour later, I was on my way out of Steyning to the bypass. Then
I decided on a longer route home by cycling back to Bamber with the intention of riding
over to Fulking. Turning right for Edburton just after Golding Barn, I was confronted
by a gang of men with chainsaws and a grab-lorry cutting down some overhanging trees.
I dismounted and walked down the side of the lorry and then got back my bike.
Standing on the pedals, I gave a heave, heard a crack and then the bars went limp
just before coming completely away in my hands! The handlebar clamp had snapped clean
off the front of the quill-type stem(see picture below)
You can see the other bits of the handlebar clamp still around the bars!
My Viking was rather elderly being manufactured in 1962 and obviously all of the
flexing of the stem had eventually weakened it so much that it fractured. Luckily, I
had only just got on the bike so I was only just moving but ten minutes earlier, I had
been cycling at over 20mph on the Steyning bypass - it doesn't bear thinking about what
might have happened if it failed anywhere else!
Please check all of your bike's components regularly and if you hear any
unusual creaking noises or there are signs of extra flexing, you should replace the
offending part(s) immediately!