I’ve heard about several bike failures yesterday amongst the pros.
Jeff Symonds - broken (loose) crank
Matt Hansen - snapped brake cable or at least came loose
Heater Wuertle - Rear derailluer failure and not Di2 meltdown
Jordan Rapp - broken saddle rails
Any others?
Updated with corrections/additions.
I’ve heard about several bike failures yesterday amongst the pros.
Jeff Symonds - broken crank
Matt Hansen - snapped brake cable
Heater Wuertle - Di2 meltdown
Any others?
I believe that it was Matt’s aero bars that broke as the result of a crash. Still seems like things that shouldn’t happen on race day.
This isn’t the first I’ve heard of Di2 issues - very happy with my SRAM Red ‘old school’ group.
What I’ve heard is that when he went to apply the brakes for the turn the cable snapped and which led to the crash. The bars snapped as a result of the crash.
I’ve heard about several bike failures yesterday amongst the pros.
Jeff Symonds - broken crank
Matt Hansen - snapped brake cable
Heater Wuertle - Di2 meltdown
Any others?
I believe that it was Matt’s aero bars that broke as the result of a crash. Still seems like things that shouldn’t happen on race day.
This isn’t the first I’ve heard of Di2 issues - very happy with my SRAM Red ‘old school’ group.
There is probably a reason why some pro cyclists (Cancellara, Nibali, Contador) use mechanical shifting for their critical races. There is less to go wrong.
I don’t understand how someone’s brake cable could snap. That sounds like incompetent maintenance.
What was going on with Tim O’donnell near Wiakola??
I’ve heard about several bike failures yesterday amongst the pros.
Jeff Symonds - broken crank
Matt Hansen - snapped brake cable
Heater Wuertle - Di2 meltdown
Any others?
I don’t think it was Heather’s Di2, it was her rear derailleur pulley came dislodged according to Fastyellow (Dusty Nabor) who saw her bike.
What I’ve heard is that when he went to apply the brakes for the turn the cable snapped and which led to the crash. The bars snapped as a result of the crash.
That’s too bad about Matt. After my crash at IM Switerland in 2011, and seeing how badly carbon base bars shatter, I have gone to Aluminium basebar only. They may bend ever so slightly in a crash, but you can likely get up and continue your day if your body is OK.
Do you know if the cable snapped or did it just come lose at the Allen Key bolt where the cable attaches to the brakes. I literally have never heard of a brake cable snapping in all my years of cycling. The forces on them SHOULD be too low to cause a failure. There is a reason why brake cables are thicker and more robust than shifter cables. I know it is easy to Monday morning QB all this (that’s what fans are supposed to do anyway) but would be very surprised with a truly “snapped” brake cable. Real bummer for Matt however you look at this.
In terms of Symond’s broken crank. I bet you the crank was not broken. I am guessing it came lose. Again, I have never heard of a broken crank, but I have heard of cranks improperly tightened coming lose and this happening after travel is not entirely uncommon either.
Didn’t Rapp’s saddle break?
Carbon cranks brake. Done it 4 times.
Carbon cranks brake. Done it 4 times.
Seriously, first time I have heard of a crank breaking and I have had carbon cranks on 2 bikes (but generally stuck with Al).
My money’s on bad wrenching on the brakes. I ran the same brake cables for 10 years and ~30,000 miles on one bike without having a problem, including quite a few emergency stops with wheels locked up! Ironically I finally changed the cables last year at the same time as replacing the calipers, and after less than 12 months I’ve got a sticky rear brake which is driving me nuts and I can’t figure out the root cause.
I’ve heard about several bike failures yesterday amongst the pros.
Jeff Symonds - broken crank
Matt Hansen - snapped brake cable
Heater Wuertle - Di2 meltdown
Any others?
I don’t think it was Heather’s Di2, it was her rear derailleur pulley came dislodged according to Fastyellow (Dusty Nabor) who saw her bike.
It wasn’t a Di2 failure, it was a pulley failure. AKA it was a mechanical failure in an electric system.
Didn’t Rapp’s saddle break?
Yes. The saddle rails snapped in four places. Progressively. One rail snapped about 30km into the ride, and it was manageable, but with the saddle being weakened by the one rail snapping, it just kept breaking more. By the time I was climbing to Hawi, the saddle was basically just loosely held onto to the top of the seatpost.
After the turnaround in Hawi, I flagged down tech support and sad, “I need a saddle.” They had one guys bike on the roof, and we just pulled the saddle off and swapped it in. But obviously wasn’t able to position it correctly. It was better than what I had, but it was pitched way up, so I had the choice of either riding it MTB style - sitting back big-slam style on it - or sitting with the nose of the saddle jammed into my prostate. I needed to stand a lot to take pressure off and just generally was pretty uncomfortable. But I was able to finish the ride and thought I might run okay. But my legs were pretty messed up from doing 150km without proper support under my ass…
When you think about “shit happens” during a race, this was not something that ever entered into my consciousness… Kona definitely has some Bermuda-Triangle-esque qualities when it comes to bikes.
Didn’t Rapp’s saddle break?
Yes. The saddle rails snapped in four places. Progressively. One rail snapped about 30km into the ride, and it was manageable, but with the saddle being weakened by the one rail snapping, it just kept breaking more. By the time I was climbing to Hawi, the saddle was basically just loosely held onto to the top of the seatpost.
After the turnaround in Hawi, I flagged down tech support and sad, “I need a saddle.” They had one guys bike on the roof, and we just pulled the saddle off and swapped it in. But obviously wasn’t able to position it correctly. It was better than what I had, but it was pitched way up, so I had the choice of either riding it MTB style - sitting back big-slam style on it - or sitting with the nose of the saddle jammed into my prostate. I needed to stand a lot to take pressure off and just generally was pretty uncomfortable. But I was able to finish the ride and thought I might run okay. But my legs were pretty messed up from doing 150km without proper support under my ass…
When you think about “shit happens” during a race, this was not something that ever entered into my consciousness… Kona definitely has some Bermuda-Triangle-esque qualities when it comes to bikes.
Sorry to hear about your race…at the Paris Indoor tri in 1993:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShaIkG8qf48
Go to 6:20 into the video when they leave T1 and see what happens to Garret McCarthy’s saddle (ouch). Short race on the velodrome and he had to do it standing. I guess you spent way too much time either compressing your hip angle sitting way back, or standing up, both of which killing your bike and run split. That’s a stellar result considering all this. Congrats.
Didn’t Rapp’s saddle break?
Yes. The saddle rails snapped in four places. Progressively. One rail snapped about 30km into the ride, and it was manageable, but with the saddle being weakened by the one rail snapping, it just kept breaking more. By the time I was climbing to Hawi, the saddle was basically just loosely held onto to the top of the seatpost.
After the turnaround in Hawi, I flagged down tech support and sad, “I need a saddle.” They had one guys bike on the roof, and we just pulled the saddle off and swapped it in. But obviously wasn’t able to position it correctly. It was better than what I had, but it was pitched way up, so I had the choice of either riding it MTB style - sitting back big-slam style on it - or sitting with the nose of the saddle jammed into my prostate. I needed to stand a lot to take pressure off and just generally was pretty uncomfortable. But I was able to finish the ride and thought I might run okay. But my legs were pretty messed up from doing 150km without proper support under my ass…
When you think about “shit happens” during a race, this was not something that ever entered into my consciousness… Kona definitely has some Bermuda-Triangle-esque qualities when it comes to bikes.
I’ve always avoided carbon railed saddles but I put a Dash saddle on my bike last winter… mainly because I wanted to try the Dash but I wish Dash had a Ti railed saddle.
Sorry about your bad luck.
Didn’t Rapp’s saddle break?
Yes. The saddle rails snapped in four places. Progressively. One rail snapped about 30km into the ride, and it was manageable, but with the saddle being weakened by the one rail snapping, it just kept breaking more. By the time I was climbing to Hawi, the saddle was basically just loosely held onto to the top of the seatpost.
After the turnaround in Hawi, I flagged down tech support and sad, “I need a saddle.” They had one guys bike on the roof, and we just pulled the saddle off and swapped it in. But obviously wasn’t able to position it correctly. It was better than what I had, but it was pitched way up, so I had the choice of either riding it MTB style - sitting back big-slam style on it - or sitting with the nose of the saddle jammed into my prostate. I needed to stand a lot to take pressure off and just generally was pretty uncomfortable. But I was able to finish the ride and thought I might run okay. But my legs were pretty messed up from doing 150km without proper support under my ass…
When you think about “shit happens” during a race, this was not something that ever entered into my consciousness… Kona definitely has some Bermuda-Triangle-esque qualities when it comes to bikes.
I’ve always avoided carbon railed saddles but I put a Dash saddle on my bike last winter… mainly because I wanted to try the Dash but I wish Dash had a Ti railed saddle.
Sorry about your bad luck.
These were titanium rails that snapped. Solid titanium rails…
I’ve heard about several bike failures yesterday amongst the pros.
Jeff Symonds - broken crank
Matt Hansen - snapped brake cable
Heater Wuertle - Di2 meltdown
Any others?
I don’t think it was Heather’s Di2, it was her rear derailleur pulley came dislodged according to Fastyellow (Dusty Nabor) who saw her bike.
It wasn’t a Di2 failure, it was a pulley failure. AKA it was a mechanical failure in an electric system.
But that doesn’t work with the Di2 haters version of events. Electronic shifting is evil.
Didn’t Rapp’s saddle break?
Yes. The saddle rails snapped in four places. Progressively. One rail snapped about 30km into the ride, and it was manageable, but with the saddle being weakened by the one rail snapping, it just kept breaking more. By the time I was climbing to Hawi, the saddle was basically just loosely held onto to the top of the seatpost.
After the turnaround in Hawi, I flagged down tech support and sad, “I need a saddle.” They had one guys bike on the roof, and we just pulled the saddle off and swapped it in. But obviously wasn’t able to position it correctly. It was better than what I had, but it was pitched way up, so I had the choice of either riding it MTB style - sitting back big-slam style on it - or sitting with the nose of the saddle jammed into my prostate. I needed to stand a lot to take pressure off and just generally was pretty uncomfortable. But I was able to finish the ride and thought I might run okay. But my legs were pretty messed up from doing 150km without proper support under my ass…
When you think about “shit happens” during a race, this was not something that ever entered into my consciousness… Kona definitely has some Bermuda-Triangle-esque qualities when it comes to bikes.
I’ve always avoided carbon railed saddles but I put a Dash saddle on my bike last winter… mainly because I wanted to try the Dash but I wish Dash had a Ti railed saddle.
Sorry about your bad luck.
These were titanium rails that snapped. Solid titanium rails…
How the fuck? Didn’t expect that reply.
Didn’t Rapp’s saddle break?
Yes. The saddle rails snapped in four places. Progressively. One rail snapped about 30km into the ride, and it was manageable, but with the saddle being weakened by the one rail snapping, it just kept breaking more. By the time I was climbing to Hawi, the saddle was basically just loosely held onto to the top of the seatpost.
After the turnaround in Hawi, I flagged down tech support and sad, “I need a saddle.” They had one guys bike on the roof, and we just pulled the saddle off and swapped it in. But obviously wasn’t able to position it correctly. It was better than what I had, but it was pitched way up, so I had the choice of either riding it MTB style - sitting back big-slam style on it - or sitting with the nose of the saddle jammed into my prostate. I needed to stand a lot to take pressure off and just generally was pretty uncomfortable. But I was able to finish the ride and thought I might run okay. But my legs were pretty messed up from doing 150km without proper support under my ass…
When you think about “shit happens” during a race, this was not something that ever entered into my consciousness… Kona definitely has some Bermuda-Triangle-esque qualities when it comes to bikes.
I’ve always avoided carbon railed saddles but I put a Dash saddle on my bike last winter… mainly because I wanted to try the Dash but I wish Dash had a Ti railed saddle.
Sorry about your bad luck.
These were titanium rails that snapped. Solid titanium rails…
Might be time to “upgrade” to hollow CroMo steel rails…probably weigh the same as solid Ti rails, and if designed correctly, basically infinite fatigue life.
Nice work out there in any case 
Who the heck is that guy running barefoot?
Didn’t Rapp’s saddle break?
Yes. The saddle rails snapped in four places. Progressively. One rail snapped about 30km into the ride, and it was manageable, but with the saddle being weakened by the one rail snapping, it just kept breaking more. By the time I was climbing to Hawi, the saddle was basically just loosely held onto to the top of the seatpost.
After the turnaround in Hawi, I flagged down tech support and sad, “I need a saddle.” They had one guys bike on the roof, and we just pulled the saddle off and swapped it in. But obviously wasn’t able to position it correctly. It was better than what I had, but it was pitched way up, so I had the choice of either riding it MTB style - sitting back big-slam style on it - or sitting with the nose of the saddle jammed into my prostate. I needed to stand a lot to take pressure off and just generally was pretty uncomfortable. But I was able to finish the ride and thought I might run okay. But my legs were pretty messed up from doing 150km without proper support under my ass…
When you think about “shit happens” during a race, this was not something that ever entered into my consciousness… Kona definitely has some Bermuda-Triangle-esque qualities when it comes to bikes.
Sorry to hear about your race…at the Paris Indoor tri in 1993:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShaIkG8qf48
Go to 6:20 into the video when they leave T1 and see what happens to Garret McCarthy’s saddle (ouch). Short race on the velodrome and he had to do it standing. I guess you spent way too much time either compressing your hip angle sitting way back, or standing up, both of which killing your bike and run split. That’s a stellar result considering all this. Congrats.