Saturday, April 26, 2008

7 Collier's Destroyed Cannondale System Six

Stiffness, vertical compliance, lateral rigidity or attractive aero shapes - none matter when you and your machine succumb to the ineviteble. What Cannondale dubs "the most explosive frame that we've have ever developed" lies before us in a state that truly stands nowhere far from exploded.

This is the aftermath of Corey Colliers’ bicycle after a high-speed crash 40 miles into Stage 3 of the Tour de Georgia last week. Timmy Duggan who went down with him suffered a severe concussion, a broken scapula and clavicle and was rushed to a hospital.

The crash happened just after the peloton descended down a bluff to cross the Broad River, 65km into the stage. Up to that point the terrain had been flat like the first two days, but the peloton was crossing the bridge at speeds reaching 80km/h when Collier's wheel became wedged in the concrete surface, sending him over the handlebars. [Cycling News]
3 different pieces here, no steerer tube damage. Wheels are not shown and I wonder what state they're in.

This obviously is bound to happen after a pileup at 40+ mph and is no equipment 'misbehavior'. But one might as well bring up the question - would the end result be still this had the material been say, steel or titanium? Well, thats an interesting question. I think at these speeds, anything could break but what hangs in balance is how much. At the end of the day, nothing matters more than the fact that you can live to tell the tale.

7 comments:

  1. My dad's a TV repairman. He has an awesome set of tools. I can fix it.

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  2. Chris : Thats I guess a good use for failed bicycles. Put them up on your roof. But I hear analog broadcasting is going to be erased off the face of the planet is 2009.

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  3. I guess I'm screwed for TV then.

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  4. Blue : You watch TV? Inexcusable!

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  5. If this was indeed a C-Dale System 6 as opposed to the newer all-carbon Super 6, then it's the weird carbon-front alloy-rear design that only Cannondale ever used. I've always wondered about the strength of the Carbon-Aluminum interfaces - hard to tell where this thing broke.

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  6. Velojon : I did look up the C-dale records. In 2007, they supplied Healthnet with System Six's and Slice bikes for TT'ing. I don't think it has changed this season.

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  7. That Health-Net bike is a SuperSix. notice the ultra thin seatstays and also the paint still present on the seat tube visible as "SUP...SIX." I don't think anything would have REALLY survived the crash described very well, but it's definitely not because of a "weak" carbon-aluminum interface...

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