On my way in to work this morning my beloved Giant Lafree Twist Lite snapped in two. It is the step-through model and the frame broke at the bottom. I was late for work as usual, going up hill at about 13-14mph, on the south side of Southwark Bridge. Naturally I hit the road quite hard. Fortunately I got away with just grazed knees and ankles and was lucky that there was nothing on the road behind me. It was also lucky that this happened on the approach to the Bridge as I regularly do 17-20 mph on the other side.
My brief inspection of the wreckage, currently chained to a lamppost, is that this was metal fatigue. Foolishly I have not carried out any maintenance since the summer. I was waiting for the Christmas break. So a warning to others out there – check your frames regularly for cracks.
The bike was new in 2004 and has done about 22,000 miles so was definitely near the end of its life. How long should an aluminium frame last?
Fortuitously, I bought IzzyB’s Giant Lafree on Sunday! Thank you Izzy.
My brief inspection of the wreckage, currently chained to a lamppost, is that this was metal fatigue. Foolishly I have not carried out any maintenance since the summer. I was waiting for the Christmas break. So a warning to others out there – check your frames regularly for cracks.
The bike was new in 2004 and has done about 22,000 miles so was definitely near the end of its life. How long should an aluminium frame last?
Fortuitously, I bought IzzyB’s Giant Lafree on Sunday! Thank you Izzy.