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#1
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On the bright side........
.... my ride home could have gone a lot worse.
I bought an early model Trice back in August and have been having much fun riding it since. Tonight though I was taking the last (sharp) turn into our road, 50 yards from home when the front nearside stub axle snapped. I stopped fairly sharpish, but under control, and once I picked the bits up and thought about things, I realised how lucky I was. I was only 50 yards from home, when I could so easily have been miles away. I was only travelling slowly for the final turn into a quiet residential street - it could have happened at high speed down a hill on a busy road. Losing a wheel on a bike would definitely have had me eating tarmac - on the trike I've just lost some paint as the cross-member scraped down the road on one side. I've emailed I.C.E in the hope that they have some replacements for my model (as one failed, I shall replace both), so I await their reply with crossed fingers. For the metalurgists on U.R.C, I've put a picture of the snapped axle on the web at http://preview.tinyurl.com/y8ou2n - I'm curious about the line of bright metal in the center of the axle. The major downside is until it's fixed, I've got to ride the spare hack bike (a ladies Raleigh hybrid) to work, and I've not ridden an ass hatchet further than the shops for years. -- Colin Coincidence is the alibi of the Gods (remove FOOT to reply) |
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#2
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On the bright side........
On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 23:56:15 -0000, Colin
wrote: I've put a picture of the snapped axle on the web at http://preview.tinyurl.com/y8ou2n - I'm curious about the line of bright metal in the center of the axle. A quick glance suggests that the two semicircular areas are places where the crack(s) grew slowly, possibly with the two faces fretting against each other; and the centre section was a final fast break. Have a look at the other axle is what I suggest. Look for a crack in the shaft, and look for a design flaw that might give rise to a crack - a shoulder with a sharp corner, a bearing or mounting flange with same. Is perhaps the crack at the end of a threaded portion? |
#3
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On the bright side........
In article t
Colin wrote: snip I've emailed I.C.E in the hope that they have some replacements for my model (as one failed, I shall replace both), so I await their reply with crossed fingers. For the metalurgists on U.R.C, I've put a picture of the snapped axle on the web at http://preview.tinyurl.com/y8ou2n - I'm curious about the line of bright metal in the center of the axle. That's the bit that suddenly let go and dumped you on the tarmac - the other parts of the surface are smoothed where they've been fretting together as the cracks developed. I expect poor machining left a sharp- edged stress raiser between the bit of the spindle that goes through the bearing and the shoulder that the bearing sits against. Was there a missing spacer? The bearings should be clamped up, but there isn't an obvious mark on the rusty washer to show that it was sitting tight against anything. What is the orientation of the fracture? |
#4
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On the bright side........
Colin wrote:
I bought an early model Trice back in August and have been having much fun riding it since. Tonight though I was taking the last (sharp) turn into our road, 50 yards from home when the front nearside stub axle snapped. I've emailed I.C.E in the hope that they have some replacements for my model (as one failed, I shall replace both), so I await their reply with crossed fingers. Is this a 12 mm axle? If it is smaller in diameter you might want to ask ICE about the possibility and costs for a replacement with 12mm. Thin stub axles have a long history of failing, especially on dutch velomobiles and trikes, so 12 mm has become a sort of standard for this application. I put a picture of the axles used on the current single letter models he http://de-rec-fahrrad.de/technik/sturmey_archer_trommelbremsnabe_fuer_dreiraeder Günther |
#5
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On the bright side........
Following on from Colin's message. . .
... my ride home could have gone a lot worse. I bought an early model Trice back in August and have been having much crossed fingers. For the metalurgists on U.R.C, I've put a picture of the snapped axle on the web at http://preview.tinyurl.com/y8ou2n - I'm curious about the line of bright metal in the center of the axle. Interesting picture. A classic. Well worth posting. (For future reference, it is useful to put something in the picture to scale it, a coin for example.) There appears to be a rusty 'old' crack at 6 o'clock which may be irrelevant. It is VERY worrying that there are TWO cracks here. It suggests some intrinsic problem rather than a rogue stress-raiser. You are right to be concerned about the other axle as this could be due to poor design, material or manufacturing (or use beyond intended limits, or poor maintenance) which could affect: (a) the other axle (b) other axles in the same manufacturing batch (c) all axles by this manufacturer/assembler (d) all users relying on inappropriate assembly/maintenance documentation (included in this case for completeness) (e) all axles of this general design (f) other 'mis-users' who don't realise they are pushing the vehicle beyond its designed limits. (eg too heavy a rider). Failures like this are, as you know, caused by cyclic load. Presumably in this case one cycle per wheel revolution. The important calculation to make is how many cycles have there been? If this was new in August then there is no way this design is safe and ICE should be doing a product recall. If it is less than 5 years old then (assuming a generic problem which may be a bit hasty from a single photograph) ICE need to take some general remedial action such as "replace your axle after 5000 miles for model XYZ" adverts in the cycling press. As far as I know there is no official way to deal with this sort of safety-related issue. It might be worth sending a pleasant email to Cornwall Trading Standards suggesting they have a chat with ICE to advise them on possible ways of dealing with what could be a fatal (to the businesses reputation) issue if it develops further. Conclusion I am not a metallurgist, but I can see _two_ cracks. This makes me a bit worried that this is an intrinsic problem not a one-off. Given the safety-related nature of the failure it is important that (a) the full scope of issue is determined and (b) properly addressed. -- PETER FOX Not the same since the poster business went to the wall www.eminent.demon.co.uk - Lots for cyclists |
#6
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On the bright side........
"Peter Fox" wrote in message ... Failures like this are, as you know, caused by cyclic load. Presumably in this case one cycle per wheel revolution. The important calculation to make is how many cycles have there been? If this was new in August then there is no way this design is safe and ICE should be doing a product recall. If it is less than 5 years old then (assuming a generic problem which may be a bit hasty from a single photograph) ICE need to take some general remedial action such as "replace your axle after 5000 miles for model XYZ" adverts in the cycling press. If you look at pictures of the whole trike on the site, it's clear it's not a new model and looks like one of the very early ones - indeed that it is what it says on the site. Indeed it looks like a model from 1990'ish |
#7
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On the bright side........
In article , Peter Fox wrote:
Following on from Colin's message. . . I bought an early model Trice back in August and have been having much [...] in this case one cycle per wheel revolution. The important calculation to make is how many cycles have there been? If this was new in August then there is no way this design is safe and ICE should be doing a product recall. If it is less than 5 years old "early model Trice" could be up to twenty years old. He'd need to know how far the previous owners rode it to have an idea of the number of load cycles. Even an early ICE (rather than Peter Ross) model could be more than five. |
#8
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On the bright side........
Following on from wafflycat's message. . .
If you look at pictures of the whole trike on the site, it's clear it's not a new model and looks like one of the very early ones - indeed that it is what it says on the site. Indeed it looks like a model from 1990'ish Are you saying "That's only to be expected - older things break" or "No need to worry - It's well known that modern designs are 'better' " or what? -- PETER FOX Not the same since the statuette business went bust www.eminent.demon.co.uk - Lots for cyclists |
#9
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On the bright side........
"Peter Fox" wrote in message ... Following on from wafflycat's message. . . If you look at pictures of the whole trike on the site, it's clear it's not a new model and looks like one of the very early ones - indeed that it is what it says on the site. Indeed it looks like a model from 1990'ish Are you saying "That's only to be expected - older things break" or "No need to worry - It's well known that modern designs are 'better' " or what? -- PETER FOX Not the same since the statuette business went bust www.eminent.demon.co.uk - Lots for cyclists All she was saying is that it is an old model. Nothing else Trevor A Panther In South Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. |
#10
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On the bright side........
Peter Fox wrote:
Following on from wafflycat's message. . . If you look at pictures of the whole trike on the site, it's clear it's not a new model and looks like one of the very early ones - indeed that it is what it says on the site. Indeed it looks like a model from 1990'ish Are you saying "That's only to be expected - older things break" or "No need to worry - It's well known that modern designs are 'better' " or what? It's a response to this part of your earlier post: If this was new in August then there is no way this design is safe and ICE should be doing a product recall. waffles is simply pointing out that it is an old model. Product recalls are a nightmare for old stuff. Unless you catch a fault early it is virtually impossible to trace products down the chain of ownership. It's hard enough to do for things like cars where each change of keeper should be registered, let alone things like bikes that can be bought and sold at will with no need to log who owns them. -- Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks" |
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