Ride to Kirkby Lonsdale Town

[nuggitt]

I had a ride out today. Instead of going straight to Devils Bridge like I usually do. I decided to visit the market town of Kirkby Lonsdale first. It's a lovely quaint little place and well worth visiting. After spending an hour having a walk round and some lunch I then went on to Devils bridge. From there I headed for Sedbergh, Hawes and Leyburn.

It was a lovely ride out until I was on the Boroughbridge to York road, and I was following a transit van at 60mph. All of a sudden a sunken manhole appeared and my front wheel hit it with such force that my steering locked up. It was the same sensation as having a flat front tyre. I managed to get the bike stopped and checked to see if I had a flat tyre, but no it was fine.

I went around the bike looking for the problem but couldn't see anything. I then got sat on the bike and got hold of the handlebars and turned them to the left and something clicked/clunked, and then the handlebars freed themselves. I rode home at a steady pace because it felt very weird. After arriving home I got the front wheel off the floor and and checked for play in the head race bearings and there was a lot of play. It seems the bang has damaged the roller bearings. I was very lucky that I was on a straight bit of road.

If I'd have been going round a left hand bend I would've gone straight on into oncoming traffic or a field.

I have a brand new spare set of headrace bearings, so that's my weekend sorted out.

Here's a few photos of the day.

[nuggitt]

It's all good news.

The headstock is in good condition. There's no damage done so I've been really lucky. There is some scoring on both of the bearing inner races.

I'm just waiting for some dust seals to arrive and then I can start to build it all back up again. It's taken all day to get the front end stripped down. The hardest part was getting the old bottom bearing race off the stem. It was a real pain in the butt, after an hour if finally came off.

While I'm waiting for the seals to come. I'll give all the front end a good clean up

[creedxup]

Good news

[Goshreally2]

Looks like your riding experience paid off and you kept yourself upright and pride and maintenance means the bike won't be out for long. Good for you mate, glad things worked out well.