Hey Ben. I'm really sorry to hear about the accident! I went through this
back in January after another cyclist rammed into me head-on. I was riding
my Appaloosa. I crashed really hard. The initial impact with the other
cyclist damaged my brake lever and bars. The subsequent crash into the
ground and skidding along the road damaged my rear derailer and derailer
hangar. It likewise damaged my shifter and other brake lever. My saddle
was scuffed up as well. The front basket ended up taking the brunt of the
impact, but the front rack (a big ol' Nitto) was a bit bent as well. The
housing on my Edulux light was scraped up but still worked. In the end, I
think the basket / rack took the brunt of the impact on the fall and likely
protected the bike from worse damage.
I posted about it here asking a similar questions. I took everyone's
advice and brought my bike into a local shop with mechanics I trust to get
the whole thing inspected. I do all of my own wrenching, but I felt it
was important for my future safety to get the whole thing thoroughly
inspected. They looked at everything in great detail including frame
alignment. No fork or frame misalignment, but I had dents and chips in
the frame from the impact with the ground. The wheels were good. They
wrote up an estimate for me for insurance and for the court (about $1300
with a new paint job at D&D Cycles). I ended up just eating the dents and
paint chips without getting them fixed, but replaced the handlebars, brake
levers, shift levers, rear derailer. I was able to bend the basket back
into shape and get the rack re-aligned myself. I also did a minor
correction to the rear derailer hanger. I put some pretty orange Testor's
model paint on the chipped areas.
These bikes are pretty tough. Steel, after all. But I'm really glad I had
it inspected by a good mechanic and had them write up a total repair
estimate. I've just recently been able to start riding again after healing
from my injuries and I feel pretty confident with the safety of the bike.
I cracked my helmet in the accident too. I've replaced it with a Giro
Caden in matte gray.
Good luck!
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