Some good crashes here.

[manual63]

Check out <a href="http://www.bike-board.de/home/video/video01.htm"> this site</a>. It's got the downhill 107 MPH MTB crash on it. That's nasty man. It has some others too.

The guys name is Eric Barone and he broke his own downhill MTB speed record and paid the price.

[KleinCrazy]

What the Hell?!?!?!

It looks like the bike broke in half to cause the crash... I want a bigger feed so I can get a better look at it.

[noise_is_life]

Yep that's what happened.

http://web.outsideonline.com/news/headlines/20020515_1.html

[manual63]

It looks like it broke at the head tube. I saw this on Ripley's Believe It or Not (cheesy show) and the guy had it custom built for this downhill run. It was untested equipment, which I think is really stupid. Why would you go 107 MPH down the side of a mountain on untested equipment. The bike was also made to be super light, which is also stupid. If you are doing a downhill, make it aerodynamic, but it's doesn't have to be super light. I personally think the guy is an idiot for not planning better. Also, his helmet flew off, what the heck.....did he forget to do the strap????

His frame broke at the headtube, where it should have been the strongest, and he just fell forward into a faceplant. He is lucky to be alive.

[socrates]

Originally posted by manual63
It looks like it broke at the head tube. I saw this on Ripley's Believe It or Not (cheesy show) and the guy had it custom built for this downhill run. It was untested equipment, which I think is really stupid. Why would you go 107 MPH down the side of a mountain on untested equipment. The bike was also made to be super light, which is also stupid. If you are doing a downhill, make it aerodynamic, but it's doesn't have to be super light. I personally think the guy is an idiot for not planning better. Also, his helmet flew off, what the heck.....did he forget to do the strap????

His frame broke at the headtube, where it should have been the strongest, and he just fell forward into a faceplant. He is lucky to be alive.

Ok...let's just cut through all the BS....the guy's an idiot for doing the stunt regardless of the bike...I mean 107MPH???

[noise_is_life]

It's all a matter of perspective though, I'm sure plenty of people think we are pretty wacked for riding our bikes like we do.

[socrates]

Originally posted by noise_is_life
It's all a matter of perspective though, I'm sure plenty of people think we are pretty wacked for riding our bikes like we do.

Your exactly right...the question becomes where is the line drawn...but I'm confident that 107MPH is across anyone's "idiot line" (except this guy...but who knows)

[noise_is_life]

I think I just lump him with all of the other extreme sports types (which regular xc mountain biking doesn't really qualify for any more). I've been up to nearly 60mph on a road bike, so I can see myself going 107mph on a mountain bike a lot sooner than I can seem myself riding off a 20+ foot high cliff.

[zerpy]

Originally posted by manual63
It looks like it broke at the head tube..

Actually it looks like he might have broken it back from the head tube. I blew it up and looked frame by frame and it is fuzzy but there are sections of the top and down tubes hanging off there just before he planted into the dirt. Looks like it sheared about 6 inches back from the head tube. Either way it should not have broken. I would expect the welds at the head tube to break before the center of the tubes myself because welding weakens the surrounding metal a bit.

It seemed to be starting to sag for quite a bit before the breakup. There were several frames where the bottom bracked was getting lower, although it is only frames, he covered a lot of ground in that time!

Also, it looks like his helmet broke apart. You can see a frame where the helmet has flown off of him, but there still is the lower portion around his neck.

I'd like to know what what was going through his head the split second before the bike broke up if he felt it happening...

[noise_is_life]

The problem with so many of these speed record things is that it always seems like there are so many concerns besides just going crazy fast. They may have limited permits for the location, there may be bad weather approaching, timing officials may have limited availabilty, etc. etc. The actual testing of his equipment probably got pushed to the sidelines.

A few years ago I was pretty addicted to the coverage of the breaking of the land speed sound barrier, I was amazed by the amount of BS they had to go through above and beyond the simple act of blasting across the desert sitting on a couple of jet engines.

[legoshoe]

I read somewhere that the guy had a $60,000 bike there when he crashed it. I wonder if that is true? Does anyone know the kind or was it all custom? Otherwise if it was the 60 g's then I would probably have to say that the Walmart special would stand up better.:crazy: (Well, maybe not, but hey, you'd think a 60,000 dollar bike would stand a downhill, but then again, not at over 100mph)

[SPR]

Sure going 107 mph on a bike might be crazy but what about the "Fly on the Wall" clip. At least when Eric Barone crashed he didn't have anything stopping him as did the guy crashing into the wall and then dropping 30 or some feet.
:crazy: :crazy2: :crazy:
Some good crash footage. Thanks Shad

[manual63]

Originally posted by zerpy
I would expect the welds at the head tube to break before the center of the tubes myself because welding weakens the surrounding metal a bit.

Actually, the tubes usually break when I have seen a break. It's because the metal on the tube where it transitions from cold to hot during the welding process is the weakest spot. This is usually a few inches past the weld. This does depend on the type of metal used and I don't know what this bike was using. Most breaks I've seen where 4130 chromoly BMX or Freestyle bikes.