GSA 30th Anniversary Accident

Gorilla GS

Life's too short....
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Posting this based on a major accident that a mate of mine had last week whilst riding his bike back from France, which resulted in a cracked sternum, punctured lung, broken collarbone...He has spent a week in Arcachon hospital and making his way home via ambulance taxi tomorrow.

He's been to see the bike today and is trying to understand what may have caused the accident, he was travelling in a straight line at about 45-50mph when all of a sudden the rear sunk and catapulted him off. On inspection of the bike, the rear wheel has come away, all the wheel bolts, hub, disc etc are still in place and all of the spokes on the rim are snapped. Looks like there may have been a seizure of some description?

Anyone got any thoughts or knowledge of this happening before- obviously concerning and need to try an understand the reason why so others can be made aware.

I will pass on any feedback that may be useful to him. Thanks God he's here to tell the tale!!
 
Spoked or cast wheel?

There were reports of the rear brake carrier flange cracking on much earlier models and some much earlier bikes with cracks around the wheel bolt holes. But, your mate's is different, not least as it's not an early bike.

I assume it has the standard wheels, not some jazzed up uber-sexy carbon aftermarket fitment?

I suppose the suspension unit is still intact and that didn't snap / come lose, dropping the rear of the bike with enough force 'twist' the rear wheel through say 45 degrees (the drive shaft would in effect act as a bloody big lever if that happened) sufficient to snap the spokes?

I suppose the rear brake calliper is still in place, not having worked lose, dangled on its brake line and got caught? That would snap a back wheel.
 
It was spoked, a standard GSA version
 
Posting this based on a major accident that a mate of mine had last week whilst riding his bike back from France, which resulted in a cracked sternum, punctured lung, broken collarbone...He has spent a week in Arcachon hospital and making his way home via ambulance taxi tomorrow.

He's been to see the bike today and is trying to understand what may have caused the accident, he was travelling in a straight line at about 45-50mph when all of a sudden the rear sunk and catapulted him off. On inspection of the bike, the rear wheel has come away, all the wheel bolts, hub, disc etc are still in place and all of the spokes on the rim are snapped. Looks like there may have been a seizure of some description?

Anyone got any thoughts or knowledge of this happening before- obviously concerning and need to try an understand the reason why so others can be made aware.

I will pass on any feedback that may be useful to him. Thanks God he's here to tell the tale!!

Sounds like something has gone through the wheel causing it to lockup untill the spokes snapped. :nenau
 
Thanks for the replies so far, I'm sending them to my mate in France and his response is:

Standard spoked adventure wheels, suspension & brake calliper are still in the correct place. There is no signs of anything going into the spokes of the wheel causing a lock up or failure
 
I am guessing that a seizure leading to the locking of the wheel hub would have no more effect of the wheel than locking it with the back brake. The tyre would brake traction rather than the wheel fail.
 
So, the spokes snapped at the outer rim edge, not at the hub end?

Was he carrying something on the rear seat, that dangled down and caught?

A friend locked-up the rear wheel of his FJ 1100 when a training shoe or rugby boot (I forget which) dangled own and somehow got caught between the wheel and the swing arm, on the A3 whilst 'making progress'. The rear tyre burst.... At te end of a mighty impressive skid mark.... The one on the road wasn't bad, either.
 
Not carrying anything and spokes broke at the hub end mainly..
 
Does the driveline rotate in gear eg no sign of mechanical seizure/lockup that could cause sudden shear forces?

Sounds like fracture of the stainless spokes at the hub end, or failure of the hub at the spoke mounting points. A picture would be handy, I would be taking a lot if I were your friend.

If it is brittle or stress fracture of the stainless spokes themselves it could be a bad batch, if that is the case BMW and their suppliers have a serious metallurgical quality issue and I hope nobody suffers a fatality if that is the case.

If hoping for a legal claim against the manufacturer I would be after an engineers report in the first instance, with possibly a destructive test of one of the spokes in shear and tensile test with detailed inspection of the fracture surface for material defects. I would also get a report from the Gendarmes in support of the facts.
 
Thanks for that- I'm passing all of this onto him. I have seen some pictures but difficult to really comment
 
The bike is being brought back to the UK next week, do you think it should go straight to his local dealer or an independent for un-biase opinion?
 
I'll try, or I can email them to you for see?
 
You really need to be asking those questions to somebody with legal knowledge if you intend to persue a claim against the supplying dealer or manufacturer.

You then need to gather all the evidence you can muster to strengthen your case. I doubt the dealer network will be keen to help with that, they don't bite the hand that feeds so I would expect them to close ranks. An independent examination will cost, obviously accounted as an expense for you should you win any legal battle.

Not sure where to begin asking for an engineers inspection as the last time I saw anything like that a metallurgy instructor of mine was involved in a legal claim against an Italian designer chair manufacture for material failure and resulting injury.
 
Difficult to tell the cause but it is safe to say the rear wheel has certainly parted company from the hub :eek:

Judging by the look of the disc, the hub is still rotating.... but where is the caliper?

gg3.jpg


gg2.jpg


gg1.jpg
 
Where's the caliper? Has it come adrift and gone into the wheel?
 
Jesus H Christ, what the fuck could have caused that...:eek::eek:

Only ever seen that happen to fancy carbon / Mag wheels. Never seen anything like that happen to BMW spoked wheel.

:confused::confused:
 


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