In all my years commuting I have been hit twice by cars while on my bike. Both times could have been significantly, significantly worse, and are actually darkly comical looking back on them. I have been dropped to the pavement by drivers and I think about it constantly in the back of my mind when I am riding near traffic whether I am with The Clairebarian or not. I have had way too many close calls, know way too many riders who have been crushed, and I can rant all day about those Matrix-like moments where panic stops time.  

It has always boggled my mind how many cyclists think “mountain biking is dangerous” but spend hours every week navigating through moving, multi-tonne, automobile traffic. I mean, who has not seen a taxi pull a no-look u-turn through a bike lane or a loaded, rusty, dump truck run a red light? At least when I am hitting the dirt it is only my momentum working to hurt me. 

While mountain biking I have sheared pedal axles, broken forks, cracked frames, cracked chainrings, cracked rims, broken the heads off a couple of seat posts, torn out brake line, and had a number of other moments that resulted in me getting banged up. Sometimes pretty bad. But, I maintain my bikes well, replace obvious wear parts – like handlebars – long before they are a failure concern and I can honestly say I have never had an offroad failure that truly terrified me at that moment. Actually, until Shimano recently tried to kill me I have never had a terrifying component failure. 

Tongue in cheek? Not really. Claire and I were riding home, on our massive cargo bike, when a car came bursting blind out of an alley near our place. I hit the brakes – Magura 4-Piston Hydraulics – hard, heard a snap, and suddenly only my front stopper was having any effect on my bike. Trying to control a 20″ wheel, way the f*** out in front on the end of a steering linkage, downhill, with only a front brake is the wrong kind of exciting.

The Center Lock brake mount had sheared off its mount on my 11spd Alfine hub. The same Alfine hub that comes stock on a plethora of different bakfiets cargo bikes, for example, the ubiquitous Larry vs Harry Bullit, including e~bikes that move significantly faster than we generally get going. And yes, we ride the bike down steep hills. And yes, we run huge brakes. And yes, it was used. But, absent any max rotor size, product expiry date, being well maintained & fully functioning, the failure is still beyond surprising to me.  

And look, bonus points to me for avoiding some bullshit clickbait title like “Shimano tried to kill my five-year-old,” but for about ten minutes after the incident, I would have liked to have beaten any three random Shimano engineers with a bag containing a T-25, 6x rotor bolts, and my Alfine hub. 

Suffice it to say that for me it is a 180° on the Alfine hub and I will be back on derailleurs and 6-bolt rotors going forward. Google did not turn up a similar incident but if you are running a Center Lock Alfine hub I would say it behooves you to do a thorough inspection once in a while.