backed into

[garrnew]

I parked my bike behind and SUV or a minivan or something on the side of the road. When I walked back to my bike, they were pulling away and then stopped and got out of the car. Turns out she backed into my bike. She hit the front fender and pushed the bike back about a foot but didn't knock it over. There just was a minor scratch on the fender so I told her not to worry about it and she drove off after apologizing a lot.

BUT....as I drove off I noticed the handlebars were crooked so I pulled over. I managed to straighten it out and now everything seems ok.

This is my first bike and I'm not sure how they got crooked. It also doesn't seem good that I could fix it by hand without tools. I'm not sure if I should take to a shop to get checked out. Thoughts on what happened and if I should take it in?

[robkb]

:wtfCrooked handlebars?! I bet they knocked it over and you just didn't SEE that part.:devil:
Maybe not, if it's not all scratched up on the side.
I wouldn't take it in unless it felt scary to ride.

[garrnew]

Haha, yeah fortunately I dont think thats the case. It was two women who I doubt would have been able to lift it up before me noticing. Also, I knew how far she pushed it back because of the scrapes in the street from my sidestand.

[mcshaz]

good lesson for everyone though - no matter how minor the scrape seems at first glance, always get their details.

[vic]

That happened to me shortly after buying the bike. The guy headed to his Toyota SUV without looking around and, of course backed into the bike.

He just hit and move it a few inches, nothing serious, but asked for his name and phone number, in case I noticed something was wrong after riding. I also took a picture if his plate while he was looking for a pen in the glove box, in case the name and number were fake.

[inthesky]

congrats on your strength at least, never tried it but i would guess you'd have to be above normal human strength to bend handlebars with your arms?

[G00se]

Should have at least gotten their info....

Then had them buy you some sweet urban machinery bars or something or threaten to report them to their insurance most likely they would just cough up the money for new bars.

[garrnew]

Oh, sorry I didn't explain that well. The handlebar itself was fine. But the front wheel and the handlebar were no longer perfectly perpendicular.

[a4naught]

Oooh...I'd check it....especially the tightness of it (spec). Yeah, +1 on the now-lost opportunity to get their info. Careful. See if you can't make sure that things are still aligned. Bad sign that you could "bend" it back into place. Not sure what that means, but it can't be good. Couldn't hurt to drag it in for a quick alignment check, if you can't be sure yourself. Better safe than sorry, my friend.:-(