Nearly died tonight when my rear brake rotor sheared off the hub.

[Five Five]

Here's a coupla pics that show where it sheared off. The loose part is gone in the pics, I had to cut it off with a hacksaw to get it home.

Thats fricken insane.....cant even imagine the failure mode...
Thats one for the "NTSB"

 

[05chop]

Good your OK The black area of the allen headed bolt! I would think if those bolts were loose it would of sheared the bolts off.Check real close for fractures in the part that failed maybe your on to something!

 

[V]

Good to hear you're okay and made a good move to miss tha car.

 

[Brian D]

I'm pretty sure there must've been a crack in the machined piece that's made to look just like the rim....the part the rotor bolts on to. It sheared off in roughly the same spot on all three "spokes" or whatever you wanna call 'em.

 

[scubaman15]

I have the same wheels and rotor ...hell same bike !!! Scary stuff ..any warning what so ever??? This is not good ....very hard to imagine that part just failing like that !!!! Has anyone else had this happen??????

 

[Brian D]

I contacted BDM about it too. In 20+ years of riding, I've NEVER seen this happen to anyone.

 

[Ray]

Quick thinking. Glad you made it out ok. It never hurts to take a second , look up, and say "Thanks for that Gap!" I bet your ears are still ringing too. I can hit a medium sized bump on my scooter and the whole neighborhood hears my wife.

Very Glad you are ok.

Ray

 

[Trainguy]

Glad your ok man

 

[05chop]

This is a picture of my bike Im curious (like fibersnake suggested root problem) why this failed? In the first pic left side orange frame is this weld cracked or missing? This is what I would do is piece what you can back together for a picture then check all bolts and mounts if you can.I checked (not sure correct name) my brake rotor adaptor its aluminum and chromed. My magnet would not stick to it.This will be hard to see if it has fractures unless its magna fluxed.Last pic shows how close the buttons are to the rear caliper are there any clues here?

 

[erldawg]

I wonder if during the change out they may have done something to lead to the failure, maybe took the rotor off and over tighten it back to the hub and stretched the bolts to near failure or possibly did not properly tighten it and allowed it to get loose enough to creat the failure.

:iagree:

Failing after a tire change would make me wonder.

 

[RADAMS445]

All in All... YOU the MAN! Nice save bro.

 

[Tomtang aka Reptilejim]

Fast Thinking save lives, our lives especially!!!

 

[prodiver]

Had the same thing happen to my 06 Mastiff with 6k on it. Covered under warrenty but I ordered extra buttons for it and had the front ones replaced also.

 

[king scott]

My buddy (co-worker) has a Big dog I think 2004 and it did exactly the same thing. It did look to be aluminum. I own a material testing ompany and we were going to do a faiure analysis on it but he took it back home for some reason. I would suggest at least a visual inspection periodially. Looks pretty scary to me. especially since it happened at least 3 times!

 

[BWG56]

:iagree:

Failing after a tire change would make me wonder.

some tire changing shops clamp on the rotor instead of the wheel, this could have been the start of bad things.

 

[52hammer]

Same dam thing happened to me yesterday on my '03 Bulldog. All six buttons -gone! The rotor looks ok, as do the spokes it was attached to. Luckily I was mere yards from my driveway, having just finished a trip from NYC to Philly. Guess I'm lucky it didn't happen on the turnpike. I'll post pics tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm off for new buttons and a trip to Penn Jersey Cycles to see what the hell went wrong.

 

[52hammer]

Sorry about the size of the image. If you scroll around you will see where the hex screws are missing. It's the same on the other two spokes of the star. Some minor damage to the polished aluminum. Replacing the screws now with locktite and checking the front rotor as well. I would recommend everyone check their rotors periodically. I would hate to hear a real horror story resulting from another incident like this.

 

[silver09]

Glad your still alive and kicking! That's a scary thought to loose your brakes on a bike or anything for that matter.

 

[52hammer]

Thanks Brother! I admit I ride her like I stole her, rain or shine, hot or cold, as long as there's no snow or ice on the road. One thing I have noticed, my rear rotor gets extremely hot. I have checked to make sure there is no brake drag. It rolls freely in neutral with no noise of any kind, but I have to wonder if heat stress may have contributed to the failure. I also believe that all 6 could not have failed at once. I must have missed something at some point. The thing is, if we are to trust our lives to 2 wheeled machines at high speeds, we owe it to ourselves to check everything periodically and leave nothing to chance. Perhaps the experiences recounted here will save a Brother or Sister's life. Shiny side up!

 

[stlmikie]

I'm guessing that a few had failed without being noticed. Then when it was used again the few that weren't failed then did so making it apear that all failed at once.