Among our bicycle experts you will find engineers who have designed and constructed roads and bicycle trails, and passionate cyclists who use their bicycles for commuting, training, and competitive racing.

Bicycle Investigations

Bicycles are ridden by many types of people, for many different reasons, in a vast range of environments. From urban commuters, to competitive racers, to childhood explorers, our bicycle investigations take us from the cities, to the mountains, and back to the suburbs to understand how a particular incident occurred and the contributing factors.

Many bicycle investigations begin with a reconstruction to determine how an incident occurred and how the rider was injured. Our experts are able to determine if there was a defect in the bicycle or its components, if assembly or maintenance was a factor, and whether or not the environment (road, street, path) or something in the environment (traffic signal, pothole, gate, grate, obstruction, bridge joint) was a factor. We do this for all types of bicycles: mountain, road, BMX, cross, downhill, recumbent, stationary, and exercise.

Bicycle Crash Reconstruction
Developing an understanding of what happened is crucial to determining why it happened. Engineers, through their education and training, have a thorough understanding of physics and how forces act upon objects, including vehicles and humans in transportation systems; for this reason, all of our crash reconstructionists are degreed engineers. If the engineer performing a reconstruction is not one of our dedicated bicycle experts, they will have full access to our bicycle experts to discuss issues related to rider actions and bicycle handling dynamics.

Bicycle Frame & Component Failure Analysis
Bicycles follow a minimalist design theory, when key components fail they become inoperable, sometimes dangerously so. When confronted with frame or component failures our experts look for potential issues in the design and manufacture, assembly, or maintenance. We have materials engineers who can analyze the failure of carbon fiber and the various metals and alloys used in modern cycles. We also have experts in bicycle repair and inspection who can speak to the actions of those who service bicycles. We even have experts who worked for bicycle manufacturers who were responsible for setting specifications on mass market bicycles and performing quality assurance evaluations.

Bicycle Assembly Failures
Someone with the proper training, education, and experience can assemble a bicycle better than someone who lacks that experience. In many of our bicycle investigations we confront a situation in which a bicycle was assembled by someone who lacked qualifications or failed to properly check their work. Most of these cases involve the failure to adequately tighten key components, such as pedals, wheels, handlebars, and seatposts, which leads to an unexpected failure and crash. Among our experts you can find licensed bicycle mechanics who can address all issues relevant to bicycle assembly and maintenance..

Bicycle Rider Actions
Bicyclists share the same rights and responsibilities as motorists on the roadways, but they are slower, smaller, and less visible. In cases involving rider actions our experts are tasked with analyzing the behavior of cyclists to determine if they complied with established rules of the road and best practices in bicycle safety.

Roadways & Bicycle Paths
Several of our experts in highway engineering and community planning are also avid cyclists. Not only have they designed and built roadways, bike trails, and shared use paths, they have also ridden on them, as commuters, casual cyclists, and competitive racers. These experts are often involved in cases to help determine whether or not the design or maintenance of a road or trail contributed to the cause of a crash.

Bicycle Evidence & Testing

Robson Forensic offers a fully appointed mechanical testing laboratory to assist our clients with the inspection of evidence related to bicycle crash cases. Our lab facilities can accommodate evidence as large as complete vehicles, as well as bicycles, bicycle components or traffic guidance devices. Visit our Mechanical Testing Laboratory page for more information.

Discuss Your Case With an Expert

Call or submit an inquiry to tell us about your case. Once we determine which expert is best qualified to assist, we will put you in direct contact.