Crash!!!

[JemmaUK]

I hurt all over - i think I pulled every muscle in my body when I hit that ground. Even stuff that didnt hit the ground hurts.

I guess the good point is that I can heal - the bike costs money to fix - but still it kills at the moment :S

Found out I have ripped the shifter cable open - it even broke some of the protective wire wrap - so I hit the ground pretty fast.

I think the best combination of brakes on a bike is tail - v brake and front drum like I had on the old machine... after dropping the bike today I am not so keen on coasters...

Jemma xx

 

[duivendyk]

Moral of story: don't use dual (combined brakes) and learn how to use them.Dual ones might make your handlebars look tidy and keep you from having to think about using them judiciously. Frontal skids are sudden&nasty and there is absolutely no way to recover from them,I speak from experience.

 

[jared3377]

WOWZA! I'm glad you're OK, Jemma... I hope that I never have an incident like that, but that's just the thing--you never know...

 

[JemmaUK]

Moral of story: don't use dual (combined brakes) and learn how to use them.Dual ones might make your handlebars look tidy and keep you from having to think about using them judiciously. Frontal skids are sudden&nasty and there is absolutely no way to recover from them,I speak from experience.

Mine are front hand & rear coaster.. you are right that they are fast - one minute I was up and the next minute flat on my behind with the bike on top of me in a three lane section of the road.

I am thinking - when my footpeg set up is done and dusted.. of putting the throttle on the right foot and finding an adaptor to make the rear brake into a drum and then have a footbrake for the back...

What was worst - when I got the bike back I rode home on it - no problem... got home and just had a look to make sure all was in order - spoke was bent so I had a closer look - the rear wheel bolts were done up finger tight!! - if it had have been anything but a hub bike with reversed dropouts I would have been all over the road again... shame I noticed that *after* I had paid :S.

Did a full workover of the bike - the headstock had come loose at the fixing and the handlebars were out of true as well... and these 'experts' hadnt even noticed :S

Jemma xx

 

[crazeehorse]

i would,nt think you would need a bike shop for anything other than parts anyway, Jemma.

 

[ozzyu812]

Front brakes have ALWAYS caused more crashes for me than they have prevented. I have removed them and run dual rears for 25 yrs. now.

 

[duivendyk]

I disagree,on dry surfaces front brakes have far superior emergency stopping power compared to rear ones,without inducing a dangerous skid.This is due to weight transfer which is quite pronounced on a bicycle due to the high CG of rider + bike.Just go to an empty parking lot on a Sunday and practice emergency braking.It might save your life.The problem with skids is not so much the skid itself,but that you are lying on the road and an excellent candidate for being run over.I had a frontal skid on a motorcycle once in the Alps in Europe, on a blind turn( ice on the road),cars were coming by within a foot or so of my head,quite unnerving.
The best combination in my opinion is a combination of front drum or disk brake (allmost maintenance free) and a rear rim or disk brake of some sort,good to have for long descents because of superior heat dissipation capability.Drum and esp. coaster brakes CANNOT be relied on under these conditions,they will fade.High quality disk brakes are good brakes for most occasions.

 

[Sianelle]

......basically the bike landed on me which saved damaging it..

Oooooo Jemma you're going to be sore for a while. I'm awfully glad that you didn't come to any major harm though. It will take a few days for all the bruising to come out unfortunately, but a hot bath can be a good friend in such circumstances.

Quite a few years ago now I managed to drop my 350cc Matchless single-banger on myself at low speed and I had to be rescued by some very amused bystanders. They called those old Matchless motorcycles the 'heavyweight' model and they were certainly right about that
Never should have sold that old bike (sigh).

 

[JemmaUK]

Oooooo Jemma you're going to be sore for a while. I'm awfully glad that you didn't come to any major harm though. It will take a few days for all the bruising to come out unfortunately, but a hot bath can be a good friend in such circumstances.

Quite a few years ago now I managed to drop my 350cc Matchless single-banger on myself at low speed and I had to be rescued by some very amused bystanders. They called those old Matchless motorcycles the 'heavyweight' model and they were certainly right about that
Never should have sold that old bike (sigh).

Do you mean the 'G' type bikes? I have seen pictures and it looks like they had been built using bits of left over scaffolding. The bike I would like is the Henderson straight six model - but they are rarer than hens teeth.

I've been doing the hot bath thing and the painkillers *sigh* - didnt want to but didnt really have a choice. Its not so much the bruising as I think I have dislocated ribs - and they *hurt*

ozzy - I like the dual rears idea - its a matter of if I can get the coaster converted... if I can I'll get a dual footbrake setup for the back. I'll keep the front though for the simple reason that in the dry its definately the best of the two... I just have to get into the habit of using the coaster again.

crazy - my problem has always been self confidence - I know what I am doing, its that I dont have the tools for some things and I'd rather leave wheels to people who've done it because I dont want to make a dangerous mistake.. although when I do it I tend to do a proper job :???:

 

[crazeehorse]

yes Jemma, i felt the same way about the spokes, & wheels. so one day i took an old wheel that was in awful shape, i put it in an old set of forks,& secured a old peice of a spoke to the forks with a zip tie, to check the true of the rim,got my spoke wrench & went to work.after about 45 mins. i could'nt understand why i had made such a big thing of it. i have read many of your posts, so i know you would do most likley a more proper job, than a shop, like the axle being loose, that would be cause to put more trust in yourself, or at least in another shop. although there is only one here within a reasonable distance. that is also why i sometimes tackle jobs , that maybe i would'nt if i had a good bike shop near by.