Vantage
Carbon fibre... LMAO!!!
- Location
- Behind everyone else, Bolton
Big offs
- Thread starter stalagmike
- Start date
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vickster
Legendary Member
Ah cool, an older model. Stands to reason, not like peloton is an unusual word in the world of cycling
Levo-Lon
Guru
cheers mate
mustang1
Legendary Member
- Location
- London, UK
I chose
rider error
and
Mechanical failure unavailable.
First, rider error. Happened as a kid. Was riding downhill very fast on road. Due to a blockage on the road and I had to get on to the sidewalk which had a rather high kerb. The front wheel got up ok but the back wheel hit and toppled me over. Grazed the entire right side of my face. Walked home all bloody in front of astonished teenage school kids.
2nd time was down hill on a chopper. The nut that connects handlebars with front wheel went loose and I lost all steering control. Did anyone watch the pink panther cartoon when the front wheel comes off and pink panther is watching it roll away? It was kinda like that.
More grazing of various body parts.
The third time was mechanical failure unavoidable. I was thinking maybe I should put this into the avoidable category. Op can decide:
It happened on my road over a couple of weeks. The bike had been serviced regularly and I felt my fitness getting better. I was so strong in fact that I was flexing the handlebars. I really was that strong! "Incredible" I thought to myself. "I might look into upgrading the aluminium bars to carbon if I carry on at this rate!"
Later on my ride the gears screwed so I was riding quite slowly. Thankfully. All of a sudden the handle bar snapped on the right side which pushed my weight to the left. I managed to keep the bike balanced for another couple of pedal strokes and managed to get to a grass verge before falling over.
It's a good thing the right side bar snapped which made me fall left because if it was the other way round, I could have fallen to the right, just as a juggernaut was passing by.....
rider error
and
Mechanical failure unavailable.
First, rider error. Happened as a kid. Was riding downhill very fast on road. Due to a blockage on the road and I had to get on to the sidewalk which had a rather high kerb. The front wheel got up ok but the back wheel hit and toppled me over. Grazed the entire right side of my face. Walked home all bloody in front of astonished teenage school kids.
2nd time was down hill on a chopper. The nut that connects handlebars with front wheel went loose and I lost all steering control. Did anyone watch the pink panther cartoon when the front wheel comes off and pink panther is watching it roll away? It was kinda like that.
More grazing of various body parts. The third time was mechanical failure unavoidable. I was thinking maybe I should put this into the avoidable category. Op can decide:
It happened on my road over a couple of weeks. The bike had been serviced regularly and I felt my fitness getting better. I was so strong in fact that I was flexing the handlebars. I really was that strong! "Incredible" I thought to myself. "I might look into upgrading the aluminium bars to carbon if I carry on at this rate!"
Later on my ride the gears screwed so I was riding quite slowly. Thankfully. All of a sudden the handle bar snapped on the right side which pushed my weight to the left. I managed to keep the bike balanced for another couple of pedal strokes and managed to get to a grass verge before falling over.
It's a good thing the right side bar snapped which made me fall left because if it was the other way round, I could have fallen to the right, just as a juggernaut was passing by.....
Tiger10
Über Member
- Location
- Nr warwick
On my mtb bombing down a rough track when my front wheel went over a small obstacle ( some sort of terrier i think) and i lost control and left a bit of skin behind.
GilesM
Legendary Member
- Location
- East Lothian
Unfortunately, too many big offs worst ones were either racing, or coming together with cars, a bad one was coming together with a car during a race, strong crosswinds resulted in an echelon across the whole road, which wasn't closed, I was in the middle of the wrong side of the road when the car appeared, a couple of the riders got down the right side of the approaching car, most managed to get back on the correct side of the road, I hit it head on, it was an interesting impact, I smashed the windscreen with my shoulders as I somersaulted over the bars, landed on the roof, and in a state of total disorientation I rolled off the car roof and hit the ground, which was quite hard. It was 1986, the first big off I had with Look pedals, one shoe was still attached to the bike without me in the shoe, amazingly after a wee trip in an ambulance and lots of X-rays, it was discovered that there was no serious damage although I was quite sore for a few days, and I still have a small dent in my right thigh muscle.
All my recent big offs have been MTBing, which appear not to count on this thread, although, as trees and rocks are quite hard, MTB offs do still hurt.
All my recent big offs have been MTBing, which appear not to count on this thread, although, as trees and rocks are quite hard, MTB offs do still hurt.
1. Right hook with car when filtering using a cycle lane. In hindsight might have avoided it these days as I'm more cautious filtering.
2. Taken out by a U-turning car while filtering down the middle of the road. Probably couldn't have avoided that, but again I'm more cautious filtering these days.
3. Lost it crossing some damp tram tracks. Was actually trying to be careful and cross it slowly at a suitable angle but front wheel still got caught. Evil things, they don't belong on city roads.
4. Filtering down the middle of the road, suicidal lemming pedestrian steps directly in front of me. Nothing I could do about that one, but once again I'm probably more cautious and slower filtering now.
5. Idiotic driver buzzes me and then immediately has to do an emergency stop because there is a slow moving car ahead leaving me with nowhere to go but into the back of his car. Absolutely nothing I could do about that one.
6. Lost the front end on a slippery corner going downhill. Was riding my mum's bike so blame it on that.
2. Taken out by a U-turning car while filtering down the middle of the road. Probably couldn't have avoided that, but again I'm more cautious filtering these days.
3. Lost it crossing some damp tram tracks. Was actually trying to be careful and cross it slowly at a suitable angle but front wheel still got caught. Evil things, they don't belong on city roads.
4. Filtering down the middle of the road, suicidal lemming pedestrian steps directly in front of me. Nothing I could do about that one, but once again I'm probably more cautious and slower filtering now.
5. Idiotic driver buzzes me and then immediately has to do an emergency stop because there is a slow moving car ahead leaving me with nowhere to go but into the back of his car. Absolutely nothing I could do about that one.
6. Lost the front end on a slippery corner going downhill. Was riding my mum's bike so blame it on that.
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
Like @Andrew_P my one 5 weeks ago was a(n instaneous) puncture downhill at speed (slightly bending road) at 199km into a 300km audax. It did not end well: memory stops, endo, broken shoulder blade, ribs, punctured lung, unconscious for several (or more minutes), air and road ambulance discussing where and whether by road or air, intensive care - 2 days.
Exactly one month on from my ‘off’ I have recovered enough to drive. So I took the train up to Bristol/Keynsham to pick up my car (which had been recovered by a friend from the audax start) and then headed down to pick up my bike (which had been in the care of another friend who lives very close to the site of the accident). While there I drove up the hill: the scene of the accident - and slowly back down, recognising where my tyre had ‘blown’.
My posts describing/discussing the accident are here:
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/t...challenge-chatzone.95264/page-84#post-4950192
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/t...challenge-chatzone.95264/page-85#post-4952273
Apart from the front wheel my bike is relatively unscathed: the (1970s) Brooks ‘Competition’ saddle has been badly scuffed on the left back corner, but remains functional/useable; and the left hand STI is a bit scratched and was twisted in. The inner tube has a major snakebite in it: 11mm on one side and 9mm on the other, which will have caused/allowed the near instantaneous deflation I remember. There is a significant dink in one side of the rim where the puncture was. And there is damage to the left hand rim edge for about a third of the circumference, consistent with the rim attempting to roll on the road surface before saying ‘enough’. There is damage to the tyre sidewall in this area too. Of interest, the tyre had rotated about 20cm round the wheel (ie the maker’s logo was no longer aligned with the valve). I expect this happened when I tried to brake and the tyre gripped more on the road overcoming the friction between it and the rim.
All this supports my ‘analysis’ that coming down the hill, on the drops (always go on the drops downhill – much ‘stronger’ position and better leverage for braking), fingers lightly on both brakes, I suffered a near instant flat, and, after some immediate (swearing and) braking (which I remember) very shortly afterwards went over the bars landing supine, feet forward, first on my shoulder blade (crack) and that banged in to break ribs, one of which punctured my lung. My head then came down on its left side: the helmet is broken (cracked) and has friction damage. I was unconscious for an undetermined number of minutes. Because of how I fell, the helmet ‘wanted’ to come off: stopped from doing so by the helmet’s underchin strap which cut me and the sidestrap which had a go at my left ear (with a fair bit of blood (ears bleed easily)). This was the only damage to my head (lucky and protected) but my neck got a bit of a bashing – not surface but left/right and up/down stiffness/internal bruising. Substantial bruising (but not grazing) above my shoulder blade suggests I ‘bounced’ on that and serious grazing on my left arm/elbow and left hip suggests that I slid on those two main points till stationary. Other sites of grazing ‘are available’ – all now healed.
Lucky I was that others were right behind me (and called 999 etc). They thought I had gone down the hill ‘too fast’ (I have this on heresay, third hand) and maybe this is so, but they will not have known that I’d suffered a puncture when descending. Whether this would have altered their judgement I know not. Whether a lesser speed and their riding skills would have allowed them to stay upright in the event of a flat will not be tested, I hope.
I do not know what caused the snakebite. The tyre (Michelin Pro4 SC 25-622) was new on before London-Edinburgh-London and so had done about 2300km – I’d expect about 6000km from that make/model of tyre on the front. I had checked my tyres before the ride and the front was at 75psi (5psi more than the graph readout in Jan Heine’s BQ article: actual width 26.7mm, total load 85kg, front 38kg, rear 47kg). It is possible it had lost pressure during the 199km I had ridden. I checked the rear 31 days later: it was at 72spsi (same tyre make/model) - I had inflated it to 90psi before the ride). The road was clear and, having examined the surface by both driving up and down it and walking up and down the stretch where the flat occurred, the surface is good, with no potholes. The side of the road is a bank so I guess the only possibility is a largish stone: the sort of stone you can see and avoid as you ride down hills, I’d like to think. Maybe/clearly not this time.
What lessons can I learn from this incident?
1) A ‘fast’ puncture going at speed is likely to cause the rider to crash, especially if any braking or turning is needed.
2) Don’t apply any front brake (or release it if it’s already being used). Shift weight back to get as much effect from the back brake as possible.
3) Stay as straight as possible.
4) Check tyre pressures before each ride. Do a thumb check on each tyre at every stop (well, every couple of hours).
I have decided that the rim cannot be satisfactorily repaired and since the wheel/hub/spokes (Mavic MA3 on a Tiagra HB-4400) have done 25,000+km, it’s not worth lacing a new rim on. And I'm not sure how much damage has been done to the tyre sidewall so I'm reluctantly retiring that (to the bin) too. I have another similar front wheel: an Ambrosio Excursion rim on a 105 32 spoke hub which now has a new Continental GP 4 Seasons 28-622 tyre on, ready for when I’m able to ride again (hopefully in a fortnight or so). The Brooks saddle is off and being saved for long rides next year and the STI is straightened. All good. Almost off the pain killers now – just using for overnight comfort in an effort to achieve more sleep (still a challenge). Just need the bones to complete their healing, and to regain both mobility and strength in my left arm/shoulder and my neck. I have exercises from the physio to do to extend/recover my range of movement and I'll be on the turbo next week and on the bike in a fortnight (I hope).
Some may suggest I’m ‘overthinking’ this accident. But a month of work and 6+ weeks off the bike gives one ample time for overthinking. I hope some may find some of the facts and analysis interesting.
Afternote: When I tell non-cyclist people, including several in the medical profession, about the accident and my shoulder blade, ribs and arm injuries, the first question is "Were you wearing a helmet?" I have had to exert increasing restraint on the issue.
Exactly one month on from my ‘off’ I have recovered enough to drive. So I took the train up to Bristol/Keynsham to pick up my car (which had been recovered by a friend from the audax start) and then headed down to pick up my bike (which had been in the care of another friend who lives very close to the site of the accident). While there I drove up the hill: the scene of the accident - and slowly back down, recognising where my tyre had ‘blown’.
My posts describing/discussing the accident are here:
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/t...challenge-chatzone.95264/page-84#post-4950192
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/t...challenge-chatzone.95264/page-85#post-4952273
Apart from the front wheel my bike is relatively unscathed: the (1970s) Brooks ‘Competition’ saddle has been badly scuffed on the left back corner, but remains functional/useable; and the left hand STI is a bit scratched and was twisted in. The inner tube has a major snakebite in it: 11mm on one side and 9mm on the other, which will have caused/allowed the near instantaneous deflation I remember. There is a significant dink in one side of the rim where the puncture was. And there is damage to the left hand rim edge for about a third of the circumference, consistent with the rim attempting to roll on the road surface before saying ‘enough’. There is damage to the tyre sidewall in this area too. Of interest, the tyre had rotated about 20cm round the wheel (ie the maker’s logo was no longer aligned with the valve). I expect this happened when I tried to brake and the tyre gripped more on the road overcoming the friction between it and the rim.
All this supports my ‘analysis’ that coming down the hill, on the drops (always go on the drops downhill – much ‘stronger’ position and better leverage for braking), fingers lightly on both brakes, I suffered a near instant flat, and, after some immediate (swearing and) braking (which I remember) very shortly afterwards went over the bars landing supine, feet forward, first on my shoulder blade (crack) and that banged in to break ribs, one of which punctured my lung. My head then came down on its left side: the helmet is broken (cracked) and has friction damage. I was unconscious for an undetermined number of minutes. Because of how I fell, the helmet ‘wanted’ to come off: stopped from doing so by the helmet’s underchin strap which cut me and the sidestrap which had a go at my left ear (with a fair bit of blood (ears bleed easily)). This was the only damage to my head (lucky and protected) but my neck got a bit of a bashing – not surface but left/right and up/down stiffness/internal bruising. Substantial bruising (but not grazing) above my shoulder blade suggests I ‘bounced’ on that and serious grazing on my left arm/elbow and left hip suggests that I slid on those two main points till stationary. Other sites of grazing ‘are available’ – all now healed.
Lucky I was that others were right behind me (and called 999 etc). They thought I had gone down the hill ‘too fast’ (I have this on heresay, third hand) and maybe this is so, but they will not have known that I’d suffered a puncture when descending. Whether this would have altered their judgement I know not. Whether a lesser speed and their riding skills would have allowed them to stay upright in the event of a flat will not be tested, I hope.
I do not know what caused the snakebite. The tyre (Michelin Pro4 SC 25-622) was new on before London-Edinburgh-London and so had done about 2300km – I’d expect about 6000km from that make/model of tyre on the front. I had checked my tyres before the ride and the front was at 75psi (5psi more than the graph readout in Jan Heine’s BQ article: actual width 26.7mm, total load 85kg, front 38kg, rear 47kg). It is possible it had lost pressure during the 199km I had ridden. I checked the rear 31 days later: it was at 72spsi (same tyre make/model) - I had inflated it to 90psi before the ride). The road was clear and, having examined the surface by both driving up and down it and walking up and down the stretch where the flat occurred, the surface is good, with no potholes. The side of the road is a bank so I guess the only possibility is a largish stone: the sort of stone you can see and avoid as you ride down hills, I’d like to think. Maybe/clearly not this time.
What lessons can I learn from this incident?
1) A ‘fast’ puncture going at speed is likely to cause the rider to crash, especially if any braking or turning is needed.
2) Don’t apply any front brake (or release it if it’s already being used). Shift weight back to get as much effect from the back brake as possible.
3) Stay as straight as possible.
4) Check tyre pressures before each ride. Do a thumb check on each tyre at every stop (well, every couple of hours).
I have decided that the rim cannot be satisfactorily repaired and since the wheel/hub/spokes (Mavic MA3 on a Tiagra HB-4400) have done 25,000+km, it’s not worth lacing a new rim on. And I'm not sure how much damage has been done to the tyre sidewall so I'm reluctantly retiring that (to the bin) too. I have another similar front wheel: an Ambrosio Excursion rim on a 105 32 spoke hub which now has a new Continental GP 4 Seasons 28-622 tyre on, ready for when I’m able to ride again (hopefully in a fortnight or so). The Brooks saddle is off and being saved for long rides next year and the STI is straightened. All good. Almost off the pain killers now – just using for overnight comfort in an effort to achieve more sleep (still a challenge). Just need the bones to complete their healing, and to regain both mobility and strength in my left arm/shoulder and my neck. I have exercises from the physio to do to extend/recover my range of movement and I'll be on the turbo next week and on the bike in a fortnight (I hope).
Some may suggest I’m ‘overthinking’ this accident. But a month of work and 6+ weeks off the bike gives one ample time for overthinking. I hope some may find some of the facts and analysis interesting.
Afternote: When I tell non-cyclist people, including several in the medical profession, about the accident and my shoulder blade, ribs and arm injuries, the first question is "Were you wearing a helmet?" I have had to exert increasing restraint on the issue.
Andrew_P
In between here and there
Wow! My main memory was a clicking noise and thinking I will pull over and sort that as I hate that sort of thing (it was the tube I think) the BANG then slow motion, the sound of rim on tarmac and thinking shoot this is going to hurt and once I ground to a halt the view of my bike shooting off in to the grass verge! Then leaping up and trying to shake everything to see what is broken which made no sense at all. Still got the shorts as a souvenir and still wear the shoes occasionally even with the hole in the side from the tarmac. My tyre had been on for 7 days, checked every morning. I sold the bike, for some reason couldn't bring myself to ride it straight away which was weird and I have regretted it since.
As a side note to my injury - I wouldn't have got anywhere near the bike as quick as I did and I think I would have had ongoing issues had I not seen a really good Chiropractor that knew his stuff from treating Rugby Players. Not only bone work but huge amount of moving muscle around he was the one who told me the mess my muscles were. Every visit asked where it hurt most and worked on that I found it incredible how painful it was when he was doing it but it always felt better later. He also stopped it over healing by tapping the shoulder head in to the socket (Physio did this but not as aggressively!). The wait for NHS Physio was a long time and my memory of it was very little hands on. I paid for a private Physio at first and they had barely any impact on it. I was back on my bike in 7 weeks, although in pain.
Andrew_P
In between here and there
Same tyre, same symptom. I assume Service Corse is the SC? Hmmm I found quite a few people had the same thing searching online. I posted a picture of it here and saw similar online. Mine looked like it came away from the bead fist, tube started escaping and then bang. I was relatively lucky in that it was the rear that went.
oldstrath
Über Member
- Location
- Strathspey
Coming down steep forest path, woman notices that her small child is on the other side of the path and an evil killer cyclist is about to pass between them (nowhere near either of them, BTW). Mother is moved to start screaming, child, reasonably, runs across to screaming mummy, I avoid child but not ditch.
Actually I was very lucky - bent glasses, periorbital embolism and a few scratches. Pretty picture on FB, a little sympathy, back at work after the weekend.
I'm calling it rider error, because on a road if I'd seen that configuration of people I'd have slowed, but just got careless on a nice easy descent after some quite hard technical riding earlier.
Actually I was very lucky - bent glasses, periorbital embolism and a few scratches. Pretty picture on FB, a little sympathy, back at work after the weekend.
I'm calling it rider error, because on a road if I'd seen that configuration of people I'd have slowed, but just got careless on a nice easy descent after some quite hard technical riding earlier.
Last edited:
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
Same tyre, perhaps, but the tube showed classic (but large) snakebite slit/holes so I don't blame the tyre. The rim was well dented (but there are no potholes on that bit of road (I've checked)) and I did not consciously hit anything, but the hard evidence is: I did. Having the rear go would have been relatively benign, I think (no corners to negotiate (unlike you).
Will Spin
Über Member
Hit something that looked like an unmarked speed hump when descending, hands came off handlebars resulting in loss of control and me going rapidly off over the front wheel. Smashed right shoulder, off work for 3 months, shoulder rebuilt with metal bracket and pins. Could have been avoided by better concentration on the road ahead and being in the drops not on the hoods. I've hit big bumps a speed and not come off since then by being in the drops, which has enabled me to keep in control. Rider error!
KnackeredBike
I do my own stunts
As the avatar suggests I am somewhat of a specialist in falling /being knocked off bikes.
Somewhat ironically the only time I've had more than cuts and bruises was almost at a standstill -I'd ridden up to a kerb and just braked a fraction to late and went over like a sack of potatoes breaking my arm.
I do worry though with the number of unmarked, dark coloured bollards, fences and gates on cycle routes around here eventually I will hit one of those which will be highly unpleasant.
Somewhat ironically the only time I've had more than cuts and bruises was almost at a standstill -I'd ridden up to a kerb and just braked a fraction to late and went over like a sack of potatoes breaking my arm.
I do worry though with the number of unmarked, dark coloured bollards, fences and gates on cycle routes around here eventually I will hit one of those which will be highly unpleasant.
oldstrath
Über Member
- Location
- Strathspey
I once followed a father and son down a local path which has bollards protecting field entries. Lots of room either side of the bollards, but father insisted on telling his son to ' be careful, look at the bollard'. With the inevitable consequence, fortunately at low speed.
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