Fell off

Embarrassing. Painful. Big audience.

Daily route home. Dark, right hand turn under the railway bridge, usually
take this fast and wide (keeping left-ish) there were some cars in
conversation mode so kept right-ish. Bang, lots of slidy scrapy ouchy
bleedy.

Irritating as the nice new lycra top and bottom only arrived yesterday. Now
with custom ventilation.

Tyres are Schwalbe Jets, until now I thought these were brilliant. Not so
sure now. There was no hint of losing traction, just a seemingly
instantaneous transfer from slant to horizontal. Should I blame the tyres?
This has never happened to me on slower tyres.

Second glass of wine now, feeling better but the 100mm of road rash on the
right hip is going to be a problem tomorrow.

Brian

Brian Drury wrote:
Embarrassing. Painful. Big audience.

Daily route home. Dark, right hand turn under the railway bridge, usually
take this fast and wide (keeping left-ish) there were some cars in
conversation mode so kept right-ish. Bang, lots of slidy scrapy ouchy
bleedy.

Irritating as the nice new lycra top and bottom only arrived yesterday. Now
with custom ventilation.

Tyres are Schwalbe Jets, until now I thought these were brilliant. Not so
sure now. There was no hint of losing traction, just a seemingly
instantaneous transfer from slant to horizontal. Should I blame the tyres?
This has never happened to me on slower tyres.

Second glass of wine now, feeling better but the 100mm of road rash on the
right hip is going to be a problem tomorrow.

Thankfully the two glasses have had no impact on your ability to
describe the incident! ;-) Hope you heal quickly, this seems to be a bad
period for accidents although as that's three the rest of us might be safe.

WRT tyres, the most confident set of tyres (As in, tyres I had most
confidence in) were the Hutchinson Carbon Comp ones that were fitted to
the Giant when I bought it. They wear down pretty quickly (And then
puncture like hell!), but I never felt them slip at all and I used to
take some pretty hairy corners on them. Not so sure about the Conti
Grand Prix ones I'm currently using. For some reason (I haven't come
off), I don't feel as confident on them.

Jon

Brian Drury wrote:
............
Tyres are Schwalbe Jets, until now I thought these were brilliant.
Not so sure now. There was no hint of losing traction, just a
seemingly instantaneous transfer from slant to horizontal. Should I
blame the tyres? This has never happened to me on slower tyres.

Bad luck, I know exactly what that experience feels like: horrible.

An instant slip can happen with any tyres on-road if the surface is
slippery enough or you lean far enough. I wonder if the tyres were
over-inflated? The pressure stated on the City Jet sidewall is a bit
high, I reckon, especially for the front. (Front should be softer than
the rear in any case). Otherwise I wouldn't blame the tyres, got to blame
yourself or the road--could have been an oil patch, for instance.

~PB

In ,
Jon Senior jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk typed:
Thankfully the two glasses have had no impact on your ability to
describe the incident! ;-) Hope you heal quickly, this seems to be a
bad period for accidents although as that's three the rest of us
might be safe.

Hey, I thought you believed in science. I broke my scaphoid 6 weeks ago. Got
another 10 days in plaster, and I'm itching to get back on the bike. Came
off the Brompton but it's all my own stupid fault. May describe it in the
future.

A

Brian Drury wrote:
Embarrassing. Painful. Big audience.

Daily route home. Dark, right hand turn under the railway bridge,
usually take this fast and wide (keeping left-ish) there were some
cars in conversation mode so kept right-ish. Bang, lots of slidy
scrapy ouchy bleedy.

Irritating as the nice new lycra top and bottom only arrived
yesterday. Now with custom ventilation.

Tyres are Schwalbe Jets, until now I thought these were brilliant.
Not so sure now. There was no hint of losing traction, just a
seemingly instantaneous transfer from slant to horizontal. Should I
blame the tyres? This has never happened to me on slower tyres.

Second glass of wine now, feeling better but the 100mm of road rash
on the right hip is going to be a problem tomorrow.

Brian

I can't comment on the circumstances, but I hope you're OK. Gashes, rashes
hurt, but they heal.

Regards

Jeff

Embarrassing. Painful. Big audience.

Oh dear. At least you are still in the land of the livcing, which is always a
plus in the case of a tumble. Get well soon.

Cheers, helen s


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"Brian Drury" briandotdruryatdsldotpipexdotcom wrote in message

Tyres are Schwalbe Jets, until now I thought these were brilliant. Not so
sure now. There was no hint of losing traction, just a seemingly
instantaneous transfer from slant to horizontal. Should I blame the tyres?
This has never happened to me on slower tyres.

The roads are nearly always damp 24 hours a day at this time of year and
when combined with spilt fuel can be like ice. Your tyres were not to blame,
no tyre can get a grip on a smooth road that's damp and has diesel on it.
Cornering should be done very carefully, I try to keep my bike at 90 degrees
to the road at all times and steer carefully around bends. Get well soon.
--
Simon M.

Ambrose Nankivell wrote:

Hey, I thought you believed in science. I broke my scaphoid 6 weeks ago. Got
another 10 days in plaster, and I'm itching to get back on the bike. Came
off the Brompton but it's all my own stupid fault. May describe it in the
future.

You didn't forget to do teh frame hinge up did you?
Did that last year and was promptly deposited in an ungainly heap :-(

John B

Brian Drury wrote:

Embarrassing. Painful. Big audience.

Isn't it always the way.

Second glass of wine now, feeling better but the 100mm of road rash on the
right hip is going to be a problem tomorrow.

What tough luck - I hope you enjoyed more than just the two glasses.
Good luck with the healing.

John B

Simon Mason wrote:

Cornering should be done very carefully, I try to keep my bike at
90 degrees to the road at all times and steer carefully around bends.

Does this mean that you lean your body into the curve, but try to keep
the bike upright? There's an alternative theory of laying the bike over
more but keeping your body upright. I think both methods give you only
the illusion of greater stability. I try to keep my body in the same
plane as the frame at all times when cornering. If the road surface is
suspect I simply reduce the lean angle by cornering more slowly.

Having said that I did come off last year on sheet ice at not much more
than walking pace. The kids had made a slide on the road and it was
difficult even to walk on it. When the wheel goes under those
conditions there's no recovering it.

--
Dave...