Black Bent Down: Worst Experience on a Bent This Year

You'r'e looking through the wrong end of the binoculars. Bikes are supposed
to acquire character in this way. You just touch up the scratches on the
frame and immediately your bike acquires value in the form of the stories
behind the dings. Only by repairing or replacing damaged parts do we
actually acquire knowledge and skill as bike mechanics.

Look at it as an "opportunity".

Just did one of my favorite rides with some bad results. My spankin'
new TE (less than 200mi) and I were headed down a huge, curving grade.
Black bent, meet black ice. Arrrrgh. I must have slid for a good
twenty feet, maybe more. Thank goodness no traffic as I crossed to
the other side of the road completely, just grinding and sliding
along. Is this ever going to stop!? My beautiful fairing looks like
it's been raked by a screaming tiger; the right support is bent; two
wing nuts lost; dr. ground down some; seat cover trashed; five
articles of clothing damaged, a couple beyond reasonable repair. And
me? Mostly a bruised ego. It's a bit hard to sit, and my
elbow/forearm is throbbing, but that's it. I'm really lucky and
thankful...and depressed at the damage to a beautiful bike. The
wheels are true, and she still shifts and brakes fine, i.e. all
crucial systems undamaged and NO frame damage at all. I think the
fairing, my body, and a pannier I had on the rear protected the bike
some--phew. Everything can be replaced--though I'll wait a bit on the
fairing. The scratches don't cause any problems other than aethetic.

Well, I have to crash once on each bike. I hope this is as bad as it
gets!

Ride safely one and all, and watch out for black ice! (I should have
known/predicted, but I wasn't thinking hard enough.)

Scott

I know the feeling. Many moons ago, I was riding with a friend on mtb's. We
were slowly making our way down an icy grade on the local trail. I went down
first, sliding on my ass watching my bike slide past me. Then my buddy went
down, being chased by his bike. Good thing the trail was mostly straight or
we would have been skewered by the trailside brush. No damage except for
frozen buns. Had a lot of laughs over that ride.
"Scott" wrote in message
om...
Just did one of my favorite rides with some bad results. My spankin'
new TE (less than 200mi) and I were headed down a huge, curving grade.
Black bent, meet black ice. Arrrrgh. I must have slid for a good
twenty feet, maybe more. Thank goodness no traffic as I crossed to
the other side of the road completely, just grinding and sliding
along. Is this ever going to stop!? My beautiful fairing looks like
it's been raked by a screaming tiger; the right support is bent; two
wing nuts lost; dr. ground down some; seat cover trashed; five
articles of clothing damaged, a couple beyond reasonable repair. And
me? Mostly a bruised ego. It's a bit hard to sit, and my
elbow/forearm is throbbing, but that's it. I'm really lucky and
thankful...and depressed at the damage to a beautiful bike. The
wheels are true, and she still shifts and brakes fine, i.e. all
crucial systems undamaged and NO frame damage at all. I think the
fairing, my body, and a pannier I had on the rear protected the bike
some--phew. Everything can be replaced--though I'll wait a bit on the
fairing. The scratches don't cause any problems other than aethetic.

Well, I have to crash once on each bike. I hope this is as bad as it
gets!

Ride safely one and all, and watch out for black ice! (I should have
known/predicted, but I wasn't thinking hard enough.)

Scott

When I saw the thread's title, I thought it was going to be about the bikes
sold by the Bike Barn
"Scott" wrote in message
om...
Just did one of my favorite rides with some bad results. My spankin'
new TE (less than 200mi) and I were headed down a huge, curving grade.
Black bent, meet black ice. Arrrrgh. I must have slid for a good
twenty feet, maybe more. Thank goodness no traffic as I crossed to
the other side of the road completely, just grinding and sliding
along. Is this ever going to stop!? My beautiful fairing looks like
it's been raked by a screaming tiger; the right support is bent; two
wing nuts lost; dr. ground down some; seat cover trashed; five
articles of clothing damaged, a couple beyond reasonable repair. And
me? Mostly a bruised ego. It's a bit hard to sit, and my
elbow/forearm is throbbing, but that's it. I'm really lucky and
thankful...and depressed at the damage to a beautiful bike. The
wheels are true, and she still shifts and brakes fine, i.e. all
crucial systems undamaged and NO frame damage at all. I think the
fairing, my body, and a pannier I had on the rear protected the bike
some--phew. Everything can be replaced--though I'll wait a bit on the
fairing. The scratches don't cause any problems other than aethetic.

Well, I have to crash once on each bike. I hope this is as bad as it
gets!

Ride safely one and all, and watch out for black ice! (I should have
known/predicted, but I wasn't thinking hard enough.)

Scott

that sucks! make sure you do lot's of icing on the tailbone area. I
screwed that up in a crash and it bothered me for 6 months. thankfully,
you didn't screw up the bike! :-)

Scott wrote:
Just did one of my favorite rides with some bad results. My spankin'
new TE (less than 200mi) and I were headed down a huge, curving grade.
Black bent, meet black ice. Arrrrgh. I must have slid for a good
twenty feet, maybe more. Thank goodness no traffic as I crossed to
the other side of the road completely, just grinding and sliding
along. Is this ever going to stop!? My beautiful fairing looks like
it's been raked by a screaming tiger; the right support is bent; two
wing nuts lost; dr. ground down some; seat cover trashed; five
articles of clothing damaged, a couple beyond reasonable repair. And
me? Mostly a bruised ego. It's a bit hard to sit, and my
elbow/forearm is throbbing, but that's it. I'm really lucky and
thankful...and depressed at the damage to a beautiful bike. The
wheels are true, and she still shifts and brakes fine, i.e. all
crucial systems undamaged and NO frame damage at all. I think the
fairing, my body, and a pannier I had on the rear protected the bike
some--phew. Everything can be replaced--though I'll wait a bit on the
fairing. The scratches don't cause any problems other than aethetic.

Well, I have to crash once on each bike. I hope this is as bad as it
gets!

Ride safely one and all, and watch out for black ice! (I should have
known/predicted, but I wasn't thinking hard enough.)

Scott

harv wrote:

When I saw the thread's title, I thought it was going to be about the
bikes sold by the Bike Barn

The name was "Recumbant Barn". My theory was that the business was
doomed to failure by the incorrect spelling of "Recumbant". The
reportedly atrocious handling and quality of the Blackbent III could not
have helped either.

Tom Sherman - Planet Earth

" Just did one of my favorite rides with some bad results. My
spankin'
new TE (less than 200mi) and I were headed down a huge, curving grade.
Black bent, meet black ice. Arrrrgh. I must have slid for a good
twenty feet, maybe more. Thank goodness no traffic as I crossed to
Well, I have to crash once on each bike. I hope this is as bad as it
gets!

Ride safely one and all, and watch out for black ice! (I should have
known/predicted, but I wasn't thinking hard enough.)

Scott

Scott: Thank goodness you were also riding a recumbent. No endo for
you. Crashes are never fun but the ability to get up and walk away is
a blessing in itself. We were on our Barcroft Columbia tandem last
year when we hit a gravel patch. It was like the whole world suddenly
went into slow motion as the bike swung around and slid with an effort
that would make a major league ball player proud. We walked away with
scraped hips and bruised egos but nothing else. One of the recumbent
advantages.

Mike S.
St. Louis, Mo.

mike s wrote:

Scott: Thank goodness you were also riding a recumbent. No endo for
you. Crashes are never fun but the ability to get up and walk away is
a blessing in itself. We were on our Barcroft Columbia tandem last
year when we hit a gravel patch. It was like the whole world suddenly
went into slow motion as the bike swung around and slid with an effort
that would make a major league ball player proud. We walked away with
scraped hips and bruised egos but nothing else. One of the recumbent
advantages.

Mike,

"We" had bruised egos? Don't you know that everything that goes wrong on
a tandem ride is ALWAYS the captain's fault?

Tom Sherman - Planet Earth

snip

Thanks for the responses. I've thought about the "character issue"
and really the bike is not grossly damaged. The fairing is yucky, but
I don't look through it, especially where it's scratched. I'll
replace it at some point. I've already ordered the necessary
replacement parts. I'll bend back the fairing brace. Next week I'll
saddle up and attempt the 45 mile, 4,000+foot climb back up the hill.
Before long, I want to do the round trip in a day, which would gain
close to 6,000ft.--a lot for me. Anyway, at least I know about THAT
turn and icy conditions. Nowhere else was the road icy. It's
strange; the ice was really just very thick frost. We had not had
rain/snow in a long time, and I could detect no runoff or the like.

I was indeed fortunate to be on a recumbent. I'm pretty sure I would
have broken something had I fallen that hard from the hight of a
wedgie. My last crash was on my commuting wedgie--very slow speed,
sand over pavement. Bam! Down I went: sprained wrist, bleeding
forehead--a very nice job! My wrist STILL bothers me months later.
My bent crashes have all left me with some road rash and a bruised hip
(always the right side for some reason)--that's it, if anything. I
really think that for many crashes, 'bents ARE safer. Just don't post
this over on the other bike groups!

Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving, one and all.

Scott

jim h wrote:
: behind the dings. Only by repairing or replacing damaged parts do we
: actually acquire knowledge and skill as bike mechanics.

Hmm somehow I feel it doesn't work that way for bents.

You ever:
-Received your bent neatly assembled to its atomic constituents?
-Replaced the rear derailleur just because you don't like to hear "oh,
your chain is hanging very low" from upright riders, 5 times per ride?

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html
varis at no spam please iki fi