Well, I went for a quick spin on the moors this afternoon.
Just past the top of the route, something strange happened, and I felt
myself going over the bars. A strange and interesting experience, as
I fell I could see in slow motion exactly what was happening, and I
was able to control my fall rather well, avoiding any injury beyond
a bump and a couple of light grazes. I strongly suspect that I wouldn't
have had that level of control if my head had been constrained in an
eggshell.
Getting up, I discovered the reason for my fall. My left handlebar was
hanging loose, having snapped through sheering, presumably at the moment
of maximum stress as the front wheel (intentionally) hit the slab of rock
that was the far side of a dip I was traversing. The bars had bent
round, and the brakes were rubbing due to that. I unhitched the brakes
and started out to walk the seven or eight rocky - but mostly downhill -
miles home.
Anyway, I'm well, and not sure how much I'm going to have to replace
this time. But I'm wondering how often this kind of thing happens and,
given that there were no visible signs of deterioration in the handlebars,
how I should avoid this kind if thing happening in future, perhaps with
much nastier consequences. Perhaps one should stick to nice heavy steel
bars? And for similar reasons, forks. And ....
(oh, and, er, the subject line is intentional :-)
--
Nick Kew