Fell off

Brian Drury said:

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

On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 22:47:36 -0000, "Brian Drury"
<briandotdruryatdsldotpipexdotcom> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

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?

Dunno. I went very sideways yesterday on my Stelvios, and was getting
wheelspin pulling away form the lights, so maybe the roads are just
very slippery.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, anyway.

Guy
--
"then came ye chavves, theyre cartes girded wyth candels
blue, and theyre beastes wyth straynge horn-lyke thyngs
onn theyre arses that theyre fartes be herde from myles
around." Chaucer, the Sheppey Tales

Brian Drury wrote:
............

Quoted message said:

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 news:[email hidden],
Jon Senior <jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk> typed:

Quoted message said:

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 said:

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

you know? said:

On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 22:47:36 -0000, "Brian Drury"
<briandotdruryatdsldotpipexdotcom> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

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?

Dunno. I went very sideways yesterday on my Stelvios, and was getting
wheelspin pulling away form the lights, so maybe the roads are just
very slippery.

Thanks my thinking. I don't do a commute [bit difficult with ladders
and bags of plaster], but I will often do the short trip to the store
in the evenings, and I've noticed the conditions to be a bit dodgy of
late. It's kind of misty, damp, greasy.....facilitates am easy slid or
two. Go easy out there.

Garry

Quoted message said:

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

--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam--
to get correct one remove fame & fortune
h*$el*$$e*nd**$o$ts**i*$*$m*m$o*n*s@$*a$o*l.c**$om$

--Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off--

Just zis Guy said:

On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 22:47:36 -0000, "Brian Drury"
<briandotdruryatdsldotpipexdotcom> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

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?

Dunno. I went very sideways yesterday on my Stelvios, and was getting
wheelspin pulling away form the lights, so maybe the roads are just
very slippery.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, anyway.

Guy
--
"then came ye chavves, theyre cartes girded wyth candels
blue, and theyre beastes wyth straynge horn-lyke thyngs
onn theyre arses that theyre fartes be herde from myles
around." Chaucer, the Sheppey Tales

The roads are treacherous at the moment. They're very very greasy (even
more so than I remember being normal at this time of year). I'm not
cycling on them, but in the car it's all too easy to wheelspin on
pulling away, and even if it doesn't, I can feel the steering is
incredibly light some times when I'd not normally expect that.

It's quite possible the road was greasy from the salt/grit/winter gunk
that's covering everything in black [censored] at the moment, and you just hit
a small patch that was gunky *and* also slightly damp, which seems to
result in about as much traction as sheet ice :-\

Comiserations though, hope it all heals soon.

--

Velvet

"Brian Drury" <briandotdruryatdsldotpipexdotcom> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

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.

in message <[email hidden]>, "Brian

Drury' briandotdruryatdsldotpipexdotcom ('') said:

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.

There usually isn't. I had this happen to me on a wet canted granite
slab four weeks ago; the last of the scabs are just disappearing now. I
knew my line was bad, but when the back wheel let go it just let go.
Mind you, muddy knobblies on wet granite don't have a lot of chance.
But thinking about previous occasions when I've overcooked a bend, you
only really get much warning on loose (e.g. gravel) surfaces, and even
then it's often not enough warning to correct things. Lesson: don't
overcook bends.

Mind you, of course, just how much lateral traction you can get out of a
particular bit of surface under particular conditions is a judgement
call, and that's part of what makes riding fast off road fun. On road
you tend to assume that there's always enough traction but particularly
at this time of year there's a lot of reasons why there may not be. Wet
surfaces, particularly if there's a water-oil emulsion (very common
near the gutter); wet leaves, and the slimy remains of wet leaves;
frost; ice.

Quoted message said:

Should I blame the
tyres? This has never happened to me on slower tyres.

No, blame the rider. You misjudged the surface and overcooked it. (Sh)it
happens.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

'there are no solutions, only precipitates'

Ambrose Nankivell said:

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 said:

Embarrassing. Painful. Big audience.

Isn't it always the way.

Quoted message said:

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 said:

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...

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

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.

Can't say for sure but I wouldn't blame tyres yet. The roads are
absolutely awful at the moment, very very slippery. I took a bad tumble
last Sunday (as posted here!) and even when I went out for a ride very
very cautiously 2 days later I still lost traction on my back wheel.

Good luck with the road rash...my arms getting better but my leg refuses
to heal.

--
Mark (MSA)
______________________________________________
Remember, half the people you know are below average

On 10/12/04 2:17 pm, in article
[email hidden], "dkahn400"

Quoted message said:

Simon Mason said:

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?

That is the one I do on ice. Seems to work fine for me (as do the studded
tyres).

The roads do seem to be slipperier this year. I have slid the bike a couple
of times and the car as well (which is quite impressive given my usual
cautious style of motoring).

...d

"dkahn400" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Simon Mason said:

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?

I slow right down to near walking pace (if necessary) and keep body and
bike upright and steer around the corner. During the summer when the roads
were dry I was using the countersteering technique where you move the bars
the opposite way to where you want to go, but the roads are too dodgy at the
moment.
--
Simon M.

Simon Mason said:

During the summer when the roads
were dry I was using the countersteering technique where you move the bars
the opposite way to where you want to go

I don't understand this, unless you are riding a speedway bike.

--

Call me "Bob"

"More oneness, less categories,
Open hearts, no strategies"

Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.

"Call me Bob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Simon Mason said:

During the summer when the roads
were dry I was using the countersteering technique where you move the bars
the opposite way to where you want to go

I don't understand this, unless you are riding a speedway bike.

Try it. Ride up to a left turn and move your bars to the right and see what
happens.

--
Simon M.

Call me Bob said:

Quoted message said:

During the summer when the roads
were dry I was using the countersteering technique where you move the bars
the opposite way to where you want to go

I don't understand this, unless you are riding a speedway bike.

Works to lower the bike quickly into bends steering straight raises it
up quickly too, speedway is different as thats a powered slide, did it
on road bikes with big dia wheels (human and engine powered) and it
works as long as you have good grip and a tuned sense of balance, not
tired it with smaller wheels though....

Niel.