Share a recent frustrating experience that made you want to switch bikes!

A

Alexander.7812

New Member
Region
USA
My story: I was riding on a road paved with brick blocks. My wheel got caught in an uneven gap between two bricks. The next second, I was thrown off the bike and into the bushes! I scraped my entire right side, from my arm to my hand, to my hip, thigh, and calf! Luckily, the bike wasn't too badly damaged - the chain came off, and the handlebars were bent. At that moment, I was thinking, 'If I had a thicker tire like a 50mm, would this have been avoided?' I was using a 38mm tire......

"Do you have any similar embarrassing stories? OMG! 😩😩😩"
 
I’m with Dave. I blame the majority of my falls squarely on my own shoulders….literally.;)

Just the other day as I was entering a section of trail with a steep descent (which I’ve ridden countless numbers of times), I turned my handlebars a bit too much attempting to negotiate a corner where roots tend to gather together and it was at that magical moment that I performed a magnificent end over as displayed in the screenshot below. Luckily for me I escaped unscathed albeit with damaged pride. The bike was perfectly fine but the incident threw me off my mojo for the rest of the ride. Pardon the pun. 😀

GX010321 - frame at 0m42s.jpg


I only have myself to blame, not the bike. I really need to be more focused on taking the appropriate line and to try not to worry as much about quickening my pace. A valuable lesson learned.
 
Prairie Dog said:
I’m with Dave. I blame the majority of my falls squarely on my own shoulders….literally.;)

Just the other day as I was entering a section of trail with a steep descent (which I’ve ridden countless numbers of times), I turned my handlebars a bit too much attempting to negotiate a corner where roots tend to gather together and it was at that magical moment that I performed a magnificent end over as displayed in the screenshot below. Luckily for me I escaped unscathed albeit with damaged pride. The bike was perfectly fine but the incident threw me off my mojo for the rest of the ride. Pardon the pun. 😀

View attachment 181210

I only have myself to blame, not the bike. I really need to be more focused on taking the appropriate line and to try not to worry as much about quickening my pace. A valuable lesson learned.
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sorry to hear that, but I feel much better now...
 
DaveMatthews said:
Sorry to hear of your spill mate. Been there, done that!
That being said, my spills are mostly due to me, not the bike.
Maybe all you need is a tire change?
What are you riding, and what tires?
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now I'm riding with trek checkpoint, the tire is their own Bontrager one. I'm seriously considering of switch to e-bike!
 
Alexander,

Since 2015 (age 54), I have been plagued by various medical conditions. For instance, I can hardly walk but can pedal a bike. However, poor blood delivery to my legs made my traditional cycling laughable. I discovered e-bikes in August 2019 (5 years ago), and my life has completely changed. All four e-bikes I used to own were pedal e-bikes (no throttle) as it is practised in Europe. Since, I could ride 8,000 to 11,000 km yearly, keeping my bad legs in possibly good shape.

You seem to be thinking ‘if I rode an e-bike with fat tyres, my accident wouldn't have happened’, right? That's not how it works. Paving blocks is a treacherous kind of surface, on which most of tyres behave erratically. I had many many spills and none of them depended on the tyre size (I rode anything from 35 to 65 mm). I'd say my lightweight Vado SL on 42 mm aggressive gravel tyres handles rough terrain better than my heavy Vado 6.0 on 47 mm mild gravel rubbers!

All I can say is: If you consider switching to an e-bike, do it to ride faster, for longer distances, and more frequently. Not because the e-bike could be equipped with wider tyres.

Cheers!
 
Stefan Mikes said:
Alexander,

Since 2015 (age 54), I have been plagued by various medical conditions. For instance, I can hardly walk but can pedal a bike. However, poor blood delivery to my legs made my traditional cycling laughable. I discovered e-bikes in August 2019 (5 years ago), and my life has completely changed. All four e-bikes I used to own were pedal e-bikes (no throttle) as it is practised in Europe. Since, I could ride 8,000 to 11,000 km yearly, keeping my bad legs in possibly good shape.

You seem to be thinking ‘if I rode an e-bike with fat tyres, my accident wouldn't have happened’, right? That's not how it works. Paving blocks is a treacherous kind of surface, on which most of tyres behave erratically. I had many many spills and none of them depended on the tyre size (I rode anything from 35 to 65 mm). I'd say my lightweight Vado SL on 42 mm aggressive gravel tyres handles rough terrain better than my heavy Vado 6.0 on 47 mm mild gravel rubbers!

All I can say is: If you consider switching to an e-bike, do it to ride faster, for longer distances, and more frequently. Not because the e-bike could be equipped with wider tyres.

Cheers!
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you are absolutely right!!!
 
I had a spill on my cadence sensor 750w rear hub 4" fat tire ebike a few months after purchase in 2016. On a muddy trail, hit a sharp turn, cadence sensor applied to much of the 80nm of tq, the rear tire slipped out from under me, and I ended up on the ground (after landing on handlebars and breaking the stem). I had to ride almost 4 miles home with a floppy handlebar. My helmet saved me from a concussion and my commuter backpack acted like an airbag (sore shoulder for a little bit).

Grew up with an "ol skool" dad with the belief of pain makes you smarter. Learned to read the trails and riding environment a lot better to avoid this type of issue since.
 
Not frustrating or embarrassing, just watched too much Tour de France this year.

448736606_1619084022157752_5612783726351305488_n.jpg

And that left me craving a nimble lightweight yellow ebike — something as far from my beloved 61 lb commuter as possible.

Screenshot_20240820_153915_Chrome.jpg

Which a month or so later led to an order for this Specialized Vado SL 5 EQ. Can't wait!
 
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Man, that's a good-looking bike Jeremy!
Had my worst crash ever a week ago. Returning from a 23 mile ride descending a hill a quarter mile from home I bit it, last glance at gps was 27 mph. This was a paved bike path rolling on 2.35" Johnny Watts, there was a lady up ahead walking a dog as I rang my bell and called out that I was passing on the left, she glanced back and pulled her dog close as I moved far to the left. I was close to the paved edge and hit an imperfection in the asphalt which threw off my balance just enough that my tire slipped off the 3" edge, this resulted in a violent crash. I was pretty beat up, both hands missing meat and bleeding, both knees bleeding, left arm missing meat and bleeding, left shoulder same, left back torso multiple abrasions. Helmet saved my head. Ripped holes in my favorite riding pants and shirt. Surprisingly my bike was pretty good, the only damage was a rear fender bolt ripped a hole through the aluminum fender along with some brake levers being repositioned and rear-view mirror getting tweaked. Managed to ride the 1/4 mile home and have my wife patch me up. Lessons learned, slow down on hills when other users are present and don't get overconfident in riding close to an asphalt edge. Another lesson, crashing at high speed is not a lot of fun at 68 years old:eek:
 
Watana Bob said:
Man, that's a good-looking bike Jeremy!
Had my worst crash ever a week ago. Returning from a 23 mile ride descending a hill a quarter mile from home I bit it, last glance at gps was 27 mph. This was a paved bike path rolling on 2.35" Johnny Watts, there was a lady up ahead walking a dog as I rang my bell and called out that I was passing on the left, she glanced back and pulled her dog close as I moved far to the left. I was close to the paved edge and hit an imperfection in the asphalt which threw off my balance just enough that my tire slipped off the 3" edge, this resulted in a violent crash. I was pretty beat up, both hands missing meat and bleeding, both knees bleeding, left arm missing meat and bleeding, left shoulder same, left back torso multiple abrasions. Helmet saved my head. Ripped holes in my favorite riding pants and shirt. Surprisingly my bike was pretty good, the only damage was a rear fender bolt ripped a hole through the aluminum fender along with some brake levers being repositioned and rear-view mirror getting tweaked. Managed to ride the 1/4 mile home and have my wife patch me up. Lessons learned, slow down on hills when other users are present and don't get overconfident in riding close to an asphalt edge. Another lesson, crashing at high speed is not a lot of fun at 68 years old:eek:
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Yikes, tough one. Glad you're OK!
 
When you are riding, do not look behind you while steadily, strongly applying the brakes. No matter how accomplished of a rider you think you are.

Cracked some ribs on this one. Didn't even scuff my clothing since I pile-driver'd straight down into the pavement.

 
m@Robertson said:
When you are riding, do not look behind you while steadily, strongly applying the brakes. No matter how accomplished of a rider you think you are.
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I see you were standing on the pedals. A few weeks ago I did that to get home with a cracked seat post. I'd thought it would hardly matter since I normally ride with most of my weight on the pedals, a bit like walking. I hadn't anticipated being so unstable without my butt against the seat.

I also remember my Radrunner during the weeks before I moved the seat. Sitting on it, I was so unstable that I didn't dare look over my shoulder, even coasting.
 
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In 2020 I discovered that my Radrunner was unrideable on mud or wet, sloping grass. In 2021 I discovered that it was uncontrollable on snow unless I reduced tire pressure to a third of the tire manufacturer's minimum. I began popping spokes because they had defective heads. I got 3 punctures from the same invisible whisker of wire.
I wanted something to ride on soft or slick surfaces without pneumatic tires or spokes.
capovelo.com

- SPECIALIZED Concept Snow Bike

This curious snow-going contraption may very well prove to be, the first viable, far-flung concept bike that Specialized has yet conceived. Indeed, there are no claims of increased speed and wattage, based on X number of kilometers ridden under a pale blue sky, while a cyclist has one’s head...
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So far I’ve not wrecked. I was riding on a very loose gravel road and lost it. I staggered around after the bike went down, I probably looked like a drunk, I said some bad words, but never fell down. There are some times I wish I had a bike with more power so I could ride faster and further. My backside and hands wear out first.
 
Alexander.7812 said:
My story: I was riding on a road paved with brick blocks. My wheel got caught in an uneven gap between two bricks. The next second, I was thrown off the bike and into the bushes! I scraped my entire right side, from my arm to my hand, to my hip, thigh, and calf! Luckily, the bike wasn't too badly damaged - the chain came off, and the handlebars were bent. At that moment, I was thinking, 'If I had a thicker tire like a 50mm, would this have been avoided?' I was using a 38mm tire......

"Do you have any similar embarrassing stories? OMG! 😩😩😩"
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But all those 51mm gaps would be waiting for you.
 
When I was a teen I borrowed my uncles high quality ten speed ( without permission) to cycle out to New Westminster with my friends in search of firecrackers . We had no luck so we headed to Surrey over the Patullo bridge. On the approach to the bridge I managed to get the front wheel wedged into the space between the road and the truck scale. Suddenly I could fly! I had no idea what had just happened but I stood up in a daze with eight bleeding knuckles. I looked back and the bike was standing there perfectly erect. It seemed like a mirage .... eventually I rode home and parked the bike in my Grandads basement. I never told my uncle .....haha
 
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