CCX Accident

E

ebott

New Member
I had an accident on my new CCX (about 100 miles more or less). I was thrown over the handle bars and broke my scapula and have a compression fracture in my spine. The crazy thing about it is I do not know for certain what caused the accident. I was coasting down a tar and chipped road of about a 10 percent grade at no more than 12 MPH. No potholes, no loose gravel. Suddenly I was flying thru the air with the greatest of ease, that is until I hit the road. I assume either the front brake locked up or I applied too much pressure to it and locked it up myself. I have not been able to check the bike out thoroughly yet, but it appears to be undamaged except for a few scratches on the rear rack and the brakes appear to be ok just moving the bike around in the garage.
Has anybody else experienced a similar incident? I swore I did not overly pressure the brake, but then again, there I went. I know the hydraulic brakes are super efficient but are they too efficient? Other than being careful not to overdo braking in the future, is there anything else I can do to avoid another incident like this from ever happening again. I am 77 years old and this really took a lot out of me. I don't need another hit like this.
 
ebott said:
I had an accident on my new CCX (about 100 miles more or less). I was thrown over the handle bars and broke my scapula and have a compression fracture in my spine. The crazy thing about it is I do not know for certain what caused the accident. I was coasting down a tar and chipped road of about a 10 percent grade at no more than 12 MPH. No potholes, no loose gravel. Suddenly I was flying thru the air with the greatest of ease, that is until I hit the road. I assume either the front brake locked up or I applied too much pressure to it and locked it up myself. I have not been able to check the bike out thoroughly yet, but it appears to be undamaged except for a few scratches on the rear rack and the brakes appear to be ok just moving the bike around in the garage.
Has anybody else experienced a similar incident? I swore I did not overly pressure the brake, but then again, there I went. I know the hydraulic brakes are super efficient but are they too efficient? Other than being careful not to overdo braking in the future, is there anything else I can do to avoid another incident like this from ever happening again. I am 77 years old and this really took a lot out of me. I don't need another hit like this.
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I'm sorry to hear of your injuries and I hope you recover from them soon. Just a question: If you were traveling at 12mph on a "tar and chipped road with no potholes or loose gravel", then why did you use the front brake??? The only time I ever went over the handlebars of ANY bike I was 16 years old on a road bike and I locked the front wheel by using the front brake. Ever since then I never or slightly use (10-30%) the front brake unless there is an extreme emergency and I need fastest stopping power (70-90% front brakes). And even then I move my butt off the saddle and move my body as far back as it will go. IMO, most likely it sounds like you locked the front wheel by pulling on the front brake too much. You say you only have less than 100miles experience on the CCX. What was you bike experience before the CCX and how did you brake then and at what speeds?
https://www.active.com/mountain-biking/articles/a-brake-drill-for-beginning-mountain-bikers
Ahmadi+Brake+460.jpg
 
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Hope you are getting better ebott.
As above, it’s pretty easy to fly over the handlebars if you jam on the front brake.
I’m glad my adult biking experience was gradually built up via off-road, commuting and some weekend road rides before getting a powerful electric bike as your awareness of what can go wrong makes me much more wary.
 
I am so sorry that this happened to you. I wish you a swift recovery
I think this could happen to any number of people who ride regular old non e bikes. I’ve returned to cycling after a long hiatus, and have been riding and practicing on my regular bike before I get an ebike.
I was a semi serious cyclist 30 years ago, and a lot is coming back to me, but as I began to research bike safety, I realized there was a LOT I didn’t know.
REI teaches classes in bike riding for adult beginners, thinking I might take this as a refresher course. Here are some links I found interesting.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html
https://bicyclesafe.com/
 
Get Well Ebott!! and welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a very pleasant incident to report with your first post. Thanks for posting though. It should serve as a warning for all of us to use the front brake sparingly if at all when descending a grade.
 
Having rode motorcycles nearly 60 years, having the front brake lever on the left on my RadRover is driving me up the wall. I’m going to switch cables around. Guess im “fortunate” that my brakes aren’t hydraulic so it’s easy to do. Probably if they were hydraulic I might have gone high side too.
 
I am wondering if you had any experience with hydraulic brakes before. They are much more sensitive than rim or even mechanical disk brakes and it is all too easy to lock up a wheel. As AZOldTech said above, you should not be using a front brake on gravel or wet/slippery surfaces at all. Braking while cornering should be avoided as well. Hope you have a speedy recovery
 
Chopperbill said:
Having rode motorcycles nearly 60 years, having the front brake lever on the left on my RadRover is driving me up the wall. I’m going to switch cables around. Guess im “fortunate” that my brakes aren’t hydraulic so it’s easy to do. Probably if they were hydraulic I might have gone high side too.
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I have ridden motorcycles as well for years. I never found it odd when riding my bicycle that the brake lever is on the opposite side. Probably just used to it as I have ridden both for years.
 
A 10% grade is pretty steep to me. The last one I rode was short, but they put in speed bumps so you had to come down on brakes. You must have slipped somehow. Heal well.

I have hydraulic disks on my non-electric hybrid, and they are excellent, but I've been riding bikes for a long time and have not locked up front wheel yet. Rear wheel lockups are common.

This kind of stuff happens. I knew two people over 65 who woke up on the side of the road, on their backs. One was sure he got clipped by a hit-n-run car.
 
Timpo said:
Yeah I feel like hydraulic brakes are safer than machanical brakes in general. I almost felt like my mechanical brakes on the CC Air was a safety hazard because they weren't sufficient.
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The only real difference between mechanical & hydraulic disk brakes is the amount of force required to pull the brake lever. Stopping distance is the same for both types. What do you mean by not sufficient
 
harryS said:
A 10% grade is pretty steep to me. The last one I rode was short, but they put in speed bumps so you had to come down on brakes. You must have slipped somehow. Heal well.

I have hydraulic disks on my non-electric hybrid, and they are excellent, but I've been riding bikes for a long time and have not locked up front wheel yet. Rear wheel lockups are common.

This kind of stuff happens. I knew two people over 65 who woke up on the side of the road, on their backs. One was sure he got clipped by a hit-n-run car.
Click to expand...
A "no more than 12mph" (10% grade or not) should not require heavy use of the front brake. However I have another story to tell you. Back when I was building DIY rear hub ebikes out of regular bikes, one of my neighbours liked the idea and he decided to try one. He was 70yo and only had a mild experience with regular bikes so I showed him multiple times where the breaks were just to make sure. He also had hand tremors (he wasn't diagnosed with parkinson's or anything; he only told me that it run in the family). The first thing I told him is to go slow and to forget about the front brake on the left and only to use the rear brake on the right if he needed to stop or slow down (he was only going to bike inside the neighbour streets anyways just to see what all ebike thing was all about). So as he was coming back and he was coming towards me to stop, his left hand fingers went over the left brake and even though he told me he wasn't about to hit the left brake, his hand tremors almost involuntarily pulled on the brake and locked the front wheel. Had I not been close enough to limit his fall his before he hit the pavement I'm sure he would have suffered an injury. At the end he was OK (thank God) and he told me that ebikes or regular bikes were not for him.
 
I am very sorry to hear about your injuries, I hope you have a very speedy recovery. Unfortunately accidents happen.

On a side note I always try to use my rear brakes first, if I need more stopping power I use both and I almost never use the front brake alone.
 
Sorry to hear about your accident. One thing I have noticed with my fat bike is I don't think I can go over the handlebars just using the front brake. I have a volt bike 750 Yukon with hydraulic brakes, my rear end on the bike is so heavy it has not been an issue. I have tried slamming on the front brake only and never came near what happened to you. I have never tried it above 12mph so that may be the difference. Hope you feel better soon.
 
Ebikes with hydraulic brakes are the only ones that I have heard these types of over the front wheel accidents. Hope you heal well and recover quickly.

Please ride safely everyone, and yes, apply the rear brake before front brake. Also it's important to properly break in the pads, and keep rotors clean. If they aren't properly bedded, pads can grab to quickly. do at least 10 stops at slower speeds, with equal pressure front and rear. Then do another 10 stops at higher speed, same thing.

Buying these ebikes on-line is another potential hazard, especially if they are not set up properly at a local shop after shipment, as it's possible your brakes were not properly aligned. I'd suggest taking the ebike to your local LBS, even if they don't work on ebikes to have them re- inspect the pads, and alignment. If caliper is not true with the rotor, they can pinch or grab suddenly. After an accident like this, you want an expert examine the safety of the bike. Don't assume it's okay just bc it looks like there is no apparent damage.
 
I have not been over the handlebars in a long time, thank goodness. Since I have a e-mtb, I also have a dropper seat post. I use the dropper on pavement and dirt. A low center of gravity gives this 68 year old body comfort.
 
Hope you get better soon. :) In skateboarding, it just takes hitting a rock at slow speed to lock your wheels and throw you forward to the ground... Maybe the same could happen when biking... :eek:
 
Do all us bikes have the brake levers the wrong way around? ( front on left) - it seems like a recipe for disaster when people come from a motorbike or normal part of the world. I went so far as to look at pictures of the ccx to confirm, yup, you have a front brake on the left but also a huge mess of cable sticking out to the right side of the bike - could that have caught on something ?
 
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