About a month ago I met some family members in Vegas for the weekend and brought my lightweight KBO hurricane with me. We planned a trip to red rock and I bragged about the ease of having a light ebike as I helped my sister and brother in law load heavy ebikes on his truck. It was HOT and I found out real quick the long inclines were gonna be too much for my bike! A made a soul crushing decision to turn around and ride back to my van with my tail between my legs. When I got back to LA I bought a Priority Current to insure I will never have to turn around against my will ever again!
Share a recent frustrating experience that made you want to switch bikes!
- Thread starter Alexander.7812
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steve mercier
Well-Known Member
Ya there is no substitute for power. I am used to a Bosch CX now and I could not pull the trigger on a new bike with a smaller motor.
Mr. Coffee
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
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- A Demented Corner of the North Cascades
Part of the nature of riding a bicycle is that eventually you are going to greet the concrete. Hopefully when you will do fall you will do so in such a way that you can walk away with only bruises and some wounded pride. If you are freaked out about the idea of falling you will make the experience inevitably more traumatic when gravity finally catches up to you.
spokewrench
Active Member
- Region
- USA
For the last 4 years I guess I've averaged 5 miles a day. From the time I was 7 until I was 18, I suppose I averaged that much. In all those thousands of miles, I remember falling from a moving bike only once. Actually, it was a series of intentional crashes. They were on asphalt, not concrete.
I was 17. I'd known since grade school that my 3-speed English handled well enough that I could bank farther in a turn than my friends. Now I began to wonder just how far I could bank with the inside pedal up at 12 o'clock.
A man needs motivation to bank dangerously far. I’d play chicken with a stone church beside an asphalt parking lot, pedaling toward it as fast as I could until I thought I could barely make a 90 degree turn without hitting it. That provided the motivation to lay it over so far that my sidewalls were scuffed within a quarter inch of the rims.
A cyclist is loath to lean way over in a turn because the tires are bound to break loose at some point, leaving him sliding on his side with one leg under the bike. I’d inspect the pavement before starting, but I knew when I was leaned over with a handlebar almost dragging, a bit of gravel smaller than a pea would cause the bike to shoot out from under me. My technique was to kick the bike away so I could somersault.
I had 3 pair of Wranglers and 3 pair of Dickies. Wranglers would always end up with a small abrasion hole marking initial impact. I preferred Dickies because the fabric never showed such damage. I used to practice every day, and eventually each pair of Wranglers had several little holes. I never got a bump or a scratch.
At 21, I bought a Jawa CZ 250 Trials. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RqGuhhWtzA
Before going on pavement, I spent a month learning to handle it at very low speeds on challenging terrain. The last phase was deliberately crashing, leaning in tighter and tighter circles on wet grass. I was surprised that I could stay in control indefinitely, leaned way over with both feet on the pegs and both wheels sliding badly. When it finally shot out from under me, I’d just step off.
A year later, it shot from under me when I hit a puddle while banked hard in a turn. All those practice crashes 5 years earlier paid off. I somersaulted like a tire with a blowout on the interstate. The sliding bike and I decelerated at the same rate; I kept glimpsing it beside me, throwing up sparks.
An oncoming car stopped. I landed on my feet, the bike on my right and the driver’s window on my left. “You all right?” “Yep!”
I put my hand in the puddle and found that the bottom was ice, covered in ice BBs that must have formed around grains of sand. That was a surprise. It was so warm that I was wearing a dress shirt with no jacket. Lawns were soft, but there was frost below that puddle.
My wool dress pants seemed much less durable than Dickies or Wranglers. I took them off for a careful inspection. No damage! When you have to spring into a somersault to avoid injury, a 270-pound motorcycle makes a better base than a 27-pound bicycle.
I knew I’d ended up in front of the door of the house three doors down. Today I measured on a map. I’d somersaulted more than 100 feet. If crashing my bicycle hadn't once been an obsession, that motorcycle fall might have freaked me out! I went on to ride motorcycles perhaps 200,000 miles. That was my only fall on a moving motorcycle.
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AvalancheRun
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
Wouldn’t buy anything with a twist shift again. I’ve tweaked by wrist on the Enviolo on numerous occasions. It’s not an ergonomic motion. Never had that problem with traditional shifting, etap, rohloff button press, etc.
Watana Bob
Active Member
- Region
- USA
I had the same experience, I once rented a Spec Cumo with belt drive and CVT twist shift-I hated it.
Meghan Saunders
New Member
- Region
- USA
I’m cruising along on my trusty Rad rover e-bike, feeling like a modern-day superhero with the wind in my hair and the pavement beneath my wheels. Life’s good, right? Until, out of nowhere, my e-bike decides it’s auditioning for a role in “The Stubborn Machine Chronicles.”
First, the battery starts playing hide-and-seek. One minute it’s full of juice, and the next, it’s as empty as my fridge after a late-night snack binge. I’m halfway up a hill, looking like I’m trying to pedal my way to the top of Everest, and my e-bike is basically giving me a middle finger and saying, “You’re on your own, buddy.”
First, the battery starts playing hide-and-seek. One minute it’s full of juice, and the next, it’s as empty as my fridge after a late-night snack binge. I’m halfway up a hill, looking like I’m trying to pedal my way to the top of Everest, and my e-bike is basically giving me a middle finger and saying, “You’re on your own, buddy.”
packitin
New Member
- Region
- USA
Well, there are TWO reasons that made me want certain features: 1. To escape a location very fast 2. To be able to "ride over bumps".
First, there was an incident a year ago on a greenway close to me where an elderly woman was severely attacked. She was found in the bushes unconscious, and 911 was called, then responders took her to the hospital where she was for a few weeks. Police asked anyone in my hometown who was on a Greenway on Sunday, July 2, around 9 a.m. and saw an elderly, white female wearing a wide-brimmed sunhat, glasses, a gray t-shirt, and light green shorts to call the department. Due to the extent of the woman's injuries, our local police said there is very little information about the suspect and what led to the assault. So far, her attacker has not been apprehended. All bikers I know are very angry about this.
So, at my advanced age (mid 80s), I need to escape fast if I see a hoodlum is lurking around. I've decided that I need a throttle to be able to do that. That should keep me safe, I hope.
Second, since I ride 95% on greenways, I need a front suspension because, as you see in the photo, there are ruts in thin asphalt that can cause one to wreck if not careful. Apparently, we have some "burrowing animals" that need to get to the river beside the path. This happened to me 10 years ago, and I was in the ER for a day and a half, with bleeding on my frontal lobe from a fall backwards (a story for another day). I don't want that to happen again!
First, there was an incident a year ago on a greenway close to me where an elderly woman was severely attacked. She was found in the bushes unconscious, and 911 was called, then responders took her to the hospital where she was for a few weeks. Police asked anyone in my hometown who was on a Greenway on Sunday, July 2, around 9 a.m. and saw an elderly, white female wearing a wide-brimmed sunhat, glasses, a gray t-shirt, and light green shorts to call the department. Due to the extent of the woman's injuries, our local police said there is very little information about the suspect and what led to the assault. So far, her attacker has not been apprehended. All bikers I know are very angry about this.
So, at my advanced age (mid 80s), I need to escape fast if I see a hoodlum is lurking around. I've decided that I need a throttle to be able to do that. That should keep me safe, I hope.
Second, since I ride 95% on greenways, I need a front suspension because, as you see in the photo, there are ruts in thin asphalt that can cause one to wreck if not careful. Apparently, we have some "burrowing animals" that need to get to the river beside the path. This happened to me 10 years ago, and I was in the ER for a day and a half, with bleeding on my frontal lobe from a fall backwards (a story for another day). I don't want that to happen again!
You've just demonstrated my reason for having no interest in bikes that can go 28 mph (or faster). At my age (87) I don't need to be banged around any more. It's also why I no longer am interested in kayaking over waterfalls.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
I see pavement like that on some of the bike paths I ride. Mine are clearly caused by tree roots. It's amazing how plant life can overpower a hard, heavy material like asphalt. Roots can even split rocks.
AvalancheRun
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
I love that you’re biking. I hear every day that people in their 60s are too old to bike. It’s utter nonsense!
I’m in my 30s but share the same feeling about class 3. It might be nice for short bursts, but I have no interest in cruising at 25-28 mph on a bike.
indianajo
Well-Known Member
I took a spill 2 Sundays ago as I dodged to the edge of the pavement to avoid a car that would not yield me 36" (the paved berms are painted 24" wide, the car lane is 14' wide) and went over the edge. Over the handlebar on my chin and hands. Long Dickies poly gloves & full face helmet to the rescue. No pain, no burns. 8 mph. I'm age 74. Not the bikes fault. Still riding. Only lesson, launch over the 3" edge at a greater angle even if I have to stop way out there in the weeds then push the bike back up on the pavement.
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6zfshdb
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Northeast Pennsylvania
The problems I have are not necessarily the fault of the bike, but rather the accessories I have bolted to it. So far, I have no desire to replace the bike, just some parts of it.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!"
For example, I'm sick of the noisy OEM hydraulic disc brakes. I've tried every trick in the book to quiet them but have had no luck. I'm considering a set of higher quality multi piston calipers with new rotors.
Well, I just turned 87 a few weeks ago, so I'm not really that old.
Except that it generally keeps me in touch with the Earth, I generally have issues with gravity. On days when the gravity is light, I am about 5'6" tall (having shrunk from my earlier stature, which was never great). But when the gravity is heavy, I am shorter. I do not regard gravity as my friend. It's the main reason I was never a good skier.
This is why some people just drag their feet.
I ask myself, "Would I want to crash at this speed?"
AvalancheRun
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
You're as old as you feel! Paul McCartney just turned 82 and he's still touring and putting on incredible shows.
Happy belated!
Exactly! Or would that speed make a crash more likely, and put me under a car?
