I've heard what when you ride bikes it is not a matter of if you ever have a crash but
when you'll have it. I don't own a bike yet and I've gotten my crash done.
I learned a lesson about road bike tires today. The bikes I rode in the distant past were all MTN style bikes with fat knobby tires. I was test riding a Specialized Sirrus Elite in a residential neighborhood. I was on the road and wanted to get on the sidewalk so I went to use one of the handy driveway ramps. Unfortunately, the end of the driveway ramp was almost an inch higher than the road itself. The old MTN style bikes I road would have easily gone over this. The 700x28 tires on the bike I was riding? Not so much... instead of riding up onto the lip the front tire decides to slide down the side of the lip along the edge of the road - while the rest of the bike - and myself - continue towards the sidewalk.
Luckily the $850 bike sustained only a minor scraping to the seat and handle grip. My arm and elbow however didn't fair quite as well (along with my shin and right hip).
Most of the rash is superficial but the quarter size part at my elbow seems to be almost through the skin.
