brunop

and it was my fault.

runnin' redlights has its disadvantages!

nycballer0591

um tell us how it happened and did anyone get hurt. details* details*

brunop

jeep pulled out as i was runnin' redlight. hit the front brake hard (as i roll fixed and front brake's all i rock) and went ass over teakettle. got a big ol' nastya$$ bloody scrape on my left hip and my hand is killin' me. also broke my beloved cyclocomputer.

all my fault though. man up!!

slvoid

Nice, good job.

nycballer0591

oh that sucks you should have stopped . that is the main problem u didn't use the back brake if you did you would have been able to stop quicker without going over the handlebars. i would suggest you go to a doctor to make sure nothing is broken though. do u see accidents that happen when cars don't stop for red lights ? well it can be as bad while you're on a bike. Good luck Though.

LóFarkas

No. You just gotta find the exact amount of force you can put on the front brake without endoing. Not always easy in a panic situation.

Sorry to hear it, brunop. At least you aren't brakeless... you might have ended up under the car, or jumped over the hood and had to pay for car repairs. Heal fast.

jyossarian

Heal up dude! And learn the Kevin Bacon dismount when you get better!

nycballer0591

oh ok well i use both of my brakes when i really need to stop and only the front for when i need to slowdown. in a panic situation you should remember to use two brakes not one and you can use your feet to help unless you are going real fast.

LilSprocket

yow! Are you gonna not run more red lights???

Sammyboy

nycballer - he's riding fixed. He probably has no rear brake, but could've resisted to stop. The real problem is that he ran a red light, which are, inerestingly enough, designed to stop you when there's traffic coming the other way.

brunop

at least not today!!

Old Dirt Hill

Worth reading if you're interested in learning more about front/rear brake use: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

nycballer0591

oh i didn't know that he was riding fixed oops..

nycballer0591

thats pretty helpful i knew that the front brake has the most effect because of the weight transfer. thats why i reccomended using both brakes but obviously i'm wrong about that since that website says so... but one tip don't forget to change your brake pads once in a while for maximum effectiveness i need to do that next week.

brunop

what's the kevin bacon dismount??

oboeguy

Yeah, what is it?

Neist

Hope the hand isnt too bad. My last wreck took a good 3 weeks before I could put any weight on it (making cycling impossible).

RonH

Glad you're ok.
I hope you learned something.

thedoogs

Hope you didn't break anything!

As for running red lights - Yea we should follow all of the laws and such, but in my 25 mile (each way) commute there are 28 stop lights or signs. Some of this commute is on a trail and 4 of the stop signs are on the trail, to stop you before crossing a drive way at some rich bastards homes. It's a 1 1/2 hour commute each way and I just refuse to stop at all of them.

Just be careful!

Heal fast.

pahearn

Is it a Quicksilver reference I bet? I took a date to that movie in the 6th grade, heh.

JTriumph

I recently went over my handlebars. I was riding on a bike path in a group ride, when a joker in front of me stopped very suddenly (for no apparent reason) without any sort of warning. After years of biking with old-fashioned caliper brakes, which I have on my old bike and which is in use 50% of the time, I pulled as hard as possible on my new bike V-brakes; my back wheel came up and I flipped and landed on my butt in the grass, completely OK. The guy behind me joked that my perfect flip must be due to my "gymnastics backgroud" (of which I have none). It was just that I was one lucky b-----d.

The V-brakes seem to not have much modulation -- they're either on or off. And in a panic situation, where thinking is not possible, I have to rely on 37 years of (caliper) biking reflex. I was told that I should try to actively shift my weight towards the back when I am stopping, which I agree I probably had not been doing enough of, to countact the natural forward movement of the body to keep weight on the back wheel. I am practicing this whenever I think of it, but if in the next tough situation I am not able to translate this into split-second reflexive action and there is another "problem", I will seriously start contemplating a switch to caliper brakes. It could be that this 42-year-old dog is too old to learn new braking tricks.

I read the piece by Sheldon Brown. I'm not sure it really applies to my somewhat dramatic situation. He recommends applying the front brake hard until the back wheel starts to slide, then to ease off and apply the back brake. But in my case, my front brakes seem to do such a fabulous job, that the front wheel completely stops rotation and the whole bike wants to flip over before it even starts sliding. Or maybe it was just all going too fast. I would like to see the video in slow motion.

Sheldon Brown

I don't advise that, you must be thinking of some other Sheldon Brown...

See: https://sheldonbrown.com/brakturn

If your new brakes are that much more powerful than your old ones, I would advise using only one or two fingers to stop.

Sheldon "One Brake At A Time" Brown

shakeNbake

LOL!

JTriumph

Sorry to misquote you. It was the following phrase that I garbled:

"Maximum braking occurs when the front brake is applied so hard that the rear wheel is just about to lift off. At that point, the slightest amount of rear brake will cause the rear wheel to skid."

Thanks for the suggestion of one finger. Hopefully between that and keeping my weight to the back by supporting with my arms I will stay earthbound.

jyossarian

Unclip both feet, and as the pedal moves upwards, stand up, hop off the back and grab the saddle w/ your hand as the bike rides out from under you. If you have to do this in an emergency, you may land on your ass instead of your face.

And yup, it's a Quicksilver reference.