beginnerbiker1

Hi guys I'm a huge biking newbie so I was wondering if you had any tips for me in terms of emergency maneuvers to avoid crashing... not sure what different situations you guys have been in and somehow gotten away from a crash.

Ex: Break a spoke with a 16 count spoke wheel and it becomes untrue during a descent... do I just brake as hard as I can?

eippo1

I can't give you advice because then you'd have to change your handle.

10 Wheels

Ride Slow and get a wheel with 32 spokes.
Have fun.

Doohickie

When the armed services field a new aircraft, they go through a very thorough process of envelope expansion. They originally fly in a very narrow envelope- straight and level flight, gentle turns low winds, etc. As they get more experience with the aircraft, they slowly expansion of the envelope, including greater altitudes, high-g turns, etc. By going from a very conservative flight envelope to eventually the full intended envelope, they minimize the chances of majors failures and crashes.

If you think that, as a noob, you're going to be doing major 50 mph descents next week, you should expect to crash. My recommendation is to ride within the limits of what you know will be okay, and slowly expand those limits as you get to know your bike.

gregf83 

Don't think about those things while you're descending.

eippo1

All silliness aside, do some group rides and learn from other people. Your spacial awareness will improve along with your handling and your etiquette. If you can, find some racing classes which are often held in the spring by development clubs and work on things like cornering, emergency braking etc. They are excellent for handling skills regardless if you intend to race or not.

Otherwise, the biggest thing I say to newbs borrowed from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Don't Panic. Overreaction more often than not leads to crashes. Small corrections and adjusting your balance can go a long way. Also look into steering techniques, many threads exist on this forum - look up counter steering etc.

banerjek

Only if you want the wheel to suddenly grab and cause an immediate loss of control.


This.

Emergency handling is all about keeping your head clear and your body relaxed. BTW, sometimes your best option still involves crashing and all you can do is try to minimize damage to yourself and your bike. A lot of what you need to know will come naturally with time.

carpediemracing 

Keep riding.


Seriously, though, if you don't dive to the ground by yourself, you're limited by the bike, and specifically to the bike's traction. There are two ways to break the bike's traction limits (this goes to basic physics). The first is by gradually increasing load on an already-moving object (i.e. tire).

However your tire is NOT skidding by default. You have to break that initial friction (I forget the term). It takes more energy to break traction than to keep traction broken.

This means that you should NOT do any severe inputs to the bike, braking or turning or whatever. You should ride it out. Any sudden movements can push your wheel/bike to the point of failure.

For example, if you break a spoke in a wheel at 50 mph, the last thing you want to do is to brake hard. Instead you want to hold the bars still, coast (i.e. slow without inputting energy to the bike), assess the situation. If the bike feels okay then maybe brake on the wheel with its spokes intact (but not hard). If you feel daring you can brake with the wheel where the spoke broke.

Since there are very few 16 spoke rear wheels, and since virtually all of your braking should be done with the front wheel, you'll probably need to use the brake on the broken spoke wheel at some point.

So there are two tips for you so you can think about changing your username. First, no sudden inputs (this goes for cars and motorcycles and anything with tires). This means no sudden braking or steering.

Second if you really need to stop you need to use your front brake. It's possible to come to a stop with the rear wheel completely off the ground, demonstrating just how little the rear wheel contributes to braking. If you need more tips on braking that's a different thing altogether.

Kimmo 

If/when it comes to road pizza time, you generally don't want to be involved with that bike all of a sudden; it's likely to pitch you on your face. It's often a good idea to just step off the back of it and let it go if you can.

Only experience can tell you if it's worth trying to brake or bail, though.

rangerdavid

This type of accurate, well thought out, intelligent advice has no place in the 41. :-)

moneypit

Aki, I'm totally addicted to your videos! Can I ask how long have you been riding? Racing?

Seattle Forrest

The good advice to silliness ratio is especially high in this thread. Take the advice people have given to heart.

Cliff notes version: ride conservatively, but ride a lot, relax, and by the time you have an emergency, you'll also have a lot more experience to help you deal with it. Until then, riding within your skills will help prevent that emergency.

ahsposo 

Yeah, What's up with that?

carpediemracing 

I'm subtracting that emoticon thing lol.

Riding, where I kept a training log? About 12 years old, riding a 56 lbs Schwinn Sting Ray, a 5 spd (52x14-28) Cotton Picker. Typical entry: "Rode to end of Millstone and back. Didn't have to walk hill", translated to current terms, "Rode 1 mile out, 1 mile back, struggled up the 100 meter 8% grade hill". Racing (upgraded to a 51 cm Basso, tubulars, 53x15 top gear) since 15 yrs old, 1983.

Doohickie

Sorry 'bout that. Back to C&V for me, then.

fenny

I used to worry about sidewall blowouts, then I actually got one.

I took a few seconds to figure out what the noise was, then I coasted to an easy stop, then it was another ten seconds or so watching it continue to deflate. The point is that I'd been worrying about something that turned out not to be quick and catastrophic at all.

Now I worry about overcooking a turn on a descent. The solution? Don't go faster than I'm comfortable with.

banerjek

A good blowout is catastrophic and sounds like a gunshot. Unless you're going at high speed, cornering, or on a surface with a lot of loose stuff, it's not particularly hard to hang on.

justkeepedaling

I used to go downhill on a crappy Magna mountain bike in my neighborhood, which is all hills. Was doing 35 mph on a crap 35 lb bike. A month later, after taking the bike to school, the brake cables snapped. I still wonder what I could have done if that happened a month earlier. As noobs, we like to do stupid things. The best idea is to keep the leash on and check the bike over and over to look for clues