Well, I've got two bikes - or at least, had until this Saturday. Neither are very novice-friendly, though - one's a roadie with SPD-SLs, the other fixed with drops. It leads us nicely back to the original topic:

I was heading home from work this Saturday, pedaling at a decent pace in the rightmost lane when some idiot honked at me, nearly hugging my rear wheel with his bumper in the midst of a calm suburban intersection. I let him past with a flurry of profanities, but didn't think much of it. A few hundred metres later, he slowed down and moved to the right, so I took the left lane and accelerated to pass - but just when I was next to him, he took a hard left turn. Within a split-second, my bike went straight into his front wheel-well while I took flight over his hood. I managed to catch myself nicely, with my only bruises being rashed knees, elbows, shoulder - and a slashed chin. While I was landing, I prepared myself for a road-rage scenario (following a previous nasty incident), and was about to grab my bike and defend myself - but it appears he was more scared than I was.

Turns out he doesn't know I'm the rider he honked at earlier - he's just an idiot. Didn't realize a bike could go "as fast as a scooter", and just didn't look when he u-turned for a (rare) parking-spot he found. The bike seemed all right at first, so I was about to dismiss him with a "watch where you're going" when he said he's taking me to the hospital. With the adrenalin and fight-or-flight instinct, I was too rushed to realize my chin was dripping blood all over the place. He insisted we lock the bike up and that he'll drive me to the hospital. He was super-nice about it all, the whole thing probably scared him ****less, took care of me in the hospital and all.

Been recovering well since, chin stitched up and everything else only superficially damaged - until I realized the bike wasn't quite as healthy as I seem to be. I was about to leave for work and mounted the bike for the first time since the accident when I realized the chain is all loose. Now, I run a BMX chain - a heavy, sturdy beast that's not supposed to slacken up, and seemed intact when I inspected it - and I keep it tight, so I wondered what the hell happened. Well, here's what I saw so far - the force of the impact stopped the pedal pretty much on the spot with the following results:

1. Pedal/crank bent - pedal moves back'n'forth when turning
2. Chainring, spider or bottom bracket bent ("eggs" when turning, like an un-true wheel)
3. Rear wheel forced out of place - as tight as the hub was secured, the entire drive-side bolt was nearly off the (front-facing) dropouts

Quite amazed that the chain held up to all that abuse - when I retightened it, the bolts went exactly where they were last time around. Gonna take the bike to the LBS that specializes in fixed-gear conversions and see what the damages are, and what I need to replace/repair. I don't mind the injury - I was a bit foolish to pass on his left, and he was super-helpful - but he's supposed to pay for these damages. Definitely.

Wondering if the frame is alright now.