Originally Posted by
crank_addict
Well, one that stays with me and going waaay back. I was probably 7 or 8 and we had coaster brake bikes. We'd love to race down a large hill trail with a sharp right hander at the bottom. But at the bend was a barbed wire fence with a creek running behind. Me the knucklehead thought the bike would be faster without a chain. You guessed it - the downhill ride without brakes ended in a bloody mess tangled in the fence.
I was about 16 when I was riding downa shady lane to a conservation area, before the season opened. The lane was dark enough I didn't see the wire fencing pulled across the road until it was too late. There was a steel post in the middle with a piece of plywood about 3x3 leaning against it. I guessed that it was probably safer to hit the plywood than hit the wire and go flying. So I tucked, hands on the stem at the last moment. The front wheel hit, the rear wheel lifted off the ground. And I was fine. The forks bent back and the frame buckled, but I didn't get a scratch. I like steel.....