Originally Posted by
63rickert
T
If the bike still has a ghost of a hint of traction, any connection to pavement at all, and there is any place to go, stay with the bike. Bikes are phenomenally stable. The bike is likely to right itself if you let it. Plus the longer you stay with the bike the slower you are going and the closer you got to ground at something less than free fall speed.
Correct. If you can fight to stay upright
and slow down. But that'n not always possible.
Originally Posted by
63rickert
Once the bike is a missile you don't have any use for the bike. The bike can even be a hazard. It will not protect you. Let go of the bike. There are times you really had better let go of the bike. Example. Car pulls abruptly out of driveway, blocking your path. Impossible to see it coming, there was a van parked in wrong spot. Oncoming traffic in other lane. No time to brake. No where to go. You are going to hit that car. Get off the bike. Do not crash as baggage on that bike. And basically never be baggage.
I agree that the bike could be a hazard but only if you let it go. Bicycles aren't motorcycles. Motorcycles have a lot more mass than the rider and, in the event of a crash, the motorcycle will slide further. Bicycles have less mass than the rider so the rider is the one who will slide further. Letting go of the bicycle turns it into a slower missile that you are sliding with. It is likely to tumble and hit the rider thus increasing the chance of injury.