Caincando1

Yep it took my all of 3.5 miles to lay the new roadie down. I should have know better but I was so excited to take it for a spin. The road in front of my house is busy and has no shoulder so I'd always ride my Navigator on the edge of the black top say 6 inches from the edge of the black top. I learned the hard way that you can't ride that close with road tires. The cars where passing really close so I held my line and hit a patch of sand and gravel on the edge of the black top. Down I went and landed right on the black top. I'm lucky I didn't get ran over. I popped right up and jumped on and road home laughing the whole way. My wife bandaged me up and I went out and started in the new accessories on my new pilot 1.0.

The bike is really cool though! It's a really different ride than the nav. and everything is so compact and close together. My thighs even hit the top tube...I guess I better ride harder and work off the excess on the inside of the thighs.

solveg

My heart sank when I read this title.

Glad you and the bike are OK...

Mr. Beanz

Glad ur around to laugh about it!

StanSeven

I did something similar. I got my first roadd bike in 20 years. I took it out on the initail ride on a bike trail near my house. A dog chased a cat beside me and the cat make a sudden turn right in front of me. I went over the bars. The bike came through without a scratch. But that was my first experience with road rash.

DieselDan

Ditch those reflectors.

(51)

Glad you lived to laugh about it. Now, go find a bike path

chipcom 

Glad you're ok...now get out of the gutter and ride the road the same way that you drive it. If you squeeze yourself into the margins, not only do you have to deal with all the crap that lives there, you also limit your maneuverability options and give drivers an invitation to try to squeeze past rather than using the other lane to pass, as they would another vehicle.

Stujoe

Glad you are ok!

I have never come even close to dumping my MTB in several hundred miles of riding. But I almost wiped out my Le Tour within the first couple of miles. lol It was a patch of gravel and a turn that almost did me in.

Caincando1

They would have been the first thing to come off it I didn't like to ride in the evenings. I'll even be mounting a rear flashing light and a headlight on it. I know it's not cool, but it's functional.

Terrierman

+1

cooleric1234

Amen to that. I commute often and I just bought a road bike, but I finally decided I just couldn't handle the geekiness of the reflectors. Getting a road bike is narcissistic in and of itself, why ruin it with ugly road reflectors?

(Before everyone gets upset I'm being somewhat sarcastic...although I in fact did take of the reflectors. I use lights if it's dark).

jaxgtr

Seeing the road and being seen is cool. I don't care what it looks like. I ride my with a Blackburn System X3, large battery pack and all.

JosephPaul86

Yes, I too used to ride on the edge of the road. Here where I live there are no shoulders unless I hit a main road. I ride right in the middle of the lane, drivers can pass you in the other lane if they feel so obligated. Way I see it is I am a person too. And I drive an F150 when i can't ride and I have the utmost respect for cyclist.

Glad you ended out okay, road rash sucks. I haven't been down for years now, but being I've only ridden for the last few months i know it is going to happen. Nice bike by the way.

Prosody

I'll second this. Though it seems counterintuitive, sometimes the safest thing to do on narrow roads is to ride farther into the lane. When you hug the right side of the road, some drivers believe they can pass you without moving left. When you take more of the lane, drivers understand they must move left to safely pass you.

There are a lot of resources on the internet for bicycle safety on the roads. Here is a simple, concise one.

DieselDan

The ones on the wheel screw up the balance and the trueness. Almost every bike I have built have a wheel trueness problem where the reflector is installed.

pdq 5oh

Glad you're ok. Very nice looking bike. I have a Pilot, too, and really like riding it. The more upright position is comfortable but, you can still get in the drops and hunker down on the decents.

Caincando1

They're gone then. I need all the balance help I can get to keep my upright. All joking aside I'll probably lose the other reflectors when the lights are installed.

WheresWaldo

Sorry to hear about your crash. One thing I noticed on the road, the closer you ride to the edge of the road the closer cars will try to drive by you. So the best thing you can do is ride about 2 feet into the lane, as long as you hold your line drivers tend to give you a wide berth and actually most will move into the other lane to avoid you. It is always much safer than trying to hug the edge of the road.

Dogbait

It's good that you got it over with. Now you can ride without worrying about the first scratch. I always try to dump a new bike in the first 100 feet... not so much stress after that.

Siu Blue Wind

I would have been crying. Not because of the fall but because of the bike hitting the ground!

doctortalk121

xxx

v1k1ng1001

What chipcom says.

According to MN state law, a bicycle is entitled to one lane of traffic with the qualification that you are to ride as close to the right as you possibly can.

Caincando1

Luckily my leg kept most of the bike from hitting the ground. My brifler did get a little scuffed up. But it was bound to happen.

chipcom 

Small correction - 'as far to the right as practicable' is the usual language, which means, if it ain't safe, it ain't practicable. Don't put yourself in danger for someone else's convenience.

bdinger

+10000

I've learned long ago that if I'm going to get honked at, it doesn't matter if I'm in the gutter or "taking the lane", the morans will still honk. My personal favorite is a stretch of 25mph road that cars are *constantly* trying to pass me on.. even though I generally go about 27-28mph. I think the boys at the local police substation have caught on, as the past several days on my way down this road I've seen a cruiser!

The best thing in the world is when you have a hothead pass two inches by you - when you are doing 30 in a 25 on a bicycle - only to get pulled over by the officer sitting below the crest of the hill (down ). I've been waving and smiling at the officers, which is a change for me .

Anyway, what chip said. If I'm on the road, I *always* give myself at least half the lane. I also purposely travel on low/mild traffic roads, so I can avoid any possible problems. Generally I find that maybe two or three times a week I have a "honker", but the same number of times I get smiles, waves, and even compliments! Just tuesday I had a pickup with a man and his son pull up next to me at a light to compliment me. "I know I couldn't have ridden up that hill at 10mph, much less the 20-ish you were doing!"

YMMV, quite literally, but take that lane. Make sure you have a taillight and helmet to keep your "vehicle" legal, but you have the same rights as those cars.