Methods

I did..

I'm a new rider who just got into the sport and I had been hovering around here for a couple of weeks reading up and soaking up info like a sponge.

I figured I make my first post a humorous one. I had been shopping for a few weeks on bikes and yesterday I decided to go to a bike shop and see what they had. Low and behold they had a 09 trek 1.2 58cm on sale and so I asked the associate to take it out on a test ride. To give you a little back story it had been raining yesterday but when I went to the bike shop it had stopped for some time and most of the pavement was decently dry. He airs up the tires and does a basic fitting only adjusting the hight of the stem and I'm off...

I ride around for about 5 minutes weaving in out of cars parked in the parking lot, and testing out the shifters and checking how smooth the bike is. Overall I enjoyed riding the bike and thought it would work well for me for a basic entry level bike to ride and commute on. I then decided to take a sharp turn in a small section of the parking lot that was moderately wet I suppose. In my turn I was watching the bike and not the pavement I was riding on and hit a dirt spot and SLAM; the back tire went out from under me and I landed on my left hip absorbing the impact of the bike, and myself.

Needless to say I bought the bike... I didn't like the saddle so the shop did a 10 dollar swap for any saddle I wanted. Good deal if you ask me. But that's my story, has anyone else in here fallen during a test ride of a new bike?

10 Wheels

Falling and flats are part of riding.
Wear a helmet Always.

AngryScientist 

yea, dont let that get you down, enjoy the new bike. wait until you try clipless pedals, there's a whole new falling experience waiting to happen.

Brandy

I haven't personally, but it's not uncommon. My BF works in a shop and people crash on test rides more often than I had imagined.

jrobe

When I bought a time trial bike, I almost went down in the parking lot. It wouldn't be too uncommon to go down the first time you ride one of those.

plpete

haha i also fell, twice. First time was on a test ride. It was my first time riding a road bike and the entire ride went well until i wanted to get off the bike. The bike had platform pedals with straps on the top. As i pretty much came to a stop i wanted to lift my foot of the pedal but totally forgot about the straps and I went down with the bike and bumped my knee and bled a bit. It was embarrassing and i was a bit upset but now that i look at it i can't help but laugh. Second time was with my first set of clipless pedals. Same idea i came to a stop and didn't properly disengage the foot from the pedal and went town on my side.

SushiJoe

No, thank god!

cedricbosch

I almost fell when I test rode this bad boy.

chrys9989

From laughing?

Quijibo187

after I finished building up a nice new Look 986 Mountain bike for a customer, the boss (owner of the shop) took it out for a spin to see how nice it was, he was wearing sandals on older time pedals..... one foot slipped off and down he went in front of the guy buying the bike. we pretended we didn't see it. He's a cool customer, I had to tweak the front wheel though.

The worst part was 2 days later when he dropped his pants to show us his bruise, was not expecting that.

SushiJoe

Did you dial it up to 400 watts??

Methods

Haha, yeah I told a friend of mine my story last night when I picked her up from work... She was laughing pretty hard and so I pulled my pants down to show her my bruise and road rash... It didn't stop the laughing.

FZ1Tom

Thankfully......no. Not yet anyways. I haven't actually ridden my bike with the Shimano MTB pedal/shoe setup yet, although I've practiced it a few times straddling the bike.

I almost stood that Masi fixed gear bike on its nose (and likewise my face) trying to get on - had too much weight forward and its a short little thing too. That bike's right pedal ended up taking chunks of flesh out of my right calf - twice, even.

Note: You don't look half as cool as you think standing in front of a family and their gaggle of kids with blood streaming down the back of your leg as you think

Being a Super Clyde makes things awfully awkward - what you once did with grace and ease 20 years ago is something else entirely now

Tom

terrain

Nice thread - test riding a 9K+ bike the other day the thought went through my mind.... as I was forced to ride on road's rougher than cobblestone I thought to myself that I would not want to ride my own bike over this terrible terrain. Test ride went fine and I was more worried about cars running into/over me than crashing on my own. Note - not everyone's clip less pedals are set to the same 'ease of release' as your own...

Ratfish

I've slipped on a ride before, but it was on wet, diagonal train tracks. Absolutely no warning: one second I'm riding, the next second I'm on my side, still gripping the bars.

I'd say you'd want to ride more than that to see if a bike fits you well, but I hope it works out for you.

Flatballer

Step 1: Start a bike shop
Step 2: get expensive inventory
Step 3: put sand and gravel and water all over the parking lot
Step 4: make customers buy the bike they just wrecked
Step 5: ???
Step 6: Profit!

cdubb

What happens when a customer crashes a bike. Do they have to buy it.

I'm glad I didn't crash the Cervelo S2 that I test rode.

Quijibo187

your memory of the occasion will be much nicer than mine...
**shudders at the thought of a 60yr old man dropping his pants**

MONGO!

Step 5 is redundant.

eloist2

i was totally paranoid when I test rode my Bianchi.

I rode a 928 first and I was so nervous I went back up to the shop and asked to try out something a little less "epic".



I didn't crash though, and I went home with a 105/ultegra mix Via Nirone.

If I had crashed I might have had a heart attack from embarrassment.
If I had crashed the 928 i might have ran away on the spot.

hahaha!

Flatballer

Step 5 is where you sue the customer and end up settling out of court.

It's really just there to complete the meme, because I was too lazy to do it correctly.

Tulex

Not a bike, but test driving a new sports car about 20 years ago, I turned left back into the dealership in front of a car that I never saw. The salesman was in the passenger side, and needless to say, I don't think it had that new car smell after that.

Vireo

Yes and whatever you do don't buy "Christine". We have an R3 that has been crashed twice on test rides.

timster

keep your hands off my bike

judkins1970

No..but fell like an Oak Tree the first time i cliped in! Ouch.