3 pages and nobody has posted this yet?

for shame! :D:D

http://www.bikerfox.com/bicycle/cras...A_6041_020.jpg
http://www.bikerfox.com/Bicycle/bicycle.htm

Very many years in martial arts (aiki ju-jutsu) does helps me overcoming this instinct.

Still, a trick I learnt from my volleyball coach back in the day gives you a second chance when you put your arm out: try rotating your arm (not the wrist) so the thumb points inward, not outward before your palm makes contact, thus avoiding locking the elbow on impact.

Well, it might be a bit harsh, and I apologize. I really don't want to seem like I'm making light of someone's misfortune. Having said that, I take issue against the idea that accidental unclipping is an acceptable and/or normal situation, and that anything that doesn't accidentally unclip sometimes is a "death cleat". Your feet should stay attached to your pedals unless you intentionally disengage them. Nothing less should be acceptable, and blaming your fixed cog because your pedals are inadequate is just silly.

Marty Nothstein apparently won a match sprint national championship on Speedplay "Zero Track Special" pedals. I've not been a fan of Speedplays, but if this particular model can hold on to Marty's feet it can probably hold on to yours. If folks are falling off of their bikes because of their pedals, this one might be worth a look.

Something I didn't see posted (and sorry if I just missed it). During a turning slide-out (happened to me a couple of weeks ago in the rain when a car 2 lanes to my left suddenly decided it wanted the parking spot just ahead of me on the right) I try to curl in my bottom leg and take the slide kind of like I'm stealing second. Extremely effective.

There's also a lot to be said for luck when falling. I was once rear-ended by a smaller car going about 30 and rode it's hood for about 15 yards feet. When his alcohol-addled brain finally reacted and hit the brakes, I was lightly tossed off and landed on my feet jogging. My bike was fine as well.

The unclipping that caused my crash was the first time I've had an unclip from just pedaling along. Ever. The accidental unclippings I mentioned otherwise happend on my MTB. Eggbeaters unclip occasionally on rock strikes, because Southern California XC is full of insane rock gardens and nasty rocky technical stuff. So, please don't put too much emphasis on 'faulty equipment'.

The point I was trying to make (and was perhaps a bit unsuccessful) is fixed gear bikes, by their very nature of forcing your feet to be in certain places at certain times, are less safe than a coasting bike. The amount is debatable, of course, especially in relation to other components of a bike... the 'fixed' part can easily be the least of your problems.

I used to do Judo and Ju-Jitsu and break falls have been one of the best assets, it was drilled into us if you can't land properly you can't get back up and defend yourself.

Such that with two incidents with cars and three sets of broken handlebars I have walked away with no broken bones, I tuck and roll, imagine a diagonal line from your leading shoulder to the opposite foot, that is your desired contact patch with the ground.

Each time I had a small graze on my shoulder at the initial contact point, the only other injuries were once a dead leg where my thigh hit the kerbstone and another a perfect breakfall when my bars snapped at 25mph but meant I was still skidding on my backside at 20mph:eek: a red raw Japanese flag on my ar5e for a few weeks:)

So definetley go to a Martial art class to learn how to fall

Martial Arts will save you life in downtown traffic.
 

I did Wing Chun, the discipline of Martial Arts made famous by Bruce Lee. And let me tell you. Our 1st lesson was how to do a tuck & roll while simulataneously clipping out of your pedal and riding along at 20+MPH on a windy asphalt road. Yep. Sure was. They even showed us how to do this without getting any abrasions or road rash whatsoever. Oh yeah, that Dojo stuff on those padded matts REALLY does translate to traffic like conditions out in the middle of the street. Really guys. There is like NO difference at all!

:rolleyes:

Always remember, cuts and bruises on your body heal. Scratches and dents on your bike don't.
Know your priorities.

That assumes you just end up with cuts and bruises, not broken bones.

Man up, tuck your chin, roll, and don't cry.

Holla @ martial arts. I practice a Northern Shaolin style of kungfu.

I've fallen and rolled with my bike still attached to my feet, no helmet. I emerged unscathed, and received a round of applause. I credit Systema training. With enough practice it becomes difficult to be hurt in any kind of fall.

There ya go. I really shouldn't have generalised like that. It was street skating that brought me down. I used to love bowls and mini ramps, but never got into vert. Skating bowls and mini's definitely appeal to me a lot more now than street skating would if I was to take it up again (and hell yeah, I would be wearing pads). I suppose it's street skating that can be more of the young persons game. It'll teach ya how to fall, that's for sure ;-)

you should ask on a BMX forum. they fall all the time.

I did the same thing, but I have no training in anything, and I didn't get any applause...Guess I just got lucky that holding onto the bars was my auto-reaction. I flew over the bars after going shoulder-to-shoulder with a dumb ped. I think I landed near my face (baseball hat might have saved me there) but somehow emerged with nothing more than a concussion, some scraped bar tape and a messed-up knee. My glasses didn't even break.

Oh yeah, and after a long night spent in the ER, I now wear a helmet.

Hey, I just tried this. You can too. It's real easy.

Get on your bike and find a nice straight road. Get up to speed. About 20MPH or so. Take you hands off the bars and rub them together really fast, Mr Miyagi style. OK, some put your hands back on the bars. If your hands don't start melting the bar tape, then you need to keep rubbing them together. Then, suck your gut in. Clip out of your pedals. And flip over your handlebars. If you do this fast enough, you can land on your feet. You might have to land and run at the same time because of the high speed.

so thats how bikefox does it!

I learned the other day that when a door opens 10 feet in front of you go in to a skid and lay your ass down and you'll only wind up with 9 stitches and a new front wheel!

When I Learned To Ride Track As A Kid They Gave Us A Whole Seminar On How To Fall, Basically You Just Tuck And Hold On For Dear Life

Try not to land on your head.