Greystoke wrote:In my youth we cycle toured round Scotland, no helmets, grass in the middle of the road and flat out racing each other down hills on fully laden touring bikes. Somehow I've managed to survive and don't take risks like that anymore. I think it's called maturity?
This has reminded me of an incident in my youth. Touring the Lake District on my old roadster, heavily laden and with brakes that didn't work very well in the wet. On the 1-in-5 descent to Fell Foot (near Newby Bridge), I panicked as I realised that I was out of control, and put a foot down on the road. I escaped with only minor injuries, although the amount of blood coming from the tiny cut on my head made me think I had done something serious.
I ride dependant on the road conditions , how much i can see and how well i know the road . I had a front wheel lock up at very slow speed and went over the bars needing 15 stitches to my face , its not just speed that hurts .
John Wayne: "I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on... I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."
I must admit there are times when I'm zipping down a long hill at 40mph and look down at my front QR with the tarmac rushing past beneath it and ponder what might happen if I have not done it up properly. But it is a mental game because I always have done it up properly.
CyberKnight wrote:I ride dependant on the road conditions , how much i can see and how well i know the road . I had a front wheel lock up at very slow speed and went over the bars needing 15 stitches to my face , its not just speed that hurts .
I hit a sheep at about 15 mph. It was hiding behind a bush and it lept out into the road as I passed. Over the bars, hand hit the road first followed by my hip then rolled onto my back and cracked my helmet. Couple of nasty cuts on my hand and a massive bruise on the top of my leg/hip. But headcwas fine thanks to my helmet. Sheep make me very nervous now.
Peter F wrote:I hit a sheep at about 15 mph. It was hiding behind a bush and it lept out into the road as I passed.
This reads like something from a dodgy insurance claim! I've met a few sheep, they really aren't smart enough to "hide".
No, sheep are stupid. It wasn't hiding, it was just there, until it decided to panic. As there is a fence at the side of the road it only had one way to go...
It was just on the left of the road below. This picture pre dates the Bush
pwa wrote:I must admit there are times when I'm zipping down a long hill at 40mph and look down at my front QR with the tarmac rushing past beneath it and ponder what might happen if I have not done it up properly. But it is a mental game because I always have done it up properly.
There was an occasion when I mended a puncture in the front tyre, rode three miles (along fairly flat roads) to my destination, lifted the bike to park it against a wall, and the front wheel fell out.
Cugel wrote: How was the sheep, by the way. I yam a-one o' them exasperated humans now less concerned about my own species (stupid lot, we are) than I am about the innocent beasts being punished by stupid humans all over the place.
Cugel
I bet the sheep was fine. They are tough blighters.
The thing that scares me and makes me slow down is not the thought of what will happen to my head (with or without a lid) but the prospect of experiencing that moment of terror as you fly though the air, and whatever level of pain follows. That is what causes me to slow down on fast descents.
[moderator note: quoted posts have been moved to viewtopic.php?f=41&t=138197] It does take energy to make heat and noise. That's one reason I prefer quiet Shimano freehubs to noisy Hope ones.
(When Graham lifts this digression into the Helmets section, this contribution is probably going with it)
pwa wrote:It does take energy to make heat and noise. That's one reason I prefer quiet Shimano freehubs to noisy Hope ones.
(When Graham lifts this digression into the Helmets section, this contribution is probably going with it)
Yes but how else do you expect people to know you have Hope components on your bike if the freehub doesn't sound like a volley of machine gun fire? I mean as you ride past the the branding isn't easily visible
My Hunt wheels have a noisy freehub and it is the one feature I'm not keen on.
