Bent crashes, your experience?

Timmer

Hi, I've wiped out on a mountain bike before, was wondering if any of you bent riders have done so on a bent. what kind of impact,scraped elbows? Mainly concerned with impact of the head with ground. I suppose it would be less traumatic falling from a bent than sitting high on a regular bike? Reason I ask is because I am going to be more prone to break my neck than normal folks just looking to see if I can reduce my risk. Thanks for any experiences. Tim

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Don't let that hill scare you, look back when you're done and enjoy the thrill of victory!

blazingpedals

Generally speaking, when you crash a bent, you will land on a hip. The results are usually rasperries on your hips, elbows, and hands (if you're not wearing gloves.) You start lower, so your vertical speed upon impact with the ground is less. Broken bones are rare, and going headfirst over the bars is almost unheard-of.

Kenny Z

Timmer, My first recumbent, a Rans Stratus, was bought from a gentleman who wiped out on it and severly broke his ankle. (compound fractures). It is my understanding that if going down is obvious, you should keep your feet on the peddles and don't try to stop by using you feet. A brush burn is easier to heal than broken bones. You foot will get snapped back if you're going quick enough. Ken

wilmar13

Anyone tip/flip a trike at speed? I am really intrigued by the HPV's with fairings, but most are trikes and I just wonder how hard is it to tip one (or how easy), and would they be safe on say a curvy mountain descent?

blazingpedals

Not me, but...
a fellow clubmember, who is in his 60s and should know better, had attained that blank-mind state, and took a corner at 25-28mph without leaning. According to the story I was told, the trike made the corner, the pilot did not. I got one up on two wheels once, by mistake. Like a bike, a trike will still have a limit to its traction. Whether they skid or flip would depend on their weight distribution. At least with a trike you don't have to worry about going down from hitting a little sand in a curve.

wilmar13

Ok well to be more specific, can a trike corner as fast as a regular race bicycle? Same conditions, skilled rider, etc.

blazingpedals

From what I've seen, the answer is yes. Also from what I've seen of others riding them, they tend to be a bit slower than 2-wheelers, so except on downhills, the comparison might be moot. But I'm not a trike owner and I'm not sure I'm comfortable speaking for those who might have lots more experience with them. Any trike owners out there?

g19glock1

When I went down on my rex the only thing that suffered was a fender and my pride

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G19,
Giant and a V-Rex

bencouncil

Try to imagine laying on your side in a sleeping position. Then falling a mere 6-12" onto hard asphalt while your traveling at 25-30mph. One can lose a tremendous amount of skin if your legs aren't armored, but I've never had any subcutaneous trauma. In fact I sometimes question the real value of a helmet on my lowracer.

Gramps94804

Well, I'll try to make it short. I switched from DF's to an Easy Racer TE in September '03. One year later almost to the day, I had my first serious fall (couple of other tip-overs at 0-3mph . On my regular commute bike path at 7 am not paying attention to anything but my speedometer, I came around a blind 90 degree corner to encounter a couple jogging. Had only enough time to lay the bike down. Right foot came off the pedal instinctively, sticky sole sneakers caught first and I and the bike did a piroette around the toe.

Total dislocation of the ankle, broke the Tibia and the Fibula (small compound). Looked bad whilst I cell phoned 911. But after 4 months in a no-weight-bearing cast, I was back on the trail. At age 62 I think I have recovered as fast as can be expected. Will be doing the "Trail of the Couer d'Alenes" and two other bike only paved trails out of Spokane to the Montana border as my first "post-retirement" activity.

"Foot-suck" is the term for this typical recumbent injury. So the lesson I learned includes getting clipless (they really are "clips") shoes to hold my foot on the pedal in case of a highspeed fall--I hope . I also try to concentrate much more on the path or street ahead of me rather on how fast I happen to be going...

I still will trade my injury for a head over tea-kettle type fall from a DF. Good luck.

Gramps

john_hopkins

Took a slide on wet pavement a couple days ago - idiot pulled out in front of me and I was down on the left side of the bike and sliding as soon as I hit the brakes. The hip-angle part of the seat frame got badly scuffed and I'll have to re-lace the mesh.

Injuries -
- very minor soreness in the left hip, where I "sat down fast"
- moderate soreness on the side of my left thumb where it slapped the pavement hard (I always wear gloves)
- very minor soreness in the right thigh, probably from the handlebar

Note: my helmet never even came close to the ground, neither did my elbows.

I've also gone down several times on ice and track crossings on my DF. Knees, butt and elbows all suffered more damage, and my helmet took a hit almost every time. Seat height on the Tiger is 18" - it's just not that far to fall.

To give it another perspective - I've only had the Tiger a couple weeks - I have considerably more muscle soreness from riding and using all the new muscles than I do from this accident. So other than the damage to my beautiful new bike, it was a non-event.

Score one more point for the 'bent.

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John
2005 Rotator Tiger

bentbrian

THUMP, skid, skid, skid! Or if you are stopped, then: THUMP!

ncaudio

Tim, The experience of crashing on a recumbent is much better than an DF, I was commuting on my Lightning F40 and got hit from behind by a truck while slowing from about 35 on a downhill and making a left turn (I was signalling, he got a ticket), the rear wheel was tacoed, the frame and seat were bent, I got very slight rash on my right elbow where it sot of popped out of fairing and a lot of thigh soreness (no road rash), most all of the slide was taken a sheet of coroplast that I put under the spandex cover on the right side and secured in place. There are scrape marks on the seat frame near the top where the bike rotated up from laying down from the impact. As other people noted, keep your feet on the pedals and let the bike take the impact as much as possible, we almost need seat belts to hold us to the seat frame so the seat can take the impact and sliding forces instead of body parts doing that.

Roger

blazingpedals

I answered a couple of other questions without answering the original one. I'll relate my two worst bent crashes. First, I was riding in the rain, going down a big hill. I was using a front fairing. At the bottom of the hill was a stop sign and a 4-lane state highway. I applied the brakes as I watched the speedo inch up over 40 mph... 41... 42... The faster I went the harder I grabbed the brake levers. Finally at 44 mph, the front wheel suddenly locked and I went down in a pile. The next thing I knew, I was sliding along on my back with my bike still between my legs. When I finally stopped sliding, I picked myself up and surveyed the damage. Hole in my shorts where I impacted the pavement. Very small rasberry where the hole in the shorts was. Broken zip tie on my fairing. That's it. The rain lubricated the pavement and prevented more serious road rash.

My other big one was while racing. I took a sharp S-curve too fast and washed out the front tire. I actually wore a large hole in the tire, so the race was over for me. This time I got more serious road rash, and another hole in my shorts. I also got a small divot in my elbow. I had taken the curve several times at 22 mph, that time I was attempting it at 24 mph.