Bent crashes, your experience?

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

 

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.

 

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

 

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?

 

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.

 

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

 

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?

 

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

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

In answer to the earlier posted question regarding the stability of trikes, the answer is "it depends." Falls are rare, but are more likely to happen on deltas as opposed to tadpoles. Having the two wheels ahead make for a more stable machine when cornering. The trade off is in the steering alignment. Tadpoles tend to "over-steer" a bit which can lead to wheel scrubbing and (perhaps) faster tire wear. Now automobiles also over-steer to some extent, and, I have been told that this is a deliberate choice made by the designers. Otherwise, steering tends to become "twitchy."

 

Very new to cycling but got the bug and after my first tune-up on a bent, knew that this was the only way to fly.

Crash happened on my first organized ride. Using a borrowed bike, to close to the guy in front who looked over his left shoulder at 15 +/-. He drifted left and tagged my front wheel and into the ditch I go. So quick I barely recall what happened.

However all the advice on clipless seems true. Big scrape on my right shoe but my feet stayed in the clips till the worst was over. Also a bit of fabric lost on the edge of the seat and that was all the evidence for the bike.

A true oweee on my right knee and assorted scrapes & road rash on my right arm and hand. (Great reason to get gloves) An impressive bruise in my right hip and, now being more than ever convinced that helmets are worth everything one could imagine 'cause mine shattered to uselessness. A sure trip to the ER if I was not wearing one.

But, picked up, dusted off and finished the ride.

Seems less distance to fall and the thing to do is let the equipment take the worst of the crash. Sure there will be damage but not as much as falling off/over an upright. And do you ever get used to the tiny seats?

Lessons: 1. Don't try to suck wind with other inexperienced riders. 2. Helmets are a necessity and work if you wear one. 3. Let the equipment do what it is supposed to do.

 

Bob,

I was involved in an accident almost a month ago, a kid in a car decided he was going to pass and then make a hard right turn sort of in front of me (more like he wasn;t really past yet), I was on my way to a ride after work. When I was leaving for work that morning I was out the door when I realized I didn;t have any gloves on and went back into the house to put on a pair, when I had the accidnet both hands hit the ground to keep upper body from hitting the ground, the gloves were shredded up, but I would not want to think aobut what would have happened to my hands if the gloves didn;t sacrafice themselves to the pavement. Re the helmet, when I had my first accident my helmet hit hard enough that it cracked and there are indentations from the pavement in the side.

Roger

Roger

 

I was rear ended by a motorcycle on a busy street in Tokyo while riding my SWB about 16 years ago. I don't recall much about it except that I broke my helmet when my head hit the ground. My right arm and leg were limp for a few minutes and I was dazed and confused a little longer. When the feeling (mostly pain) came back into my arm and leg I brought my mind back with it.

On another occasion in San Diego I wasn't paying attention and dropped my front wheel into a sewer grate. I was launched into the air and landed on my feet about 6 feet in front of the bike. Someone in a car who saw it stopped and asked me if I was trying to do that.

TD

 

Today, while on a nice Saturday ride in Silverdale, Washington, I made a sharp banking left turn and went down hard in a crash on damp pavement. My left hip is sore, and my CG STX 'bent suffered only very minor scrapes on the steel seat frame and alloy left pedal. I was a bit hotdoggin' it on that sharp left turn, so after the crash, I lay on the pavement for a few minutes ahurtin'; a couple of concerned folks did receive my assertion that my hurts were very minor: nothing broken! Nice folks, though, as I told them that a header on any DF bike could have been much more nasty!

 

The last and only time I fell on the bent (GRR with Full front fairing) I was rolling down a hill (Central Park NY). THe HIll was curved and there were some people in front of me. I tightened up the turn to pass on the inside and the front wheel broke loose and I went straight down.

SO...Got a bit of road rash on my lower leg. I ended up squeezing into the fairing so it could grind into the road and I I didn't.

Here is the lesson. I have ridden clipless for years. It is a great idea to get pedals that will clip out in BOTH directions.

I was ridding Speedplays at the time and they do not clip out when you twist in. SO When I was laying on my side, my foot was trapped.

I have switched to egg beaters. They will come out from either side;I feel safer knowing I can get out if I am sliding so I don't leave chunks of leg on the road. The fairing helps protect the rest of you if you can scoot into it.