Black Bent Down: Worst Experience on a Bent This Year



S

Scott

Guest
Just did one of my favorite rides with some bad results. My spankin' new TE (less than 200mi) and I
were headed down a huge, curving grade. Black bent, meet black ice. Arrrrgh. I must have slid for a
good twenty feet, maybe more. Thank goodness no traffic as I crossed to the other side of the road
completely, just grinding and sliding along. Is this ever going to stop!? My beautiful fairing looks
like it's been raked by a screaming tiger; the right support is bent; two wing nuts lost; dr. ground
down some; seat cover trashed; five articles of clothing damaged, a couple beyond reasonable repair.
And me? Mostly a bruised ego. It's a bit hard to sit, and my elbow/forearm is throbbing, but that's
it. I'm really lucky and thankful...and depressed at the damage to a beautiful bike. The wheels are
true, and she still shifts and brakes fine, i.e. all crucial systems undamaged and NO frame damage
at all. I think the fairing, my body, and a pannier I had on the rear protected the bike some--phew.
Everything can be replaced--though I'll wait a bit on the fairing. The scratches don't cause any
problems other than aethetic.

Well, I have to crash once on each bike. I hope this is as bad as it gets!

Ride safely one and all, and watch out for black ice! (I should have known/predicted, but I wasn't
thinking hard enough.)

Scott
 
You'r'e looking through the wrong end of the binoculars. Bikes are supposed to acquire character in
this way. You just touch up the scratches on the frame and immediately your bike acquires value in
the form of the stories behind the dings. Only by repairing or replacing damaged parts do we
actually acquire knowledge and skill as bike mechanics.

Look at it as an "opportunity".
 
I know the feeling. Many moons ago, I was riding with a friend on mtb's. We were slowly making our
way down an icy grade on the local trail. I went down first, sliding on my ass watching my bike
slide past me. Then my buddy went down, being chased by his bike. Good thing the trail was mostly
straight or we would have been skewered by the trailside brush. No damage except for frozen buns.
Had a lot of laughs over that ride. "Scott" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Just did one of my favorite rides with some bad results. My spankin' new TE (less than 200mi) and
> I were headed down a huge, curving grade. Black bent, meet black ice. Arrrrgh. I must have slid
> for a good twenty feet, maybe more. Thank goodness no traffic as I crossed to the other side of
> the road completely, just grinding and sliding along. Is this ever going to stop!? My beautiful
> fairing looks like it's been raked by a screaming tiger; the right support is bent; two wing nuts
> lost; dr. ground down some; seat cover trashed; five articles of clothing damaged, a couple beyond
> reasonable repair. And me? Mostly a bruised ego. It's a bit hard to sit, and my elbow/forearm is
> throbbing, but that's it. I'm really lucky and thankful...and depressed at the damage to a
> beautiful bike. The wheels are true, and she still shifts and brakes fine, i.e. all crucial
> systems undamaged and NO frame damage at all. I think the fairing, my body, and a pannier I had on
> the rear protected the bike some--phew. Everything can be replaced--though I'll wait a bit on the
> fairing. The scratches don't cause any problems other than aethetic.
>
> Well, I have to crash once on each bike. I hope this is as bad as it gets!
>
> Ride safely one and all, and watch out for black ice! (I should have known/predicted, but I wasn't
> thinking hard enough.)
>
> Scott
 
When I saw the thread's title, I thought it was going to be about the bikes sold by the Bike Barn
"Scott" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Just did one of my favorite rides with some bad results. My spankin' new TE (less than 200mi) and
> I were headed down a huge, curving grade. Black bent, meet black ice. Arrrrgh. I must have slid
> for a good twenty feet, maybe more. Thank goodness no traffic as I crossed to the other side of
> the road completely, just grinding and sliding along. Is this ever going to stop!? My beautiful
> fairing looks like it's been raked by a screaming tiger; the right support is bent; two wing nuts
> lost; dr. ground down some; seat cover trashed; five articles of clothing damaged, a couple beyond
> reasonable repair. And me? Mostly a bruised ego. It's a bit hard to sit, and my elbow/forearm is
> throbbing, but that's it. I'm really lucky and thankful...and depressed at the damage to a
> beautiful bike. The wheels are true, and she still shifts and brakes fine, i.e. all crucial
> systems undamaged and NO frame damage at all. I think the fairing, my body, and a pannier I had on
> the rear protected the bike some--phew. Everything can be replaced--though I'll wait a bit on the
> fairing. The scratches don't cause any problems other than aethetic.
>
> Well, I have to crash once on each bike. I hope this is as bad as it gets!
>
> Ride safely one and all, and watch out for black ice! (I should have known/predicted, but I wasn't
> thinking hard enough.)
>
> Scott
 
that sucks! make sure you do lot's of icing on the tailbone area. I screwed that up in a crash and
it bothered me for 6 months. thankfully, you didn't screw up the bike! :)

Scott wrote:
> Just did one of my favorite rides with some bad results. My spankin' new TE (less than 200mi) and
> I were headed down a huge, curving grade. Black bent, meet black ice. Arrrrgh. I must have slid
> for a good twenty feet, maybe more. Thank goodness no traffic as I crossed to the other side of
> the road completely, just grinding and sliding along. Is this ever going to stop!? My beautiful
> fairing looks like it's been raked by a screaming tiger; the right support is bent; two wing nuts
> lost; dr. ground down some; seat cover trashed; five articles of clothing damaged, a couple beyond
> reasonable repair. And me? Mostly a bruised ego. It's a bit hard to sit, and my elbow/forearm is
> throbbing, but that's it. I'm really lucky and thankful...and depressed at the damage to a
> beautiful bike. The wheels are true, and she still shifts and brakes fine, i.e. all crucial
> systems undamaged and NO frame damage at all. I think the fairing, my body, and a pannier I had on
> the rear protected the bike some--phew. Everything can be replaced--though I'll wait a bit on the
> fairing. The scratches don't cause any problems other than aethetic.
>
> Well, I have to crash once on each bike. I hope this is as bad as it gets!
>
> Ride safely one and all, and watch out for black ice! (I should have known/predicted, but I wasn't
> thinking hard enough.)
>
> Scott
 
harv wrote:
>
> When I saw the thread's title, I thought it was going to be about the bikes sold by the Bike Barn

The name was "Recumbant Barn". My theory was that the business was doomed to failure by the
incorrect spelling of "Recumbant". The reportedly atrocious handling and quality of the Blackbent
III could not have helped either.

Tom Sherman - Planet Earth
 
"> > Just did one of my favorite rides with some bad results. My spankin'
> > new TE (less than 200mi) and I were headed down a huge, curving grade.
> > Black bent, meet black ice. Arrrrgh. I must have slid for a good
> > twenty feet, maybe more. Thank goodness no traffic as I crossed to
> > > > Well, I have to crash once on each bike. I hope this is as bad as it
> > gets!
> >
> > Ride safely one and all, and watch out for black ice! (I should have known/predicted, but I
> > wasn't thinking hard enough.)
> >
> > Scott

Scott: Thank goodness you were also riding a recumbent. No endo for you. Crashes are never fun but
the ability to get up and walk away is a blessing in itself. We were on our Barcroft Columbia tandem
last year when we hit a gravel patch. It was like the whole world suddenly went into slow motion as
the bike swung around and slid with an effort that would make a major league ball player proud. We
walked away with scraped hips and bruised egos but nothing else. One of the recumbent advantages.

Mike S. St. Louis, Mo.
 
mike s wrote:
>
> Scott: Thank goodness you were also riding a recumbent. No endo for you. Crashes are never fun but
> the ability to get up and walk away is a blessing in itself. We were on our Barcroft Columbia
> tandem last year when we hit a gravel patch. It was like the whole world suddenly went into slow
> motion as the bike swung around and slid with an effort that would make a major league ball player
> proud. We walked away with scraped hips and bruised egos but nothing else. One of the recumbent
> advantages.

Mike,

"We" had bruised egos? Don't you know that everything that goes wrong on a tandem ride is ALWAYS the
captain's fault? ;)

Tom Sherman - Planet Earth
 
Glad to hear you're OK. You're lucky there was no oncoming traffic. How fast were you going just
before you hit the oil slick?
 
<snip>

Thanks for the responses. I've thought about the "character issue" and really the bike is not
grossly damaged. The fairing is yucky, but I don't look through it, especially where it's scratched.
I'll replace it at some point. I've already ordered the necessary replacement parts. I'll bend back
the fairing brace. Next week I'll saddle up and attempt the 45 mile, 4,000+foot climb back up the
hill. Before long, I want to do the round trip in a day, which would gain close to 6,000ft.--a lot
for me. Anyway, at least I know about THAT turn and icy conditions. Nowhere else was the road icy.
It's strange; the ice was really just very thick frost. We had not had rain/snow in a long time, and
I could detect no runoff or the like.

I was indeed fortunate to be on a recumbent. I'm pretty sure I would have broken something had I
fallen that hard from the hight of a wedgie. My last crash was on my commuting wedgie--very slow
speed, sand over pavement. Bam! Down I went: sprained wrist, bleeding forehead--a very nice job! My
wrist STILL bothers me months later. My bent crashes have all left me with some road rash and a
bruised hip (always the right side for some reason)--that's it, if anything. I really think that for
many crashes, 'bents ARE safer. Just don't post this over on the other bike groups!

Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving, one and all.

Scott
 
jim h <[email protected]> wrote:
: behind the dings. Only by repairing or replacing damaged parts do we actually acquire knowledge
: and skill as bike mechanics.

Hmm somehow I feel it doesn't work that way for bents.

You ever: -Received your bent neatly assembled to its atomic constituents? -Replaced the rear
derailleur just because you don't like to hear "oh, your chain is hanging very low" from upright
riders, 5 times per ride?

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html varis at no spam please iki fi
 
"DH" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Glad to hear you're OK. You're lucky there was no oncoming traffic. How fast were you going just
> before you hit the oil slick?

My guess was in the 20's, probably on the lower end. I don't have the cyclometer on yet, but that
turn is usually reasonably fast with a clear view as to on-coming traffic. You're quite right. That
would have been the worst case scenario. The route, however, sees light traffic at most and almost
none in the up hill direction at that time of day, so the odds of having the road to myself were
quite high. Still and all, the thought of some pick-up grill grinning down at me gives me the
shivers. This bent boy done learned his lesson!

Scott
 
Sorry to hear of your mishap. Those scratches on the bike look bad now, but like the others point
out, they're *character.* Now I'm going to say something that may sound counterintuitive at first:
Ya shoulda been riding an upright. I know, that goes against the grain of everything we know and
hold dear, but hear me out!

First, consider the damage to your beeutiful bike. Wouldn't you rather bang up a worthless upright?
Next, consider how you wiped out. You don't do headers on ice, your wheels slide out from under you
and you go down on your side. Same as on a 'bent. I've fallen this way more times than I care to
count, and never gotten hurt worse than a bit of rash and a bruise. If you *do* go down, just
tuck-and-roll (or slide...) Finally, I've avoided falls on an upright that would have been 'for
sure' biffs on a recumbent. The ability to use body english helps, as does the fact that your feet
are already almost underneath you. In case you lose it, (and assuming you're not using some kind of
clip-ins,) you can just put your feet down.

Of course, to counteract these arguments is the biggie: Nobody really *likes* to ride uprights. At
least cold weather makes my rides shorter, so I get my discomfort in small doses.
 
Last week I had a woman use me as a target for her bumper. She made a left turn and didn't see me.
Sun was in her eyes. I saw her to late to do a quick turn and yelled loudly. She caught the seat of
my Giro and sent me flying. Bruised hip and ego. Need to replace the seat, rear derailleur, and
brake lever.

I'm glad I wasn't on the wedgie. Would have hit my leg and I may have one over the hood or down
under the car. Thought I had bought it for minute.

Herman Bacchetta Giro www.wadler.org

>
> Well, I have to crash once on each bike. I hope this is as bad as it gets!
>
> Ride safely one and all, and watch out for black ice! (I should have known/predicted, but I wasn't
> thinking hard enough.)
>
> Scott
 
[email protected] (John Foltz) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Sorry to hear of your mishap. Those scratches on the bike look bad now, but like the others point
> out, they're *character.* Now I'm going to say something that may sound counterintuitive at first:
> Ya shoulda been riding an upright. I know, that goes against the grain of everything we know and
> hold dear, but hear me out!
>
> First, consider the damage to your beeutiful bike. Wouldn't you rather bang up a worthless
> upright? Next, consider how you wiped out. You don't do headers on ice, your wheels slide out from
> under you and you go down on your side. Same as on a 'bent. I've fallen this way more times than I
> care to count, and never gotten hurt worse than a bit of rash and a bruise. If you *do* go down,
> just tuck-and-roll (or slide...) Finally, I've avoided falls on an upright that would have been
> 'for sure' biffs on a recumbent. The ability to use body english helps, as does the fact that your
> feet are already almost underneath you. In case you lose it, (and assuming you're not using some
> kind of clip-ins,) you can just put your feet down.
>
> Of course, to counteract these arguments is the biggie: Nobody really *likes* to ride uprights. At
> least cold weather makes my rides shorter, so I get my discomfort in small doses.

Hi, John: I hear what you're saying, but there's NO WAY I'm going to do a 45 mile ride down my
favorite runs on a wedgie! The whole point of having a bent is to ride it, of course. The ride in
question goes from my home down, down, down into the Central Valley of Ca. where I work. The 45
miles involves about 1200 ft. of climbing and maybe 3,500--4,000 ft. of descent. I've rarely had
more fun on bicycle. To do this on a wedgie would just be really uncomfortable. I do ride a wedgie
most days, but it's the 5 mile round trip commute to the bus stop. That kind of distance I can
handle. My particular crash would have happened regardless of frame design. My gut feeling is that I
would have been MORE injured on a wedgie just because I would have smacked the pavement much
harder--acceleration due to gravity, don't you know. Perhaps my injuries would not have been much
different, but you'll forgive me, I hope, if I skip the experiment!

Scott
 
Scott wrote:

> Hi, John: I hear what you're saying, but there's NO WAY I'm going to do a 45 mile ride down my
> favorite runs on a wedgie! The whole point of having a bent is to ride it, of course. The ride in
> question goes from my home down, down, down into the Central Valley of Ca. where I work. The 45
> miles involves about 1200 ft. of climbing and maybe 3,500--4,000 ft. of descent. I've rarely had
> more fun on bicycle. To do this on a wedgie would just be really uncomfortable. I do ride a wedgie
> most days, but it's the 5 mile round trip commute to the bus stop. That kind of distance I can
> handle. My particular crash would have happened regardless of frame design. My gut feeling is that
> I would have been MORE injured on a wedgie just because I would have smacked the pavement much
> harder--acceleration due to gravity, don't you know. Perhaps my injuries would not have been much
> different, but you'll forgive me, I hope, if I skip the experiment!
>
45 miles? wedgies don't go that far!!! Yeah, well I guess the other solution is to slow down, but I
sure hate doing *that* on a nice downhill!

--

John Foltz --- O _ Baron --- _O _ V-Rex 24 --- _\\/\-%)
_________(_)`=()___________________(_)= (_)_____
 

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