Re: Near Miss from Trying to Signal

[Tony Raven]

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
>
> Behemoth doesn't like this at all. Just after I _stop_ nodding my head,
> she decides to convey this subtle movement to the whole of her frame,
> especially to her cranky, hypersensitive steering. And lo, the
> handlebars start wiggling right out of control, left, right, left, with
> barely enough space to compensate the imbalance because at the same time
> I'm trying to slow. I manage to stop her and very barely avoid an
> over-the-handlebars in moving traffic. I don't know how I managed to
> remain standing. Very luckily, oncoming traffic behind me was able to
> get round - not much space for this in the tunnel.
>

Sounds like one of two things. Either Behemoth has a serious handling problem
or you are so tense that you are fighting the steering rather than relaxing
and lettin the bike handle itself. I suspect the former from the way you
describe it. Get a bike shop to check it over, especially the headset. You
should be able to lift both hands of the bar in a straight line and have no
worries about it suddenly slewing left or right. Sounds like that is not the
case here. Excuse for a new bike?

Tony

 

[Dave Kahn]

"Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> Sounds like one of two things. Either Behemoth has a serious handling problem
> or you are so tense that you are fighting the steering rather than relaxing
> and lettin the bike handle itself. I suspect the former from the way you
> describe it. Get a bike shop to check it over, especially the headset. You
> should be able to lift both hands of the bar in a straight line and have no
> worries about it suddenly slewing left or right. Sounds like that is not
> the case here. Excuse for a new bike?

I think the first priority is to establish whether the problem is in
the bike or the rider. Elisa Francesca, I think you need to put an
experienced cyclist on this bike to evaluate it. They should be able
to ride it up and down the street no hands. If you don't know anyone
personally then ask your bike shop to test ride it for you. If the
bike turns out to be stable then you need to do something about your
technique. If it's unstable in the hands of an experienced rider it's
almost certainly something that can be fixed. Looking at the photo of
the bike I can't believe that the design would make it inherently
unstable at low speed. If you are not a very confident cyclist it's
essential that you can trust your bike.

--
Dave...