Falcon hits the road. Literally.

[feckless]

Finally, after weeks of messing around trying to get the paint and decals right (and waiting for a Brooks saddle to arrive from the UK), my 1970s Falcon hit the road for its first proper ride this morning.

Unfortunately, hit the road is exactly what it did. Closely followed by me.

Due to a moment of completely pathetic, fixed ineptitude by me, the Falcon spat me off at 30kmh straight into the middle of a 4-lane road junction.

The damage - one scarred, brand-new B17, some seriously scraped paint, a bit less flesh on my arm and hip, and a broken wrist. I'm not sure which annoys me the most.

Still, it looks as though I'll have a few weeks of no riding to get eveything fixed up.

Bah.

f

 

[betty swollocks]

Sorry indeed to read about your prang feckless. Hope you (and the bike) heal soon and are up and running again.
Do you know exactly what happened?

 

[feckless]

Do you know exactly what happened?

Alas, no.

I leant forward to brush some glass from the front tyre and the next thing I knew I was on my arse in the middle of the road.

I guess I just transferred all my weight onto the ascending pedal, skidded and tripped. Pretty stupid really, but not a mistake I'll be making again.

Other than that, the ride was lovely. I was even managing to control speed pretty smoothly on the hills (just as well given the uselessness of 70s vintage Weinemann side-pull brakes).

f

 

[rustychisel]

You won't be doing that again in a hurry (leaning forward to brush glass, I mean). Poor fella.

I can guess what happened: when you lean forward and transfer to centre of gravity, the shift is both fore and aft and side to side. Almost inevitably you look to balance yourself by having the opposing leg coasting in the 6 o'clock position. Biomechanically speaking, you almost lock at the hip when you lean forward. Funnily enough, you can't do that on a fixed.

Try it out next time ou're on a geared bike - the consequences aren't so... severe. Hope you heal soon.

 

[Twenty Inch]

That's rough, sorry to hear it.

I did pretty much the same the other day, but got away with a scabby knee and a sore shoulder. The bike was ok. Fixed is very different, I am finding.

Hope you feel better soon.

 

[BentMikey]

Ouch, I'm sure you're no longer feckless after that!!!

Putting things near one's front wheel whilst moving is not clever, be it gears or fixed.

 

[ASC1951]

Putting things near one's front wheel whilst moving is not clever, be it gears or fixed.

I only ever did that once, when I was eight. I bent down to brush a piece of glass off the tyre - mudguards removed coz it was cool - and my fingers followed the tyre into the front forks before throwing the rest of me over the bars. Luckily they were all still attached when I came round.

 

[feckless]

I did pretty much the same the other day,

Ouch you have my sympathy, even though I'm secretly glad I'm not alone.

As you say, fixed is very different. The glass brushing thing is something I do without thinking (guess it's something like genuflecting to the puncture fairy).

On the positive side, I've had heaps of sympathy from women. Pity I don't have the slack morals to abuse it.

f

 

[betty swollocks]

On the positive side, I've had heaps of sympathy from women. Pity I don't have the slack morals to abuse it.

With a broken wrist, you may need all the help you can get from those women