Falling Off?

[Oldie But Goodie]

Went for a 1 hour ride on my fixie this morning in a howling gale and lashing rain.
I was passing some old tram lines on my route and managed to get the front wheel stuck in the groove! OOps!, yes on smack down my ass again.

On average I come off my bike about once a month with an average of 26-30 hrs riding per month and guess what, the more I fall off the harder the road becomes and it seems to be coming a habit with me!
Good thing was no damage to the bike or my riding clothes, just a few scrapes on my arm so no problem.
I was just wondering how often single speed and fixie riders come off on average OR IS IT SOMETHING YOU MACHO RIDERS OUT THERE DONT WANT TO ADMIT ?

 

[MacB]

twice so far, once when trying clipless, not to be repeated, and once when turning into a taxi, entirely my fault and very stupid.

Though I almost fell off yesterday cycling around my close, was getting bar height and reach sorted so kept doing little laps to check angle etc. On the last one looked up to see Royal Mail van arriving, more CRC goodies for me!!! and promptly cycled straight into raised kerb and almost over. Postie probably thought he shouldn't have given me the package as I obviously couldn't use the bike stuff I had.

 

[ColinJ]

Road cycling - once every 10,000 miles or so? That would be once every 2 or 3 years. I can't remember the last time.

Oh, I had a very near miss on a forum ride a couple of years ago when talking to Calum. I had my hands on the tops of the bars, looked up and realised that I had ridden off the lane we were on and was heading straight for a wall. I just managed to get my hand on the front brake lever in time and stopped with the front wheel resting against the wall!

Mountain biking, a lot more frequently because of the technical nature of the terrain I used to ride over (I don't do much MTB riding these days).

 

[potsy]

Twice, both at about 2mph

1st one whilst trying to take a banana out of my bar bag on the trans-pennine trail, comical lean over to the right clipped in.
2nd whilst cycling back from Blackpool with Bromptonfb, took a short cut, missed a turn and did a U-turn, unfortunately 23mm tyres and a big patch of slippy mud don't mix so down I went

 

[Davidc]

Road cycling - once every 10,000 miles or so? That would be once every 2 or 3 years. I can't remember the last time.

That's all I do, and it's not on a fixed wheel bike. I'd agree with the interval - that's about right for me too.

Last time was on a velib in Brussels last year, in the bl00dy tram lines.

 

[rualexander]

Never fallen off on road in 24 years of cycling, used to come off occasionally when mountainbiking back in the eighties.

 

[Cush]

Twice, once when I stopped to ask some one the way to the Youth Hostel when I was on the LEJOG and promtly fell over. The person I was speaking too was the hostel warden!!. Who took great delight in telling the other hostlers what had happened. The second time was when I stopped to open a gate on a cycle / footpath and fell in to some brambles on a slope felt very foolish both times and was removing thorns for days after the second one.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

mtb'ing - almost every weekend
commuting - was never until y'day in the gale (if you don't count getting offed by cars)
club rides - touches wood, never.

 

[markg0vbr]

rolled the trike twice miner abrasions and one demolished back wheel, when going a long, hedge? er that cant be right eek why am i facing that car that was behind me...... bang
and one on a two wheeler last Saturday broke my hip, now sporting three bolts up through my thigh bone.

 

[buggi]

twice in 7 years (not counting the 3 clipless moments when i was at a standstill). to be honest mate, i try to avoid it if i can. if you think it's your fixie that's causing it, time to change bike before you become too nervous to ride.

 

[Oldie But Goodie]

twice in 7 years (not counting the 3 clipless moments when i was at a standstill). to be honest mate, i try to avoid it if i can. if you think it's your fixie that's causing it, time to change bike before you become too nervous to ride.

To be honest Buggi all the falls have been down to me and today it was the tram lines.
Your three clipless moments count as falls as I have included those in my calculations.
I did change my hub recently from fixed to single and this week changed back as I prefer the "oneness" you get with the fixed but I guess the secret is not to keep swapping as it leads to confusion.
Thanks for the advice anyway mate

 

[Oldie But Goodie]

rolled the trike twice miner abrasions and one demolished back wheel, when going a long, hedge? er that cant be right eek why am i facing that car that was behind me...... bang
and one on a two wheeler last Saturday broke my hip, now sporting three bolts up through my thigh bone.

Get well soon mate and sorry to hear about your accidents

 

[frank9755]

On road, my last one was cornering too fast on wet cobbles, about three years ago. I had a clipless moment when I first tried them maybe 4 years ago. Before that, it would have been when I got knocked off by a car when I was at university in the late 80's. So probably > 10,000 miles between falls.

I fell off mountain biking just over a year ago. I don't do much mountain biking or else I'm sure I would fall off more as I think that is supposed to be part of the fun!


I had a dramatic fall while wearing my cycling shoes in a hall with a polished floor after a race last year. I was carrying a cup of tea at the time and it ended up all over the room.

 

[yello]

very very rarely. Offed by a cat (ran in front of me) last year but prior to that... can't really remember.

 

[MacB]

Well I was riding with Wowbagger from YACF when he was offed by a badger, alarming at the time but bloody funny afterwards, thankfully no serious harm done to man, badger(we think) or bike.