First fall, wheel and tyre need replacing?

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MikeJD

Well-Known Member
I’m fairly new to cycling and had my first fall yesterday, luckily it was at low speed and i’m just bashed and grazed, my bike took the worst of it.

The roads where wet and my rear wheel kept locking up and slipping when going around bends, no matter how slow I went. My tyres were slicks at 100psi (which I’ve now learnt may have exasperated the issue). The stock pads on my bike don’t stop well at all, I’ve had some Kool Stop Salmons at home for weeks now and just haven’t got around to fitting them.

When I got back home I gave my bike a good clean and found both a slit in my rear tubeless tyre, and on the same wheel some damage to the braking surface and the tyre sidewall.

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Will both need replacing, or are there any repairs I can do? Although it seems to braking surface damage seems to just about clear the break pad, I’m worried the damage will destroy any replacement pads I fit. Any advice on stopping the locking/sliding in the wet would be great too!

I’ve not had the bike for long, now I understand why they say don’t spend thousands on your first bike! My pedals and bar tape were damaged too, but that looks just cosmetic.

Thanks
 

Johnno260

Veteran
Location
East Sussex
The tyre I don't like the look of, if it was mine I would change it, but I tend to air on the side of caution, but to me that tear looks like an open wound, things will get caught in there and could cause a puncture or cause the tyre to blowout.

As for the braking surface, I'm not sure, could a very light emery cloth be used to rid the surface of the damage?

Edit: we all fall off at some point, just get back on ASAP and take care, least you took nothing but a few bumps and scrapes.
 

I like Skol

A Minging Manc...
That is some pretty hefty gouging of the rim for a wet weather fall/slide :eek:

If it were my bike I would probably just get some emery paper and sand out the burrs providing the rim was otherwise straight. Tyres obviously need replacing.

As for the reason for your accident, repeatedly locking up the rear wheel on wet turns sounds like pilot error and maybe part of the learning curve? Braking in a turn should be avoided at the best of times and definitely when wet, although life isn't perfect and sometimes it is necessary. It may seem counterintuitive but even on a wet road you are often better using more front brake as the weight on the wheel during braking gives it more grip rather than increasing the chance of it slipping, upto a point! Braking with only a rear brake on a corner due to fear of losing the front wheel is a recipe for disaster (as you have found).

Having said all that, it may not be entirely your fault and if the brake pads are not set up correctly they could be grabbing the wheel suddenly, leading to unexpected skids.
 
When looking at the road surface you need to be able to judge the traction or stickiness of your tyres. This will vary with surface roughness, paint, metal covers, oil, leaf mulch, mud, sand, water, frost, ice, camber.
As you gain experience you will be monitoring the surface for traction at the exact place your tyres will roll over. You can adjust the path of your tyres to avoid micro hazards esp. on corners.
 

Cycleops

Legendary Member
Location
Accra, Ghana
+1, that tyre's a goner! As above clean the abrasions in the rim with a fine file when you get the tyre off.
Experiment with some lower pressures. You may even want to try some different tyres but remember tread patterns make little difference to grip as there is is such a tiny area in contact with road on a high pressure tyre. Don't forget that added to water on the surface there is probably a good deal of oil which no tyre can effectively deal with.

Just thinking that those two statements appear contradictory - if your rear wheel was locking up then the pads were stopping it.
Could be the pads were clearing the water on the rims before they finally bit causing the lock up?
The koolstops should make a difference.
 
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MikeJD

Well-Known Member
The tyre I don't like the look of, if it was mine I would change it, but I tend to air on the side of caution, but to me that tear looks like an open wound, things will get caught in there and could cause a puncture or cause the tyre to blowout.

As for the braking surface, I'm not sure, could a very light emery cloth be used to rid the surface of the damage?

Edit: we all fall off at some point, just get back on ASAP and take care, least you took nothing but a few bumps and scrapes.

Yeah, I was pretty demoralised on the long ride back yesterday, going 2mph down any descents, but I'm not gonna let it defeat me, all part of learning curve.

That is some pretty hefty gouging of the rim for a wet weather fall/slide :eek:

If it were my bike I would probably just get some emery paper and sand out the burrs providing the rim was otherwise straight. Tyres obviously need replacing.

As for the reason for your accident, repeatedly locking up the rear wheel on wet turns sounds like pilot error and maybe part of the learning curve? Braking in a turn should be avoided at the best of times and definitely when wet, although life isn't perfect and sometimes it is necessary. It may seem counterintuitive but even on a wet road you are often better using more front brake as the weight on the wheel during braking gives it more grip rather than increasing the chance of it slipping, upto a point! Braking with only a rear brake on a corner due to fear of losing the front wheel is a recipe for disaster (as you have found).

Having said all that, it may not be entirely your fault and if the brake pads are not set up correctly they could be grabbing the wheel suddenly, leading to unexpected skids.

I'll have a go at sanding the braking surface, but the gouging looks pretty deep, I can only hope the kool stop pads manage to miss the damaged area.

I agree it was most probably user error/inexperience, but compounded by the fact that I couldn't slow down enough before going into the corners (even with both brakes fully applied, the bike was still moving).

Do you know where I could read/watch to learn about how I should be approaching breaking in these scenarios? Or is it all just down to practice?

Should I take a step back from clipless while I'm still getting used to this stuff, it seems that once a fall is in motion, if you're clipped in, there's no redeeming it.
 
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MikeJD

Well-Known Member
Just thinking that those two statements appear contradictory - if your rear wheel was locking up then the pads were stopping it.

Hi Alan, yeah you're right, when I was going really slow around the corner, the brakes most of worked at some point in order to lock the wheel up, however coming into the corners, getting down to a reasonable speed wasn't easy and required both brakes fully engaged for way too long. For that reason I probably had the brakes engaged while going around the corner, just to keep the speed down while I took the turn.
 
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MikeJD

Well-Known Member
+1, that tyre's a goner! As above clean the abrasions in the rim with a fine file when you get the tyre off.
Experiment with some lower pressures. You may even want to try some different tyres but remember tread patterns make little difference to grip as there is is such a tiny area in contact with road on a high pressure tyre. Don't forget that added to water on the surface there is probably a good deal of oil which no tyre can effectively deal with.


Could be the pads were clearing the water on the rims before they finally bit causing the lock up?
The koolstops should make a difference.

Should I just file the damage to remove sharpness, not to make everything level? as it looks like a lot of sanding would be needed to achieve that.

There was loads of grey 'muddy' matter on the break pads and all over the breaking surface when I got to the halfway cafe, so this may of been another contributory factor.
 

vickster

Legendary Member
New tyres as above. Get some with a good rep for wet weather

I actually think clipless are safer in the wet as there's no chance of your foot slipping on the wet pedal and gouging your ankle, shin or worse!
Just keep the tension low so you can get your foot out asap

Also Tektro brakes aren't the best, keep an eye on the classifieds in case some 105s or Ultegra or similar come up (they fairly often do)
 
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MikeJD

Well-Known Member
New tyres as above.

Also Tektro brakes aren't the best, keep an eye on the classifieds in case some 105s or Ultegra or similar come up (they fairly often do)

Yeah, even in the dry going downhill, the bike was struggling to some to a stop, I was hoping most of the problem would be the pads, but if not I'll get them replaced!
 
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