Injuries and problems with mountain biking

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

ssxmi

New Member
Hi all,

I'm a Year 10, about to be Year 11, GCSE student. For my Technology GCSE I must do something called an NEA. This NEA involves the exam board giving us a choice of three contexts to find problems with, and after about 8 months, create a prototype and a massive power-point slide with just a ton of research and stuff. The power-point is A3 size paper and size 12 font max, we are expected to do around 60 slides. As if the prototype wasn't hard enough. For my context i picked physical recreation and will be attempting to improve the safety of mountain biking or downhill mountain biking. I have never done either of these sports and need your help to list ANY kind of problem you may have had in the past, mainly to do with the equipment and gear though i would be happy to look at problems with the bike itself as well. I will need proof of this so i will be taking print screens so if you are not comfortable with this just say and i will blur out your name. This test is very important to me as an aspiring engineer so please do comment anything that comes to mind if it may be useful to me.

Thanks for your time.
 

Hugh Manatee

Veteran
Having twins who have just completed GCSE including a course each that sound a lot like yours; I hope you really like PowerPoint!

I don't do down hill but have been mountain biking since 1988 or so sometimes on inappropriate bikes. The only serious crashes I have had have been down to me I fear.

I have a theory that modern kit causes some crashes. There is a YouTube video of a downhill race from way back when. More or less everyone in the video crashes. A combination of cantilever brakes and the head down arse up riding position (my 1990 MTB stem was 150mm in length with zero rise) meant that really good suspension was required. The most travel on forks was around 40mm. People fell off a lot and some hurt themselves quite badly. Most got up, brushed off the dirt, dug out the thorns and carried on.

Now, with even XC bikes boasting over 100mm at both ends, speeds have gone up. Crashes are harder and it is easier to find yourself going too fast at a bad time! My worst crash came about with a new bike.

It was a titanium frame and was around 3kg lighter than my previous bike. I hit a ramp I didn't know was there and took off like Superman. I flew like Superman as well. Here the Superman comparisons can end. I landed like a sack of potatoes on my face and shoulder. This was 18 years ago and it still hurts now.
 
Top Bottom