Knocked someone off their bike on Wednesday!

[BinBag]

Well, it's not quite as clear cut as that - plus, I was on my bike too.

I was going under Tiviot Way in Stockport (near Lancashire Hill flats), and as I turned left slowly to mount a curb and join onto the cycle path that leads down to Tesco's, a young chav on his bike came hurtling down the hill will no brakes....all I could hear was 'wooooooooooow'. Luckily I was already un-clipped on my left side so I managed to turn a bit before he hit my side and went flying off his bike - somehow, I managed to stay upright. This was all much to the amusement of some local kids playing in the area.

No damage to my bike - which was my main concern - but I've got a nasty graze and bruising on my left hand which could have been much worse if I hadn't already been un-clipped.

I asked him if he was ok, and he was, so we went our separate ways.

So, it's not just the cars/vans/artics you've got to look out for - it's young lads with no brakes!

 

[summerdays]

Hmm - hope you are ok - I had one yesterday ... he appeared going down hill though the wrong side of the traffic lights and using his foot on the ground to slow him self down - he wouldn't have been able to stop if I had been 1 meter closer - but possibly could have swerved around to the correct side of the pedestrian crossing traffic island. Now if I was going to rely on my shoe to slow me down ... that shoe wouldn't be a flip flop!!! (It was just by Jamaica St in Peoples Republic of Stokes Croft - though thinking about it you can't turn right there anyway..)

 

[potsy]

I've had a couple of near-misses through those subways Binbag,usually from having to dodge the shopping trolleys that get dumped down there.
Remember last year when they were flooded,knee high water-erghhh

 

[downfader]

I had some clown on a miniture bike do something similar, though it wasnt me he nearly had over it was a girl on the pavement - I was next/parallel to her riding in the cyclelane. Itchen Bridge again - people seem to ride like idiots down there lately.

Makes me wonder what kind of mindset of a parent lets their kids out on these unsuitable and often dangerous bikes?

 

[ManiaMuse]

I had some clown on a miniture bike do something similar, though it wasnt me he nearly had over it was a girl on the pavement - I was next/parallel to her riding in the cyclelane. Itchen Bridge again - people seem to ride like idiots down there lately.

Makes me wonder what kind of mindset of a parent lets their kids out on these unsuitable and often dangerous bikes?

Riding brakeless is cool apparently.

 

[hackbike 666]

Weird...I was on the pavement round the corner acting as a pedestrian yesterday when some lad came up on his bike...He also had no brakes and was applying his feet to the surface to stop.

Makes me wonder what kind of mindset of a parent lets their kids out on these unsuitable and often dangerous bikes?

I seem to remember doing something like that when I was a kid.

 

[Alembicbassman]

A police officer can legally require a cyclist to stop so he can check its brakes.

 

[HLaB]

Its strange the damage you can to in little collisions. About last October time I made the mistake of using a psychopath went round the bed on the left up the hill, bang . The bloke who hit me said he assumed I'd wobble over to the right and was surprised when I didn't . I thought nothing much of it at the time but for ages afterwards I had a very stiff painful shoulder, it only really sorted itself out in May when the uni term was over and I could do some serious cycling (Is that what Bonj meant , I miss his posts). Unfortunately I've had bigger off's but luckily have walked away without any long term damage, unless you count this false tooth.

 

[Arch]

A police officer can legally require a cyclist to stop so he can check its brakes.

That assumes a cyclist CAN stop, of course....

As for the parents, I suspect many of them don't know, or don't care. I had a bloke who must of been in his 30's pull out on me the other day, off the pavement, making me brake and swerve, and he had no rear brake at all, not just disconnected, but completely missing.

 

[ManiaMuse]

That assumes a cyclist CAN stop, of course....

As for the parents, I suspect many of them don't know, or don't care. I had a bloke who must of been in his 30's pull out on me the other day, off the pavement, making me brake and swerve, and he had no rear brake at all, not just disconnected, but completely missing.

Could have been a fixie? In the UK at least they aren't required to have a rear brake.

I see quite a lot of kids on bmx bikes with no brakes. I know its a trend made fashionable by many of the pro riders. But I'm not sure if the kids take them off or if the bikes are sold like that. Is it a legal requirement like having a bell and pedal reflectors for bikes to be sold with brakes?

 

[Arch]

Could have been a fixie? In the UK at least they aren't required to have a rear brake.

I see quite a lot of kids on bmx bikes with no brakes. I know its a trend made fashionable by many of the pro riders. But I'm not sure if the kids take them off or if the bikes are sold like that. Is it a legal requirement like having a bell and pedal reflectors for bikes to be sold with brakes?

Not a fixie, a hardtail MTB.

As for BMXs I dunno - I know a bike used on the road must have two independent brakes (as you say, on a fixie, the rear wheel counts as a brake). So they'd have to be sold with two brakes, unless they were stipulated as not to be used on the road.... (and the bike shop owner can't presumably be responsible if they then are used on the road)

 

[Jezston]

Kids take them off.

Was in a bike shop today and a load of kids turned up and just dumped their bikes on the pavement outside, none of them had brakes. Had to ask one of them to move their bikes so I could get out of the shop!

 

[Jezston]

Also, track bikes don't have brakes do they?

 

[ManiaMuse]

Also, track bikes don't have brakes do they?

No but they're not intended to be used on the road so probably get round the legal stuff.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

Kids take them off.

Was in a bike shop today and a load of kids turned up and just dumped their bikes on the pavement outside, none of them had brakes. Had to ask one of them to move their bikes so I could get out of the shop!

Oh I must be such an old fuddy-duddy

First it was kickstands that were a no-no
Then mudguards and any kind of chain/chainring guard whatsoever
Now it's brakes that are seemingly, in modern parlance, "gay" although how a brake can have any kind of sexuality confuses me somewhat...

What next to go? Will it be those girly padded things we put around the wheel rims for grip and comfort? Was Dunlop just a great big poofter?

Nope..I'm officially an old git...I have all those things on my bike and I'm happy with it, and I don't understand what kids are talking about these days