SPD levitation or bunny hop?

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som3blok3

New Member
Location
Cobham, Surrey.
So, tonights commute home had an interesting twist. Flying along, doing 18-20ish mph (according to the 'Cyclemeter' app), keping my eyes as far ahead as is possible in darkness and drizzle and what should pop into the cycle lane, a 6' x 6' bit of fence!!!

Kerb to the left, traffic flow of doom to the right, what to do? Split second decision was to stand up quickly and try to take as much weight off the impending impact as possible...... It was like the ending of E.T, minus the Raleigh shopper basket containing a small brown monkey.

I was never the king of bunny hops as a kid, my 'Grifter' weighed twice as much as my mates 'Burners' (although I had three, yes THREE gears, if I was lucky), and to be honest, it's been a while since I've tried to defy gravity on two wheels but it felt good!! SPD pedals and a sub 10kg bike and hey presto, SPD long jumping.....

New sport anybody?
 

sheddy

Legendary Member
Location
Suffolk
Well done. But did you go back and move the panel away ?
 
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som3blok3

som3blok3

New Member
Location
Cobham, Surrey.
Well done. But did you go back and move the panel away ?

I didn't, and didn't even think about it for a few minutes. Then it was a case of 'do I go back or not'. Which I also didn't, wish I had of done though.

Thinking about it in hindsight, I've never come accross that situation before and was so preoccupied for the next few minutes with 'wow, I just left the ground at speed' and 'are my wheels still ok' that I didn't think.

I'm going the same way in an hours time, so if it's still there I'll move it.
 

GrasB

Veteran
Location
Nr Cambridge
Now you understand how to 'float' the bike ;)

The faster you go the harder it is to get height.
Yeah but depends what you need to get over, for me it's typically potholes or drain covers & at speed you don't need a lot of hight to clear a big distance. At 30mph 3"-6" off the ground will get you meters down the road
 
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