The I've had a serious(ish) bike accident Thread.

[ASC1951]

I think I've been lucky, by the sound of this. Maybe half a dozen tumbles, all my own fault, but I just seem to bounce.

The daftest and the most painful was when I was ten. It was the ultimate in cool to remove the mudguards from your bike, except that on mine the screws at the end of the front hooped stay were too tight to undo, so I left it on. As I belted along, the stay started to droop down to the ground, so I leant down, put my fingers between it and the tyre to haul it up ... and fed myself arm-first into the front forks.

 

[andrew-the-tortoise]

Had a couple of low speed spills - both while trying to cycle on sheet ice (I may learn one day).

Also:

One incident with a car (a black Mazda) - was going downhill on a cycle lane which passed the entrance to a garage. The Mazda was coming the other way and signalling right to enter the garage; saw the Mazda slow down - though he had seen me so carry on down lane while having a pike at a young lady in a short skirt.
Next thing I know - front wheel into side of turning Mazda scrape, crunch, ouch - smashed side indicator, scuffed front fork, grazed arm, bruised hip.
The young chap driving must have been also concentrating on the same skirt.
If I had been seriously injured would have been drivers liability, but we shook hands and departed amicably - I even left him some of my skin on his passenger side wing as a souvenir.
But the moral of the story is to always keep your eyes on the traffic (eyeball drivers making manoeuvres not totty!)

Plus:

Had a near miss last year in fog - pootling down a cycle path, stopped to cross slip road to a main roundabout; a friendly WVM stops to let me through in his rather large view blocking Luton van.
Nearly got front wheel whacked by a beamer steaming round the WVM - think he/she saw my powerful lights so braked in time (so did I - good job I had just fitted some new hydraulics fitted).
Always 'look again' now in similar situations.

Both these incidents could partly be attributed to the use of cycle lanes/paths.

 

[dellzeqq]

the worst two

Racing some twentysomething down Bishopsgate, hit wet manhole cover, wheels loop us to the right, seven inch crack in left hand side of pelvis

rear-ended by car doing 55 at a about 20 past eleven on a dark road, projected 30 metres down road, hit kerb with jaw, break jaw in five places, spoke through leg, minor stuff - but the clever bit was surviving. I was in the only layby for a mile in either direction, and the next car by was driven by a friend who recognised the bike....

 

[andrew-the-tortoise]

the worst two

Could they get worst

Hope you recovered well from them.

 

[jonesy]

Came off a few years ago cycling down an unsurfaced track in the dark- part of my commute, so I knew the route well- but heavy rain had washed out a deep rut and I suspect I wasn't properly concentrating as it was a particularly stressful time at work. Got my wheel caught in the rut, went straight down, though unclear exactly how. I hastily picked myself off the ground and said "Don't worry I'm fine" to the cyclist who stopped behind me, got painfully back on and wobbled off, with horrible scraping sounds emerging from different bits of the bike. About half a mile further on, having re-joined the road, I decided that the multi-colour stars I was seeing weren't normal and perhaps I should get off and push the rest of the way home... somehow lifted the bike over the step into the garage. Fortunately my head wasn't too bad, I just had some nasty bruising, but I had broken my collar bone and was off the bike for 6 weeks or so.

 

[John the Monkey]

As a kid;

Ignored Mum's advice to not pedal on the downhill on my Raleigh Striker. Hit something, went over the bars. Lost two & half teeth, one of which we found later stuck in my elbow.

As an adult;

Clipped by a bus that tried to beat me around a parked DHL van (came back in without realising that I was inside of him). Managed to avoid going under its wheels, ripped bar tape, road rash on elbow & knee. Rode home that night, bandaged up.

Hit some diesel, or something on a hill (going up, fortunately) went do - ripped bar tape & my 3/4s

Was hit by a car coming onto a roundabout as I was leaving it. Car hit the back of the bike and sort of scooped it into the air - I went down hard on my upper half & hip. Rear wheel f*cked, scraped tape & shifters. 3 weeks of walking with a limp & not lifting much.

Braked to avoid a cat - front wheel went it's own way & I went down. Scrapes on the rack, but not much more damage done.

 

[bonk man]

Busted collar bone and pinky 1984, silly woman decided to turn right and didn't see me.. oh yeh bent spindle to front wheel..

Early 1990's massive mountain bike leap got totally messed up and my other collar bone snapped, I bashed my head but fortunately I wasn't wearing helmet otherwise I would have bust it

Couple of years ago I hit a cat during a time trial, 25mph on fixed, cartwheeled attached by one foot, serious wrenching to groin and hip muscles that led the medics to believe I had bust my hip but they found no obvious cracks. Suspected broken wrist but my collar bones got away with that one
The cat ran off on all 4 legs... the bastard. Bike got some scuffs. I wish I had some video of that crash, must have looked hilarious

Plenty of mtb crashes including nearly drowning during a race... what a way to go

 

[Norm]

... hit kerb with jaw, break jaw in five places, spoke through leg...

Shoot, it must have been a bad break if you had to speak through your leg!

 

[swee'pea99]

Gordon Bennet what a rollcallof disaster! Makes you think about giving the whole thing up. And I've been telling 'er indores how safe it is...

Only two real spills for me: one when my foot unclipped while going round a speed bump, ending up wedged in between front wheel and frame, t'other simply hitting a deep pothole at high speed - both resulting in much blood but nothing really serious....bit of scarring here and there, but nothing broken.