My Bicycle... Keeping Me In Stitches

[K'Tesh]

Why so many lights?

Because Halogen lights EAT batteries... I kept getting replacement batteries for the NR lights by picking them up from the bike shop (at a discount) from people who gave up on them. The Captain Dashboard setups were done as a gag for Light The Night Rides (and assured me a top spot in the competitions for most light).

I also had a long nighttime commute. I also had at least two helmet lights until the LED lights became very reliable.

 

[KenECoyote]

I'm a strong believer of Slime and puncture resistant strips (when applicable).

I actually discovered Slime... before Slime! Lol

Back in the early-mid 80s, at a specialty bike store that sold Bianchi, Colnago, Compagnolo and junk too, I found some metal tube of puncture filler (everything written in Italian) which you squeeze into your tubes and it seals punctures.

It worked so well on the broken glass strewn streets of NYC that soon my friends and I bought out all of the available stock!

We went from several punctures every group trip to 0-1, which was impressive.

I now apply Slime and add anti puncture strips to all of my family's bikes whenever I can. It's a small price to pay to avoid the time, hassle and cost of repairs out and on the road imho.

 

[teepot]

Thanks!
Here's an older everyday dashbar photo:

View attachment 578696

And full "Captain Dashbar" mode...




To accommodate all the batteries for the NiteRider Halogen lights, I made that bag.

Oh... That was missing a bar extender... Here we go... Ultimate Captain Dashbar Mode:




That's a lot of lights. But what is the round tube that says PDW on it. PDW to me is Personal Defense Weapon.

View attachment 578728

 

[K'Tesh]

"That's a lot of lights. But what is the round tube that says PDW on it. PDW to me is Personal Defense Weapon."

Portland Design Works' Bar-ista Cup Holder

 

[K'Tesh]

Tonight I had to go into work because the other foreign teacher didn't answer his phone for my calls or the calls of the lead Chinese teacher. I was told by the doctor to keep the dressing on my leg dry...

Any guesses what the weather was like tonight? If you thought "If he falls off his bike he'll drown" you're right. Despite all of my precautions to keep the leg dry, it didn't work (could have been rain water, or sweat... either way, it was wet in there. So, I have to re-dress the wound. Fun! NOT!!!

Fortunately, on the way into work, I did stop and buy dressings JIC I needed them... Yup... I needed them.

[EDIT] Just got done dressing the wound... My first close look at it since it was cleaned and stitched up. If my leg was a tree, it looks like someone just started to try to chop it down... I have a pretty deep notch in it.

 

[Fishhead]

I rode my bike to work back in the late 80's when I was working nights downtown. I only had one incident that I still can't figure out the cause of. It was a Thursday night and I was riding down a two lane, one way street in a notorious section of town. There was some traffic, but none was close and it seemed to be a pretty typical mid-week night in Newport. As I was approaching the intersection of Monmouth and 8th, something happened and I and all I owned found myself spread all over the right hand lane. I crushed my Walkman, my tapes all flew out of my pack and littered the area around the crash site. I received a large gash on my left leg and elbow. My tape cases got the worst of it as cars cut around me as I was laying there and ran over the cases. No one bothered to help or even ask if I was okay, they just drove around me. I gathered the wreckage and limped in to work. Absolutely no idea what caused the crash. I had both hands on the handlebars, the pavement was in decent shape and I saw no oil or anything that might have caused me to lose traction. I just went down, and fast. It had happened to me as a kid one time, but that time I was riding no hands. Not the case with this crash.

 

[K'Tesh]

I rode my bike to work back in the late 80's when I was working nights downtown. I only had one incident that I still can't figure out the cause of. It was a Thursday night and I was riding down a two lane, one way street in a notorious section of town. There was some traffic, but none was close and it seemed to be a pretty typical mid-week night in Newport. As I was approaching the intersection of Monmouth and 8th, something happened and I and all I owned found myself spread all over the right hand lane. I crushed my Walkman, my tapes all flew out of my pack and littered the area around the crash site. I received a large gash on my left leg and elbow. My tape cases got the worst of it as cars cut around me as I was laying there and ran over the cases. No one bothered to help or even ask if I was okay, they just drove around me. I gathered the wreckage and limped in to work. Absolutely no idea what caused the crash. I had both hands on the handlebars, the pavement was in decent shape and I saw no oil or anything that might have caused me to lose traction. I just went down, and fast. It had happened to me as a kid one time, but that time I was riding no hands. Not the case with this crash.

One day many years ago, I was trying to catch the bus with my bike. I was just ahead of the bus, and I was about a quarter of a block away from the bus stop. There was nobody at the stop, and experience told me that if I didn't get there before the bus, I'd have to wait 1/2 hour for the next one, or ride the bike home (about 5 miles) in the late summer heat. I was strongly motivated to ride the AC equipped bus. I had just finished an annoying series of uphill climbs to get where I was, and the road took a downhill turn where I was, with a bus less than 50' behind me. I could now pour on the steam and get moving quickly.

Just as I hit that point of no return on my powerstroke, a pebble that was probably 3/8" in diameter went under my rear tire, breaking ground contact with the tire, destroying all the friction that held me on the bike, and the bike on the road. I heard the rock bounce off the windshield of the bus as I went ass over teakettle in the middle of the road.

Obviously the bus stopped in time to not hit me (with less than a 10' margin of error (I seem to remember it was more like 5')). Driver got out as I tried to pick myself and the bike up. He asked if I needed any help, and I was too stunned to really respond, other than to quickly board the bus, grab some paper towels, and waive the bus off while I tried to clean the gravel and other bits of crud out of my road rash.

 

[cbrarick]

my bars have a computer on them, nothing more, ever.

 

[OverTheTop]

My bars have the two 10W headlights, front shock lock, Cateye computer and a mirror to look rearwards under my armpit. Not too cluttered and not too much mass away from the pivot.

 

[bjphoenix]

I learned about slime when I kept getting flats in S. Oregon due to goathead thorns.

We have goatheads here too- painful for your feet but they don't get on the pavement very often. Did they have "tuffies" in Oregon back then? I've never used them though, I wonder if they work against goatheads.

 

[K'Tesh]

We have goatheads here too- painful for your feet but they don't get on the pavement very often. Did they have "tuffies" in Oregon back then? I've never used them though, I wonder if they work against goatheads.

Never heard of Tuffies.... However, I did buy special thick walled inner tubes, and slimed those to make nearly invicible bike tires... Only to have them defeated by nails and large pieces of metal with sharp corners.

 

[NateB]

my bars have a computer on them, nothing more, ever.

That is one think I like about my lights. They mount to the bars with a silicone band. I can use them when needed, keep the bars free of clutter and not worry about more clamps or anything else.

Every rider is different, but I keep my mountain bike clear of everything that isn't necessary. I don't even use reflectors or a kickstand on it. I want to minimize things that can fall off of break on the trail or things that can hurt me more in a crash. Obviously the cross bike set up to commute ends up with more stuff, but I still try to minimize what I can.

 

[bjphoenix]

Never heard of Tuffies.... However, I did buy special thick walled inner tubes, and slimed those to make nearly invicible bike tires... Only to have them defeated by nails and large pieces of metal with sharp corners.

I had those thick tubes in my bike when I was a kid.
I had to look up the tuffies- they are called "Mr. Tuffy" tire liners. They are a vinyl material stiffer than a normal tire tube, you put them inside the tire before you put the tube in so a thorn would have to go through the Mr. Tuffy before it would reach the tube.

 

[cbrarick]

I raced on tubulars Sprinter 250's can take a ton of abuse without a flat. In fact, I only had 1 during my career, but when you try to ride through a 2 foot deep new england pothole, nothing would have survived (not even the rims :>)

 

[K'Tesh]

Facebook reminded me on the 6th of the crash that I was involved with back on Cinco De Mayo twelve years ago. That then brought back memories of the crash that happened in the early 1990s which was also on Cinco De Mayo.

It's crazy to think that in 3 separate decadess, within the same week, I have been involved in some kind of incident where I have to heal from a bicycle involved incident. The other two were when cars either failed to stop for me in a crosswalk (despite of the 5 lanes that I was crossing, 4 of which had stopped to yield to me (I got hit on in the furthest most lane)(I was going uphill in the worst possible gear, with groceries on the top tube (blocking the shifters))), or turned across my bikelane (right hook)), and into me. This time, however, no other vehicle was involved.

With any luck I won't be due for another repeat until 2034 or 2035.

 

[David Schwantz]

Same with me, in the semi

Be it bicycle or motorcycle I ride like every driver out there is out to hit me.
All the gear, all the time.

 

[K'Tesh]

Yesterday, I got word that the bike shop couldn't get the pedals free of the old extenders... So, it was on me to figure out what to do with them. I collected them...



and pulled out my Dremel and face shield... Then I got busy with a cutting wheel this morning...



After a while, I had some pretty deep notches of my own cut out of the pedal extenders, on both sides of the pedals. I took care not to cut into the actual pedals.

I then took them back to the bike shop, and with a couple of blows from a hammer, they were able to get the weakened extenders to crack in half, at my cuts, freeing the pedals... YAY!!!
My bike now has a new light (one of the Cygolites lost the silicone switch cover that waterproofed it between work and the bike shop (likely in the van that took me and the bike to the bike shop))(its battery was old, and needing replacement anyway), new pedal extenders that I'll replace in 3 years (the old ones were 5 years old, and I suspect that despite the new ones being new, this will prevent a fatigue fracture from repeating this injury), and a new rear tyre.

If only my leg would heal as fast as my bike. I'm on antibiotics (Cefdinir) to eliminate any infection. One doc thinks that there's one despite not being to get the infection to express (by poking tweezers in the wound)). I think that the area he thinks is infected is a patch of dead fat cells that the color resembles an encapsulated infection. Still, it's better to be safe than sorry. I'd like to get the OK to take a shower. My attempts at showering have failed to keep the injury dry. However with my own dressings, and iodine, I'm able to rebandage the area in the same manner as the docs are doing.

 

[Peartree]

I rode my bike to work back in the late 80's when I was working nights downtown. I only had one incident that I still can't figure out the cause of. It was a Thursday night and I was riding down a two lane, one way street in a notorious section of town. There was some traffic, but none was close and it seemed to be a pretty typical mid-week night in Newport. As I was approaching the intersection of Monmouth and 8th, something happened and I and all I owned found myself spread all over the right hand lane. I crushed my Walkman, my tapes all flew out of my pack and littered the area around the crash site. I received a large gash on my left leg and elbow. My tape cases got the worst of it as cars cut around me as I was laying there and ran over the cases. No one bothered to help or even ask if I was okay, they just drove around me. I gathered the wreckage and limped in to work. Absolutely no idea what caused the crash. I had both hands on the handlebars, the pavement was in decent shape and I saw no oil or anything that might have caused me to lose traction. I just went down, and fast. It had happened to me as a kid one time, but that time I was riding no hands. Not the case with this crash.

What time of year? I very nearly got laid out in college when the back end of my bike instantly slid out from under me. I managed to get a foot down and sort of walked away from it, but when I retraced my route, I discovered... wet leaves. My back tire hit wet maple leaves that were flat and flush to the sidewalk, lost all traction, and that was all she wrote. It was worse than ice.

 

[Fishhead]

What time of year? I very nearly got laid out in college when the back end of my bike instantly slid out from under me. I managed to get a foot down and sort of walked away from it, but when I retraced my route, I discovered... wet leaves. My back tire hit wet maple leaves that were flat and flush to the sidewalk, lost all traction, and that was all she wrote. It was worse than ice.

Both happened at the height of summer. I looked for oil in the Newport crash, but the road was clean and dry. At least the first time I can say it was because I was riding with no hands. That time there was just the slightest suggestion of a wiggle, then pavement. I bled my own blood.

 

[KenECoyote]

Facebook reminded me on the 6th of the crash that I was involved with back on Cinco De Mayo twelve years ago. That then brought back memories of the crash that happened in the early 1990s which was also on Cinco De Mayo.

It's crazy to think that in 3 separate decadess, within the same week, I have been involved in some kind of incident where I have to heal from a bicycle involved incident. The other two were when cars either failed to stop for me in a crosswalk (despite of the 5 lanes that I was crossing, 4 of which had stopped to yield to me (I got hit on in the furthest most lane)(I was going uphill in the worst possible gear, with groceries on the top tube (blocking the shifters))), or turned across my bikelane (right hook)), and into me. This time, however, no other vehicle was involved.

With any luck I won't be due for another repeat until 2034 or 2035.

Same with me, in the semi

What time of year? I very nearly got laid out in college when the back end of my bike instantly slid out from under me. I managed to get a foot down and sort of walked away from it, but when I retraced my route, I discovered... wet leaves. My back tire hit wet maple leaves that were flat and flush to the sidewalk, lost all traction, and that was all she wrote. It was worse than ice.

Both happened at the height of summer. I looked for oil in the Newport crash, but the road was clean and dry. At least the first time I can say it was because I was riding with no hands. That time there was just the slightest suggestion of a wiggle, then pavement. I bled my own blood.

Ironically, I sometimes think that I should give up biking and road running... for my health.

 

[cbrarick]

umm, crashes, in speed ranking

62 mph east rock park, caused by a blown front tire. Tore ligaments in my right thumb and broke my right elbow and pelvis, not to mention lots of road rash
58 mph Army spring classic, 1999. caused by the dork in front of me not locking his skewer. out for 3 days, blew my right humerus thru the clavicle.
52 mph final sprint at Loudon, NH speedway training race, touched front wheels, still won the race, separated my right shoulder and broke my right elbow Tony Stewart ran out to the track and gave me a beer cause the NASCAR guys were watching.
50 mph Lincoln Lions Criterium, just made the bridge to the break and someone chopped my front wheel. separated my left shoulder and broke my left elbow. the dork got suspended for dangerous riding for 3 months.

and soo many at lower speeds, such is the life of a criterium sprinter.

 

[NateB]

We were first aid for a criterum race at the ball park downtown. Someone blew out a tire on a turn an ended up in a bale of hay, but half the neighborhood watching the race hit the ground thinking the pop was a gunshot.

As for me, I passed 40 once on my road bike and thought it felt too fast on 2 skinny wheels. I tend to crash at slow speed and blame the trees for jumping out at me.

I also met Tony Stewart years ago. We were setting up fireworks at Eldora after a pro-am race. He had just installed a new scoreboard and told us to make sure we didn't blow it up. Travis Pastrana and a few other drivers were there too and all the local guys seemed to have a good time scratching paint on their cars with big names.

 

[KenECoyote]

I've been very lucky. Despite decades of riding with beginnings in NYC leading my cycling group and fighting swarms of taxis through midtown on the weekends (and getting hit twice, but minor), I've never had a crash.

I once jumped off my racing bike at full sprint after the friend I was sprinting to catch up with turned his bike into me and my rear wheel skidded ahead of my front, but I was fine and turned around in time to see my bike somersaulting through the air. No joke.

Now I'm getting older, slower and less "heal-y", but I may still try downhill one day... YOLO.

 

[Cl(VII)]

I have got to learn how to crash without using my skeleton as a crumple zone to protect the bike.

 

[CalebJ]

I have got to learn how to crash without using my skeleton as a crumple zone to protect the bike.

You just need a motorcycle airbag suit that looks and breathes like regular bicycle kit. Easy, right?

 

[OverTheTop]

I have got to learn how to crash without using my skeleton as a crumple zone to protect the bike.

Can you please let me know anything you learn from research in this area.

 

[cbrarick]

every time my body crumpled i did NOT save the bike

 

[K'Tesh]

Last Sunday, after work, I went into the ER again for a dressing change, and they opted to debride the wound... I have a chunk now missing from my leg that is about 1cm wide, 1cm deep, and 5 cm long...

FUN!!! NOT!!!