bike kicked out

Felix-da-house-mouse

hi, i went for a ride this morning in fairly wet conditions, i was comin down a hill at the start of the ride within 2 miles when the back end kicked out on me, i immediately tried to pull on the brakes as i was nearing standing traffic which in the rain has little or no effect. As i couldnt stop i avoided the stationery car and made for the pavement but the kerb was huge so i had to go down the side of a parket van between the kerb and the van with no luck, took my hand off the hoods and ploughed into the vans back door with my hand and falling off.

i have slickish tyres on the bike but i dont know what caused this kick in the backend, any one had this happen b4? i dont think it was a drain cover or anything like that but just worried in case it happens again and i have nowhere to go.

alfablue

If you were going straight then I guess it must have been some metalwork on the road, white lines, or perhaps diesel. Slick tyres would be more secure than treaded ones generally. I hope you and the bike were okay.

MattBlackBigBoysBMX

Seems fairly obvious that you were simply travelling too fast.
You should always be able to comfortably stop in the distance that you can see and reasonably expect to remain clear.

jibi

+1 for the diesel,, its happened that way for me before now.

and I am sure its not your bike handling skills Felix

george

spasypaddy

it happened to me a few times this morning as well, i was actually coming to post this exact same thread without the consequences as i didnt have an accident as a result!

first time i put it down to the road as it was one of those extremely slick sections of road. The second and third time i wasn't travelling fast as it had already happened and i was worried that i would crash as a result of it. It always skewed the same way, could it be that one side of the brakes is contacting quicker than the other?

One time i went round the side of a car and couldn't be doing more than 12mph as there was a fair amount of traffic and i almost completely lost the back end, it skewered like never before! Worried me ALOT!

I pumped my tires up yesterday to 100psi at the back and 120psi on the front could the harder tires have a result as obviously less road contact. How do i go about letting them down to the right pressure if this would make a difference?

alfablue

Whilst more tyre on the road is intuitively likely to grip more, you reduce the pressure between tyre and road - to illustrate this, if you have ever ridden a bike with ftter tyres you will know it is dead easy to lock up the rear wheel, but on skinny tyres it is very difficult.

spasypaddy

well it didnt seem difficult this morning... will the rain have made any difference? My bike was serviced yesterday as well

Zygite

Did the same three years ago and broke me bloomin wrist. Diesel + rain = ooh flip.

Felix-da-house-mouse

MattBlackBigBoysBMX wrote:

Seems fairly obvious that you were simply travelling too fast.
You should always be able to comfortably stop in the distance that you can see and reasonably expect to remain clear.

well i must have been travelling at no more than 12 mph with plenty distance to stop or so i thought. so its not fairly obvious i was going to fast, anyway is that not what we're all trying to do?

MattBlackBigBoysBMX

Just unusual to have that much diesel on the road, if that was the case.
Maybe just a very greasy road?

Felix-da-house-mouse

i never mentioned diesel tho? i have been told it may have been a pen or something similar on the road

Simon Notley

I assume you were braking or cornering when the back kicked? Otherwise it would really have had to be something far stranger like an object in the road, or somthing preventing your wheel from rotating.

If you were just braking down a hill, it's likely that the back wheel just got light (i.e. most of your weight was on the front) and started snaking. It's not hard to do, try just rolling down a light hill, get out of the saddle to move your weight forwards and then apply brakes firmly (not so you go over the bars!). You just need to learn not to panic, easy up on the back brake a bit, try and keep your weight well distributed and then apply the front and rear brake firmly for a controlled stop. Obviously, if you're just going too fast, you don't stand much chance!