School of Hard Knocks

McBain_v1

What hard won cycling lessons have you got to share :?:

I fell off yesterday but it was caused by my own sloppiness rather than something unforseen. I had a puncture 20 minutes into my Sunday ride and because I was anxious to get going, I fixed it and lobbed the back wheel on quick... a bit too quick as it turned out. Going up the first steep climb my pedals ground to a halt and I fell off sideways at 0mph :oops:

Turned out that I hadn't tightened the quick-release enough and the torque generated by going up hill had caused the wheel to pull into the side of the frame, totally arresting my forward progress.

TIP: ALWAYS tighten the quick-release mech really well after changing out a puncture

geoff_ss

That's why I always specify and prefer vertical drop outs. Why did you have to adjust the quick release anyway? Once it's adjusted, it's adjusted. Except for those silly excrescences they seem to put on forks these days which make quick release, slow release

Geoff

lateralus

In a similar vein, having taken off the front wheel to lock my bike up outside, I forgot to swing that little quick release lever that opens up the brake caliper so you can get the wheel out. Luckily I managed to miss the startled pedestrian crossing the road at the lights, and there was no other traffic. Funnily enough, I've always remembered to check since then :oops:

redjedi

Here's one I learnt the other week.

When going around a corner at a decent speed, always have your inside pedal up.

If you leave it down, it may catch on the road, leading to a huge loss of control (possible even getting airborne)

I found this out while going around a roundabout. Not sure how I stayed on the bike, but I had to pull over to give the bike a quick once over, and compose myself. There is now a nice chunk missing from my pedal.