Another left hook
BentMikey
Posts: 4,895
0
Comments
-
I don't like your view from down there, or the way a vehicle turning from the middle (as in your 'bollo' incident) would not necessarily know you are down there.
That's no excuse for the WVM who's just overtaken you, though!
(and it's funny watching your little legs out in front going nineteen to the dozen!)0 -
Yeah, LOL on the legs! Funnily enough the "Bollo" incident was on a fixed wheel upright bike, not the 'bent. Lots of people seem to think riding a very low 'bent like mine is dangerous, but I think it's actually safer than riding the upright:
* They see you more often. Weird this one, but it's true. I get more SMIDSYs on uprights than on the 'bent. It's not as though drivers don't see potholes or paint on the road.
* Any accident is met feet first rather than headfirst.
* Available braking power on the 'bent is easily twice that of any upright bicycle in the dry. Maybe this is not quite such a plus, because with risk compensation I tend to go a little faster and brake a little later.0 -
BentMikey wrote:Yeah, LOL on the legs! Funnily enough the "Bollo" incident was on a fixed wheel upright bike, not the 'bent. Lots of people seem to think riding a very low 'bent like mine is dangerous, but I think it's actually safer than riding the upright:
* They see you more often. Weird this one, but it's true. I get more SMIDSYs on uprights than on the 'bent. It's not as though drivers don't see potholes or paint on the road.
* Any accident is met feet first rather than headfirst.
* Available braking power on the 'bent is easily twice that of any upright bicycle in the dry. Maybe this is not quite such a plus, because with risk compensation I tend to go a little faster and brake a little later.
SMIDSY?
It's just a hill. Get over it.0 -
Sorry mate I didn't see you. I'm judging how visible I am on the recumbent by the relative number of vehicles pulling out on me as compared with the upright. The difference is quite astounding!!0
-
Just curious - why is the braking on a recumbent better? Are the brakes different to a standard road bike?0
-
Is 23mph a typical cruising speed or were you going for it?2007 Giant SCR2 - 'BFG'
Gone but not forgotten!:
2005 Specialized Hardrock Sport - 'Red Rocket'0 -
clanton wrote:Just curious - why is the braking on a recumbent better? Are the brakes different to a standard road bike?
It's all about C of G position. The limiter for stopping on the road on a bicycle in the dry is going over the handlebars, rather than the braking system or your tyres. Thus the lower your C of G relative to the front wheel contact patch, the more quickly you can stop.chronyx wrote:Is 23mph a typical cruising speed or were you going for it?
I wish I could claim I was a powerful and fast rider, but not so. The speed seems typical for that section of road on the recumbent. I'm usually 1-3mph less on the fixed wheel.0 -
Perhaps people noticing you then is because you are an unusual sight (i mean the 'bent, not you personally!) so draw attention away from the usual 'background noise' of what they see on the road? :?
Whatever the reason, it's a good thing!0 -
* They see you more often. Weird this one, but it's true. I get more SMIDSYs on uprights than on the 'bent. It's not as though drivers don't see potholes or paint on the road
Mikey,
I've got no experience of 'bents but I can imagine you standout when you are ahead of them but I would worry about blindspots when you are inside/outside and almost parallel to cars.
My wife used to have an MX5 and she had a number of incidents when high vehicles (4x4s etc) appeared not to see her when she was inside them because she was so much lower.
In comparison on a normal bike, you are quite high up and easy to spot in the same situation.
I could imagine that, on the 'bent you are less vulnerable to SMIDSY pull-outs and more vulnerable to left hooks.
What do you reckon?
J0 -
I don't think the recumbent bike is any more vulnerable to a left hook. Remember that left hooks occur because a driver decides to overtake you, and then turn left, as in this video. That means he/she saw me, else they wouldn't be overtaking me and would instead be driving in my lane.
I often look in driver's wing mirrors, and given that I can see them easily, they can see me just as easily. In every event so far where a driver hasn't seen me, it's because they weren't looking and would have missed any bicycle, a car, and in most cases a double decker bus too. I watch their eyes!0 -
Oh, I should qualify that with the visibility issues that recumbents do have. The disadvantages mainly come down to two situations: T-junctions and filtering and lane changing in traffic when there's a big angle between my bike and the traffic. That's because my head is near the rear of the bike, rather than at the front as with my upright, and that means I have to edge out just as you would with your car bonnet in order to be able to see whether it's safe to proceed.
Both of these situations don't occur very often on most rides, and are easily resolved with edging out. The only real effect on me is that this sort of manouevre takes slightly longer than it would on my upright, but that's no bad thing.0 -
And another left hook. It's a pity you can't see how high the vehicle bounced when it was kerbed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHIzOdIXZCY0
