Pesky pinging pebbles

Jamey

Does anyone else suffer from the mild embarrassment of small stones being shot sideways at high speed from under their tyres, usually slamming into something in a highly audible fashion, be it gates, doors, car wheels or even the side of vehicles?

If so, do you ever acknowledge it was you that fired the offending projectile or do you keep your head down and pretend it never happened?

I'm mildly ashamed to say I do the latter. But only mildly, mind. It tends to happen to me two or three times per week.

Gazzaputt

Head down power on.

always_tyred

I manage to cope with my guilt okay. I have dirt and grit into my eyes kicked up from cars all the time and don't whinge to the drivers. What are they, or you, supposed to do?

Kieran_Burns

I blame the system (naturally)

Well, if they cleaned the roads better there wouldn't BE any stones

lost_in_thought

Don't forget to scroll!

sarajoy

Mine tend to do this: http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2009-03-23

Oh, beaten to it! Took me too long finding the right strip...

MrChuck

Drivers don't seem too concerned when they ping things off my bike so I don't feel too bad about it.

Fireblade96

Having only recently got a bicycle with with high-pressure tyres, I only discovered this rather pleasing phenomenon the other evening.

Cyclling up The Big Hill on my way home, a small pebble pinged out sideways from my front tyre and bounced off a parked car's door with a resounding thunk!

Surprised but somehow deeply gratified, I continued on my way, smiling quietly to myself.

tardington

I have never managed to hit anything with mine...

Agent57

I managed to hit a rather expensive-looking car last night (high-end BMW). I did a quick check to see if the driver was around, but s/he wasn't. Still, with a car like that, I'm sure they can afford to repair the odd chip.

I just ride on. Might give a wave and say sorry if I hit a pedestrian, but not for a car.

girv73

Ride on, make like it never happened, practice my "what stone?" look.

mrchrispy

i love it but have you tried to do it intentionally?
it's well hard

will3

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

Porgy

The way I look at it is that motorists make little stones ping onto cars, people and cyclists allt he time, and are completely unaware of it.

Bicycle intiated pinging must surely be of a much lower order, and yet we somehow feel responsible becasue we have better awareness of our interaction with our surroundings.

If we felt guilty about it then it would be out of all proportion with reality.

So I don't.


Only if the owner of the car sees me do it, then I have to petend I didn;t see it, speed up to get away quickly, all the time looking nonchalant.

prawny

I had no idea this even happened :shock:

cjcp

Jamey wrote:

Does anyone else suffer from the mild embarrassment of small stones being shot sideways at high speed from under their tyres, usually slamming into something in a highly audible fashion, be it gates, doors, car wheels or even the side of vehicles?

Nope.

If so, do you ever acknowledge it was you that fired the offending projectile or do you keep your head down and pretend it never happened?

No. Cars have stones kicked up at them all the time.