Totally my fault...

Kiblams

I had a small bump this morning when I exited a roundabout (turning left) and the car infront slammed on the brakes at a zebra/palican crossing, lots of slipping and sliding followed by my back wheel off the ground and me splatted up against the back of the car.

Feel like such a tw@!

Luckily she was just glad that I was OK and lesson learned on my part :oops:

essex-commuter

I've done exactly the same, exiting a roundabout at speed only to meet a set of brake lights due to a zebra crossing (not a real Zebra, I live in Essex). I had the whole reverse wheelie thing going on but managed to miss the rear bumper by inches...sh!t me up big time though!

desweller

Yeah, stopping distances on bikes are not great! I've gently headbutted the back of a van before now.

Oddjob62

essex-commuter wrote:

not a real Zebra, I live in Essex

I see giraffes on my London commute :P... at least i do in the summer, they are usually indoors when i pass them at the moment.

Kiblams Good to hear there was no damage done

Kiblams

Oddjob62 wrote:

Kiblams Good to hear there was no damage done

Thanks, yeah the only causalty to the whole experience was the flimsy adapter for one of my front Cateye lights which is now snapped.

I think it may have had something to do with the brakes on this bike too, which are considerably easier to lock the wheels with that the old ones :x Never thought I would ever think the thought "my brakes are too powerful" :shock:

Headhuunter

I've run into buses like that before. If you get to close behind a bus whilst it's rolling along you get dragged along - it's fantastic, but you can't see what's happening ahead and they can brake seriously fast with those air brakes! Nowadays I tend to draft slightly off to the right or a little further back to give me wiggle room...

W1

Nearly done this when entering a roundabout - thought the taxi in front of me had gone, started moving off, and he was still there! Just got unclipped in the nick of time, otherwise it would have been yet another clipless "moment".....

zanes

Went into the back of a car at the bottom of one of baths hills last year at about 20mph as it stopped in a queue. Put my fist through the cars rear light cluster, flipped over bars and landed sideways across the other lane of oncoming traffic :roll:

Got up, and had a reasonable bill to remind me about stopping distances and locking up in the wet :oops:

mikeeye

zanes wrote:

Went into the back of a car at the bottom of one of baths hills last year at about 20mph as it stopped in a queue. Put my fist through the cars rear light cluster, flipped over bars and landed sideways across the other lane of oncoming traffic :roll:

Got up, and had a reasonable bill to remind me about stopping distances and locking up in the wet :oops:

Shame the presumed liability law hasn't been brought in yet: that would have saved you some cash as this was clearly the car's fault :twisted:

^ that's a joke - no need to correct my wilful misinterpretation of the proposed law.

zanes

MikeEye wrote:

zanes wrote:

Went into the back of a car at the bottom of one of baths hills last year at about 20mph as it stopped in a queue. Put my fist through the cars rear light cluster, flipped over bars and landed sideways across the other lane of oncoming traffic :roll:

Got up, and had a reasonable bill to remind me about stopping distances and locking up in the wet :oops:

Shame the presumed liability law hasn't been brought in yet: that would have saved you some cash as this was clearly the car's fault :twisted:

^ that's a joke - no need to correct my wilful misinterpretation of the proposed law.

Odd thing about it was the driver volunteered to and paid half of the bill!

mikeeye

zanes wrote:

MikeEye wrote:

zanes wrote:

Went into the back of a car at the bottom of one of baths hills last year at about 20mph as it stopped in a queue. Put my fist through the cars rear light cluster, flipped over bars and landed sideways across the other lane of oncoming traffic :roll:

Got up, and had a reasonable bill to remind me about stopping distances and locking up in the wet :oops:

Shame the presumed liability law hasn't been brought in yet: that would have saved you some cash as this was clearly the car's fault :twisted:

^ that's a joke - no need to correct my wilful misinterpretation of the proposed law.

Odd thing about it was the driver volunteered to and paid half of the bill!

It does appear that there are a lot of decent motorists out there who can't bear the thought of doing harm to a cyclist. Many years ago, I shoulder barged the back of a white van (no less) while cycling under the influence of cough medicine*. It was completely my fault, but the driver hopped out and was very apologetic and made sure I was okay. Fortunately the van, the bike and I were all okay.

* Busy multiple lane road in the rush hour - I was looking behind me prior to changing lanes, and when I turned back I found that the traffic ahead had stopped. By the time I'd grabbed the brakes and yanked them on as hard as I could, my back wheel was completely off the ground and I slammed into the van.

Headhuunter

There are some nice car drivers...

I ran into the back of a car which braked sharply a couple of years ago. My fault really, was following too close behind. Not high speed so no real damage to the bike or the car but the driver jumped out all concerned to find out if I was OK. I actually asked if I had damaged his car and he literally said "don't worry about the car, are you OK?"

Another time I was cycling alongside a row of stationary, jammed traffic when the usual numpty pedestrian emerged from between the cars without the slightest glance and walked straight into my path. I bounced off her and into the oncoming traffic, which mercifully was a distance away. As I was clipped in I went over but she was still standing. Got back up, dusted myself down and continued on my way. At the front of the queue of traffic/head of the lights a guy in a Range Rover actually got out to ask me if I needed medication, said that he had a first aid kit and he would be happy to dress any wounds I had.