Good brakes, I was thankful for them this morning.

whyamihere

I was riding through Digbeth this morning on my way to uni. Here, to be exact. I was coming from the top of that image on the A441 and taking the right hand bend onto Sherlock Street. If you look at the bit of road I'd just come from, you can see that either side of the lane is a curb, meaning I take primary through the entire section, and as it's slightly downhill with very little traffic, I really go for it and have some fun through the bends.

Three quarters of the way through the bend, you can see a side road. This morning, there was a car in this side road waiting to turn right across my lane. Approaching the bend and as I entered it, I could see he was stopped and waiting, as he should. I was doing around 25mph at this point.

As I entered the bend, he changes his mind about waiting and starts to pull out, causing an instant brown shorts moment. He changes his mind almost instantly, but the damage is done and he's halfway across my lane and I'm heading straight for his bonnet.

This is where a misspent youth riding mountain bikes comes in handy. I manage to brake hard enough to lift the rear wheel up, which naturally, as I'm turning, goes sideways. When I put it back down, the bike's turned far enough to *just* squeeze past the front of the car, with virtually nothing in it. With worse brakes, I either wouldn't have been able to get the force required to lift the rear wheel or would have simply locked it up. Either way, I'd be off the bike and hitting the car, hard.

Choice words were had. Mostly words containing 4 letters which would be replaced entirely by asterisks in any newspaper, and accompanied by certain hand gestures. To his credit, the driver was incredibly apologetic and looked like he was completely mortified, so I doubt he'll be doing it again.

Check your brakes guys. They're important.

deptfordmarmoset

Nifty cycling, numpty driving...

lost_in_thought

I don't understand quite how the slick move worked there, but it sounds like you got mad skillz dude.

I really must change my brake pads.

whyamihere

lost_in_thought wrote:

I don't understand quite how the slick move worked there, but it sounds like you got mad skillz dude.

I really must change my brake pads.

A bit like the way Ryan Leech goes round the corners here: http://www.channels.com/episodes/show/3 ... e-Wheelies

But a little bit less extreme than that...

Rich158

Great skills dude A real clencher of a moment

I'd heartily recomend Koolstop Salmon pads, I put some on my bike for my trip to the Lake District this weekend and they saved me several times, all my own fault :oops: It's amazing how much confidence you have on an 80kmph descent when you know you can stop :shock:

The biggest brown trouser moment was hairing round a blind bend only to find a car facing me. Squeezing between the dry stone wall and the on-coming car I was suddenly facing a group of walkers who I narrowly missed. I didn't hang around to hear them compliment my bike handling skills.

whyamihere

Rich158 wrote:

I'd heartily recomend Koolstop Salmon pads, I put some on my bike for my trip to the Lake District this weekend and they saved me several times, all my own fault :oops: It's amazing how much confidence you have on an 80kmph descent when you know you can stop :shock:

Agreed. I'm running Salmons at the moment, and I'm incredibly glad I am.

W1

A moron just followed a line of cars accross my path at a junction this morning - nothing unusual in that, they often just follow like sheep if one car goes for it, somehow assuming that all of a sudden they have a right of way. What was odd was that he got almost a full bottle of air from my air horn (and me weaving towards him under braking) before he actually looked. It's 120db. Astounding.

Gazlar

Funny thing is, this morning, i was driving out of a junction in Digbeth, when some bloke on a Bike nearly crashed into my bonnet!!!!

not really, sounds like a scary moment though, although thats what you get for cycling through digbeth

whyamihere

gazderry wrote:

Funny thing is, this morning, i was driving out of a junction in Digbeth, when some bloke on a Bike nearly crashed into my bonnet!!!!

not really, sounds like a scary moment though, although thats what you get for cycling through digbeth

Gaz, if it had been you, I'd be much more concerned about why a fecking train was on the road.

Eau Rouge

It sounds like the classic motorbike accident, only I wouldn't like to try the nose-wheelie on a motorbike.
Actually, I don't want to try it on my bicycle either now that I think about it!

itboffin

Having just popped into evans for a new rear tyre, not in stock! I thought it was about time to put some rubber back on the rear brake, no fear says i to the quoted £25 Guinness vouchers.

Exits shop cross the lights only to be cut up by a moped running the red who then stops dead in front of me, grabbing a handful of brakes ive got nothing, thankfully the fronts are new so i just managed to stop in time.

Glu

downfader

Brakes like these one would hope :shock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9j6f5eTkFU

(Warning,I think theres some swearing on the vid)

Gazlar

whyamihere wrote:

gazderry wrote:

Funny thing is, this morning, i was driving out of a junction in Digbeth, when some bloke on a Bike nearly crashed into my bonnet!!!!

not really, sounds like a scary moment though, although thats what you get for cycling through digbeth

Gaz, if it had been you, I'd be much more concerned about why a fecking train was on the road.

Its part of our new scheme to help link cyclists and public transport, I dunno, you try to help :roll: :roll: :roll:

kurako

downfader wrote:

Brakes like these one would hope :shock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9j6f5eTkFU

(Warning,I think theres some swearing on the vid)

I'm intrigued by the related vid 'Kristina Baskett Triathlet Mag Photo Shoot'. Best leave it till I get home

andy83

good skills there

makes me think i shouldnt delay putting on my new 105 brakes as my current ones are past there best shall i say that road can be quite fast and your lucky your brakes were working

downfader

Kurako wrote:

downfader wrote:

Brakes like these one would hope :shock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9j6f5eTkFU

(Warning,I think theres some swearing on the vid)

I'm intrigued by the related vid 'Kristina Baskett Triathlet Mag Photo Shoot'. Best leave it till I get home

Hmm thats odd. that isnt the vid I selected the link of...

THIS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeAqKrJ4jBE is hopefully the video (copied it from the address bar this time as the share option seemed corrupted)

ariba

Hi,

(first post - tho' been lurking a while) - glad of good brakes this morning too!

This morning at the intersection of Hawkstone Rd & Lower road (surrey quays/rotherhithe) a white Citreon van (REG YD 59 HFC) tried to run me off the road, then deliberately braked & swerved into the cycle lane by Southwark Park. (about 0815)



Luckily the opposite lane was clear so I got across the road & walked straight into Rotherhithe police station. Report filed. (not that it would do much good). Unfortunately I didn't get the name of the company since I was yelling the reg number to myself the whole time.

I don't where else to post this guy's registration - hopefully google will pick it up after featuring on here.

If you see this vehicle (YD59HFC) - avoid - the lowlife scum drove it at me without any provocation at all - this is by far the worse incident I've experienced in London & I've been commuting by bike 18 years! God - now I just feel old


nice ride home tho'