Just ran into a kid on my bike

Mr Plum
Mr Plum Posts: 1,097
edited September 2011 in Commuting chat
Reckon he's about 14 or 15. I was doing maybe 17 or 18 mph along a wide and clear main road, saw him about to fly out in front of me on his skateboard and he saw me at the last minute - he tried to stop and I slammed my brakes on but I clipped his chin pretty hard with my left shoulder. Neither of us went down but he looked pretty shaken up and I made sure he was alright, but my left hand shifter is fucked - think it got caught in his jacket as I went into him and it got bent and pulled out far left, the opposite direction in which it's meant to move. I think the internals are completely mangled, but either way, it's fucked. Got his number, gonna give him a call later on but I've got no idea if he'll be in a position to replace an £80 Tiagra STI shifter or if his parents will step up and sort it out. He apologised straight away and a few times more as we were chatting and I was trying to assess the damage, and he did offer to pay to get it fixed, but I don't think he has any idea how much a 'budget' STI shifter costs to replace.

Generally feeling pretty pissed off because I'll have to use my carbon race bike to get to work whilst this is sorted out - something I said I would never do. So I have to risk my good bike getting mistreated by others who lock their cheap hybrids up in the same bike shelter, and I could be £80 out of pocket if I have to replace the shifter myself. Great.

At least Cav had a good afternoon...
FCN 2 to 8

Comments

  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    Hope it works out.

    A similar thing happened to me a few years back but I was in a car and a little girl ran out in front of me from behind a parked Land Rover, literally 3 yards in front of me. Up onto the windscreen before I could stop. Thankfully I was only going about 15mph as it was a narrow road so she was ok. Shocked and taken to hospital for observation but ok. Cost me about £400 to have my bonnet fixed and the stress of hitting a child.

    Not ideal.
  • Mr Plum
    Mr Plum Posts: 1,097
    Joelsim wrote:
    Hope it works out.

    A similar thing happened to me a few years back but I was in a car and a little girl ran out in front of me from behind a parked Land Rover, literally 3 yards in front of me. Up onto the windscreen before I could stop. Thankfully I was only going about 15mph as it was a narrow road so she was ok. Shocked and taken to hospital for observation but ok. Cost me about £400 to have my bonnet fixed and the stress of hitting a child.

    Not ideal.

    Sounds horrible mate. Glad she was ok.
    FCN 2 to 8
  • desweller
    desweller Posts: 5,175
    Ouch, could have been worse though. He'll look before he steps out in future!

    The shifters often slip round on their clamps in accidents, are you sure it's damaged (stick a pic up)?
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  • plowmar
    plowmar Posts: 1,032
    TBH Mr Plum I'd get the shifter sorted myself and if you do get a contribution look on it as a plus.

    After all what on earth were you doing riding on the road - don't you know there's a law against it, and I bet you don't pay road tax. :twisted: :wink:
  • Mr Plum
    Mr Plum Posts: 1,097
    DesWeller wrote:
    Ouch, could have been worse though. He'll look before he steps out in future!

    The shifters often slip round on their clamps in accidents, are you sure it's damaged (stick a pic up)?

    Yeah it's totally knackered - the lever was bent right out to the left, the down shift lever is bent back slightly, and it doesnt shift at all. There's still some tension on the cable so I know the end of the cable hasn't snapped off inside the shifter, but the shifter can't hold any tension when I try and change up - there's just a horrible sound of mangled plastic/metal from inside the shifter. It's a gonner.
    FCN 2 to 8
  • Mr Plum
    Mr Plum Posts: 1,097
    plowmar wrote:
    TBH Mr Plum I'd get the shifter sorted myself and if you do get a contribution look on it as a plus.

    After all what on earth were you doing riding on the road - don't you know there's a law against it, and I bet you don't pay road tax. :twisted: :wink:

    Ha, indeed, I was practically asking for it. Infact, it's the kid who I should be offering compensation to...
    FCN 2 to 8
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    Mr Plum wrote:
    DesWeller wrote:
    Ouch, could have been worse though. He'll look before he steps out in future!

    The shifters often slip round on their clamps in accidents, are you sure it's damaged (stick a pic up)?

    Yeah it's totally knackered - the lever was bent right out to the left, the down shift lever is bent back slightly, and it doesnt shift at all. There's still some tension on the cable so I know the end of the cable hasn't snapped off inside the shifter, but the shifter can't hold any tension when I try and change up - there's just a horrible sound of mangled plastic/metal from inside the shifter. It's a gonner.

    Take it off the bars and have a good look round inside.

    The brake cable barrel broke in mine a couple of years ago and it dropped inside the shifter - rendered it completely useless for the journey home, so had to buy a new barrel.

    Apologies if you've already checked inside (or if it's obviously buggered from the outside), but just a thought.

    Have a look in Classifieds, see if there's anything going cheap.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • redvee
    redvee Posts: 11,922
    My shifter looked KO'd when I came into contact with somebody not looking where they were going. Initially it did look bad for the shifter but it's just a Tiagra 4500 faceplate needed but trying to get hold of one is hard.
    I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.
  • dilemna
    dilemna Posts: 2,187
    Didn't think kids rode skateboards anymore. This one must be poor. I would just get the levers, handlebars and tape replaced or repaired then send the parents the bill.
    Life is like a roll of toilet paper; long and useful, but always ends at the wrong moment. Anon.
    Think how stupid the average person is.......
    half of them are even more stupid than you first thought.
  • Mr Plum
    Mr Plum Posts: 1,097
    I think if I can find a decent condition second hand shifter then I'll just replace it myself and chalk it off as one of those things. It's gonna be a hassle to pursue it much further - I've only got his mobile number. We've exchanged a couple of amicable text messages and he says he's told his parents. It would have been ideal to have had a phone call from them last night to have a chat about it. I'm not holding my breath for any contribution to getting this fixed.
    FCN 2 to 8
  • barry_kellett99
    barry_kellett99 Posts: 480
    What are you doing riding around with STi's anyway? Take it as a sign from god that you are carrying around far too many gears.
    http://teammaxbo.blogspot.com/

    Long live the pompino
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 29,932
    Mr Plum wrote:
    I think if I can find a decent condition second hand shifter then I'll just replace it myself and chalk it off as one of those things. It's gonna be a hassle to pursue it much further - I've only got his mobile number. We've exchanged a couple of amicable text messages and he says he's told his parents. It would have been ideal to have had a phone call from them last night to have a chat about it. I'm not holding my breath for any contribution to getting this fixed.

    Sounds like the best plan. If the parents offer you some payment then that's a bonus. Hope the teenager's realises how lucky he was.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
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