Ouch!

mrfpb

I had my first "proper" off last night (I'm not counting the slow motion clipless fall six years ago) On a country lane just wide enough for a car, clear spaces at the edges with metre wide strip along the centre of mud, stones, gravel, dung and all the other crud left by the floods. Going along the clear edge a branch loomed out of the darkness, I swerved (into the crud) and went down on my right side.

Shredded the sleeve of my nice merino top, and it turned out, a good chunk of my forearm. No first aid kit so I washed it with my water bottle, cycled on to the nearest pub and had a better clean up. Checked myself and bike for more damage. Trousers (swrve) covered in mud and gravel, one small hole where my wallet was bulging in my pocket but otherwise intact, as were my legs. Good result!. Rear derailleur out of alignment but working so long as I changed under low power. Front mech seems fine, brakes rubbing a bit.

Checked bike again this morning (my lovely new Genessis CdF) and I'm surprised to see their is no gear hanger - the derailleur is attached straight onto the frame. A bit of a QA issue for such a nice bike.

Anyway, I think I've done well for this to be my first significant injury in nine years of cycling.

marcusjb

mrfpb wrote:

Checked bike again this morning (my lovely new Genessis CdF) and I'm surprised to see their is no gear hanger - the derailleur is attached straight onto the frame. A bit of a QA issue for such a nice bike.

Sorry to hear about your prang, but fear not about the mech hanger. You will find that the vast majority of steel frames do not use a replaceable hanger as they don't need one. It's not a QA issue at all.

mrfpb

Thanks. I was concerned as my relatively cheap allu hybrid has a gear hanger. I'll have a go at straightening it tonight.

Remembering my driving instructors advice today -"always be prepared to stop in the distance you can see to be safe."

Also waiting for my disc brakes to "bed in" and getting used to the speed of the new bike.

arthur_scrimshaw

Easy to straighten on a steel bike without risk of the metal fatiguing. Your LBS will sort it for a few quid, I invested in a a straightening tool a while back, used it a few times already. You'd be amazed how many are out of alignment from the word go before any crashes etc.

butcher of bakersfield

As above, you can;t really bend alu without weakening it. Hence replaceable hangers. Your LBS should have a tool which will check how straight your steel hanger is, and if it's not straight, they'll just bend it back.

Initialised

Welcome along and glad you're OK.

mrfpb wrote:

Also waiting for my disc brakes to "bed in" and getting used to the speed of the new bike.

You don't wait for them to bed in, you find a nice safe flat stretch and go up to 20mph brake to 5mph front, repeat on the rear, repeat the whole process until the rear starts locking up easily. You don't want to lock the front! You can't do it without riding the bike as there's not enough momentum.

mrfpb

Initialised wrote:

You don't wait for them to bed in, you find a nice safe flat stretch and go up to 20mph brake to 5mph front, repeat on the rear, repeat the whole process until the rear starts locking up easily. You don't want to lock the front! You can't do it without riding the bike as there's not enough momentum.

When I said waiting, I really meant I was building up the miles slowly on familiar routes. This particular loop I hadn't done this year and the floods had left a lot of muck behind. Still my fault for not being more cautious on a dark road.

I think I'll do some wider off road slopes next, to get the brakes better prepared.

Two days on I'm noticing some aches in my legs, and bruises coming up. Managed to do the Parkrun this morning, and suprisingly set a PB despite the muddy course.

al_kidder

mrfpb wrote:

Shredded the sleeve of my nice merino top, and it turned out, a good chunk of my forearm.

Anyway, I think I've done well for this to be my first significant injury in nine years of cycling.

You call gravel rash a serious injury? LMFAO

mrfpb

Al Kidder wrote:

mrfpb wrote:

Shredded the sleeve of my nice merino top, and it turned out, a good chunk of my forearm.

Anyway, I think I've done well for this to be my first significant injury in nine years of cycling.

You call gravel rash a serious injury? LMFAO

So pleased to have brightened your day. I think I said significant, not serious. Anyway after nineyears of cycling I reckon I must be doing alright. I'm sure we can have a "four yorkshire cyclists thread" about who's had the worst prang, but I won't be joining in.

sparklehedgehog

Initialised wrote:

Welcome along and glad you're OK.

mrfpb wrote:

Also waiting for my disc brakes to "bed in" and getting used to the speed of the new bike.

You don't wait for them to bed in, you find a nice safe flat stretch and go up to 20mph brake to 5mph front, repeat on the rear, repeat the whole process until the rear starts locking up easily. You don't want to lock the front! You can't do it without riding the bike as there's not enough momentum.

Ride it backwards quickly and lock it up to bed the front in