I finally pulled my summer bike from storage. Oiled the chain and got the tires full of air. I didn't bother checking the quick releases (of course). I'm always diligent when installing a quick release but I had become complacent checking them in between installations.
So here I am downtown waiting at a red light. It turns green and I torque up through the intersection (I like to take the lane and try my best to match pace with vehicle traffic). Midway through the intersection My rear skewer got pulled loose and my wheel actually wedged firmly into my frame forcing my bike to come to a skidding halt. I couldn't pedal or anything and actually had to unmount to get my bike off the road.
I was VERY lucky there were no cars behind me. I notice downtown that cyclists often follow unnecessarily close behind other bikes as well.
Things could have been A LOT worse. I was unlucky to have my tire actually wedge into my frame like that. but I was VERY lucky there was little traffic (as I was late for work already).
Frequent
Submitted by RichieRich on
Good to hear you avoided incident. That's a good lesson for all of us.
As a year-round commuter and generally observant person, I always give my bike a quick once-over (visually) before hopping on it. Sometimes at days end in the bike parking cage at work I've discovered mysteriously low pressure in my tires and even a couple times a suspiciously loose stem. dang gremlins. The lesson is simply - don't assume, check often, and if you see other riders out there with odd looking setups don't be afraid to mention it to them as they may be unaware of it.
Things I've seen...
- no quickrelease
- backwards helmets
- quickrelease installed, but spinning away very loosely
- handlebars upside down/backwards
- brake cables totally dis-engaged
More on QR's
Submitted by gyrospanner on
Probably one of the most infrequently understood parts of a bike!
I've seen them on too loose, positioned incorrectly, so rusty I'd be scared to have on my bike etc. etc. etc.
Here's a link to a tutorial / review
http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/SI/Notes/SI_3000H/SI-3000H-En_v1_m56577569830606259.pdf
Thanks to RR for his notes, they were great. I put my helmet on backwards once, but it felt "funny!" My bad is forgetting to do the chinstrap up.
Safe riding!
About 18 years ago when i was
Submitted by Fuzz on
About 18 years ago when i was a youngin' on a family ride coming down from Shark Mountain one of my friends had a catastrophe. His front quick release had come undone at some point, and we were going over rollers very rapidly. He caught a bit of air, and the tire fell completely off. His forks augured into the ground and sent him flying. Broke his collarbone and had to be airlifted out.
So now I keep a close eye on quick releases, and if I ever see one with the lever pointing forward, ready to grab an errant branch, I stop the person and fix it.
The lawer tabs saved me once
Submitted by Tyrone on
The lawer tabs saved me once last year already. I find the problem with commuting year round, is that there is no natural time for bike maintenence. If you don't bike all year round, it makes sense to look at everything in the spring when you pull your ride out, but for year rounders, it's just another day. PS CHECK YOUR CLEATS!!!!!!
oh oh cleats...
Submitted by RichieRich on
yep, cleat issues have happened to me too. 1 bolt fell out somewhere, the other was loose, so when I attempted to unclip the cleat just rotated but stayed in the pedal... I ended up falling on my @r$e in an intersection, at rush hour, at the front of a lot of cars, with far far too many witnesses. Pride and ego still haven't recovered. Neither has that poor old lady's ears that heard a few choice words.
Same comment applies to road cleats...
Falling over with clipless pedals: Those who have... and those who haven't YET. :)
No Cleats Needed
Submitted by bclark on
I switched to a pair of platform pedals a couple years ago for commuting, which took away any concern about falling over when clipped in. I wasn't sure it was the right way to go at first but after a few weeks of getting used to riding free-footed I've found it has many advantages. Some of the other advantages are that I am free to use any footwear I choose, which gives me a lot of flexibility in the winter and if I have to quickly hop on my bike to run an errand during the day. It also makes it easier to walk in those rare instances of catastrophic bike failure. I also find I have to worry less about scratching floors! The only big downfall is that I haven't figured out how to bunny hop onto curbs yet...
I am WAYYYYYYYY to chicken %$
Submitted by Tyrone on
I am WAYYYYYYYY to chicken %$^& to wear em in the winter.
Winter clips
Submitted by RichieRich on
First, shame on you for mentioning winter. Sigh...
2nd... I've been running clipless Crank Bros pedals year-round for ~10 years and never had a problem related to winter conditions. I do use winter riding shoes and sometimes also overbooties for the cold.
I'll second that
Submitted by Cword on
Crank Bros. Malletts in the winter and various other versions of their pedals in the summer.
My only complaint is lack of rebuild ability on the bushing style build.
me too (platforms)
Submitted by bike-run on
I use platform pedals on my commuter bike too, for the same reasons.
Same problem bunny hopping curbs, my cheap ($8 at MEC) pedals have cast pins and not enough grip.
EXACTLY what happened to me.
Submitted by Tyrone on
EXACTLY what happened to me. Hence, you gotta tighten that up once in a while. The worst part as you mentioned, is feeling like an idiot.
I've had this happen to me
Submitted by RyanC on
I've had this happen to me twice in recent memory. I've started carrying spare cleat bolts in my tool bag just in case!
I think a lot of people
Submitted by spsoon on
I think a lot of people underestimate how tight a quick release should be. It's partly a design issue, because it looks and works like a door latch. You could close the latch and easily assume that the wheel is "locked". But it's not a latch, it's a clamp that must be clamped with the right amount of force to hold.
Also, I keep spare cleat bolts in the holes of the unused bottle mount (my frame has 2 mounts).
You're right about this!
Submitted by gyrospanner on
Y also think that most people don't know how tight the clamp should be. I heard a story once from my friend where some kids were overtightening their QR's to the point where they were breaking.