First Crash Of The Winter

[Scottyf]

Hello All,
Managed to have my first real crash this morning.
Amazingly it was due to getting in work early to open up (Get to work around 7.30).

Work is on a business park and generally there is no traffic. Espcially at those times.
I litterally got to this island where I can see from my window.

Cut across the wrong way (as its a dead end on 3 of the junctions with no through traffic. I just slide. Both front and rear wheels lost grip and ended up with me rolling about at 25mph.

Forgot how much that hurts... lol. Its ok I tend to bounce alot and have got used to falling from motorbike accidents so just relaxed and rolled a bit.
Couple of scuffs on my knees and arm's. Hands protected by gloves which are hard wearing.

Bike appears to be fine bar a few scratches. (Forgot how tough push bikes are). A small chunk out the phase outer cable has been took out so I will have to heat shrink that to put it right.

Ambilical cord pulled away from the bike so It did its job well and disconnected. Lipo is fine as I always put it in foam and fire resistant fabric so no issues there.
More of a bruised ego.

Also I was wearing a helmet. Didn't hit my head though... lol


So anyway. Any thoughts on larger tread tires. Since my road 35c ones look like they might be out their depth as winter creeps in. Or maybe I should just slow down?
Maybe I should wear my motorbike gear! Or maybe I should put stablisers on...

 

[Scottyf]

Even with the crash I still got a fairly good average speed...
Cycling Activity 10.97 mi | RunKeeper

 

[NRG]

Glad you are OK Scott, the stabilisers sound like a good idea!

 

[kitchenman]

Even with the crash I still got a fairly good average speed...
Cycling Activity 10.97 mi | RunKeeper

That is a good average. Nice going Scott. I dont think slowing down is the answer although it will obviously help! ... I slowed down after my crash but it didn't last long. The need for speed is too great.

 

[flecc]

Glad you aren't badly hurt Scotty. Was it ice or diesel? Diesel spills from overfilled commercial vehicle tanks are very common in the morning on roundabouts, and It's every bit as bad as ice.

 

[Scottyf]

To be honest I would have said it was a mixture of my speed and being careless and then the morning due on the tarmac resulted in the entire bike going from under me.

As I live in the center of brum the roads are protected very well and as I approach solihull the temperture drops a few degree's and its usually misty. So I get used to having grip at the start of the journey and then loose it the closer I am to work.

Either way its probably not a bad idea for me to start thinking of fitting more robust wider tires to help.
As rolling resistance shouldn't matter to much. I'd rather get to work without landing on my face every corner.

 

[Mussels]

If it was ice then a fatter tyre won't help much, I really should fit my winter tyres now but I dread trying to wrestle the Marathon Plus tyres off.
Winter tyres make a world of difference, before I got some I fell off regularly when snow fell and turned to ice but with them fitted I've only fallen off when the treads have filled with slush.
If I was buying tyres now I'd try the Contact Winter II, they don't look great for ice but neither did the first version and I found them good. I've got studded Marathon Winters at the moment but despite their glowing reviews online I'm not impressed as mine have lost a few studs.
You can't race round on ice tyres but I've managed to ride across large ice patches that are too slippery to walk on.

 

[Scottyf]

Thanks for the advice. I know Ice can't be completly over come. But something with puncture resistant ability and lots of tread should minimise the risk.

My marathon plus are clearly not cutting it on what appears to be a generally cold morning. It will only get worse and I'd rather not use public transport as its rubbish.

 

[wurly]

Glad you not hurt too bad Scotty ( and your batteries are ok lol).
I have learn't to change my route on wet roads. I used to approach a roundabout from a downhill road, it's not very busy usually but occasionally i have to stop from a high speed. Tiny little slick tyres aren't much cop for stopping on wet roads. The answer is of course, slow down.

 

[Mussels]

Thanks for the advice. I know Ice can't be completly over come. But something with puncture resistant ability and lots of tread should minimise the risk.

My marathon plus are clearly not cutting it on what appears to be a generally cold morning. It will only get worse and I'd rather not use public transport as its rubbish.

From my experience puncture resistant tyres with plenty of tread are almost useless on ice, I fell off several times coming to that conclusion.
Public transport is usually the first thing to fail round my way, I love cycling past buses with wheels spinning but no forward motion.

 

[Scottyf]

Actually now my wrist is all rested its starting to hurt so might have to take a trip to the GP's.
Probably just sprained it but new tires will be on the cards I think.

Might just have to coast home. Go electric!

 

[catsnapper]

Schwalbe Marathon Winter HS396 Rigid Tyre

Good compromise for a lot of cyclists - probably cheaper elsewhere.

Alan

 

[Mussels]

Schwalbe Marathon Winter HS396 Rigid Tyre

Good compromise for a lot of cyclists - probably cheaper elsewhere.

Alan

That's what I had last winter (and will put back on this winter), it is good for ice and rubbish in deep snow so for most people very suitable. I really don't like the way Schwalbe say studs falling out is normal and nothing to get worried about, I've lost a few.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I've swapped from Schwalbe City jets to Continental Top Contact for the winter. They're definitely an improvement on grip, but now that I'm seeing a lot of ice, I wish I had got the Winter version like Mussels suggested. Mine weren't too expensive, but I had to hunt out the bargain. I guess it'll be harder to get the winter ones cheap. I think you need some tread for the winter because of the salt, which goes slimy and is very slippery. It's not so easy to push out the way as plain water.

When I get to a loose surface or surface that I think might be slippery, I feather the brake to make sure the motor is cut especially if I'm leaning the bike because the motor makes a lot of torque so is easy to spin-out and high-side. I've done it three times so far: That's why I'm a lot more careful now. Hope you get well soon. Just going to post the batteries now, and they're all charged so don't be surprised if your charger goes green straight away.

 

[Mussels]

I found when it's really slippery I'm better off using the motor (throttle) than the pedals, pedalling puts a sideways force on the back wheel that can cause it to slide. That's probably an indication that I shouldn't be riding but it does make my commute interesting.

 

[Scottyf]

Yeah I think because I always pedal quite hard that it definetly contibuted to the fall.
Still live and learn hey. Hopefully on the purchasing of new tires I can iron it out and then just be a bit more careful.

Failing that I wont open up work so early... ;-)

 

[aseb]

I've noticed a few slips from my tyres too and was thinking that the Michelin City Plus (with Kevlar belt) is giving less grip than the previous non-belted tyres. I hadn't seriously thought it might be to do with the kevlar belt and was thinking about a different make- I'll rethink now and look for a non-belted winter type tyre- time to search through the past posts for opinions and experiences I think.....

 

[oigoi]

Hello All,
Managed to have my first real crash this morning.
Amazingly it was due to getting in work early to open up (Get to work around 7.30).

Work is on a business park and generally there is no traffic. Espcially at those times.
I litterally got to this island where I can see from my window.

Cut across the wrong way (as its a dead end on 3 of the junctions with no through traffic. I just slide. Both front and rear wheels lost grip and ended up with me rolling about at 25mph.

Forgot how much that hurts... lol. Its ok I tend to bounce alot and have got used to falling from motorbike accidents so just relaxed and rolled a bit.
Couple of scuffs on my knees and arm's. Hands protected by gloves which are hard wearing.

Bike appears to be fine bar a few scratches. (Forgot how tough push bikes are). A small chunk out the phase outer cable has been took out so I will have to heat shrink that to put it right.

Ambilical cord pulled away from the bike so It did its job well and disconnected. Lipo is fine as I always put it in foam and fire resistant fabric so no issues there.
More of a bruised ego.

Also I was wearing a helmet. Didn't hit my head though... lol


So anyway. Any thoughts on larger tread tires. Since my road 35c ones look like they might be out their depth as winter creeps in. Or maybe I should just slow down?
Maybe I should wear my motorbike gear! Or maybe I should put stablisers on...

I have just put on some tyres that I have found the work very well on wet roads in winter:
2 x Michelin Country Rock MTB Tyres 26 x 1.75 | eBay

They are lightweight and very grippy

 

[Scottyf]

Cyclocross tires as mentioned before would those make a decent compromise?!?

 

[catsnapper]

XC tyres are designed to grip and corner well in loose soil, and dig into mud to grip the firmer layer underneath.
In 700c size there isn't so much choice as 26" so XC is often used as an alternative to smooth road tyres. The heavy offroad ones that are popular in 26" are not likely to grip better in slippery conditions on a smooth road.
I use the larger size(700x37c) Panaracer Pasela Tour Guard most of the year, in snow or bad ice I switch to a smaller bike with the Winter Marathons.

An alternative is the semi studded snow tyre, use at high pressure for normal use, drop the pressure to use in snow and ice.
Schwalbe Snow Stud HS264 Rigid Tyre

Alan