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Deleted member 33385
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I haven't had one yet on a pedelec. Please feel free to ignore my morbid curiosity on the subject....
OK, consider it ignored
Riding along on a cycle track when a twig got caught between the mudguard and tire. It was making a whirring noise so l started slowing down to fix it. When l had slowed to about 10 mph, it gripped, pulled the mudguard under itself, which jammed the wheel and sent me straight over the bars into a ditch full of nettles.
Then there was my spectacular crash at the world championships. I would have won hands down, but for the kids covering the road in chalk during an earlier event, then it drizzled to make the surface greasy. I was gentle on the throttle at first, but then my opponent's started to pull away, so I gave full power. Despite two wheel dtive, the back wheel overtook the front one and highsided me over the handlebars. I landed on my head, which knocked me completely senseless and stoved in my cycle helmet.
Anyone that doesn't think helmets are a good idea can think again. You never know when you might need one. If they weren't compulsory at this event, I wouldn't have worn one. What could go wrong on a straight open road with no traffic?
Then there was my spectacular crash at the world championships. I would have won hands down, but for the kids covering the road in chalk during an earlier event, then it drizzled to make the surface greasy. I was gentle on the throttle at first, but then my opponent's started to pull away, so I gave full power. Despite two wheel dtive, the back wheel overtook the front one and highsided me over the handlebars. I landed on my head, which knocked me completely senseless and stoved in my cycle helmet.
Anyone that doesn't think helmets are a good idea can think again. You never know when you might need one. If they weren't compulsory at this event, I wouldn't have worn one. What could go wrong on a straight open road with no traffic?
I was riding one November on a narrow lane just east of Ypres in Belgium. I had just visited the war cemetery at Railway Wood.
I looked behind and saw a large lorry coming up behind.
Nothing else about.
So, I pulled onto the narrow right hand side grass verge to let the lorry pass. I put my right foot down on the grass right at the edge of the ditch. The earth being absolutely sodden gave way and I tumbled over sideways. The ditch was 6 foot deep, fortunately it had about a foot of water in it, so as I landed on my back, there was an almighty splash but except for being soaked I was unhurt.
My bike was hanging upside down on the side of the ditch.
I now realised that I was in my own private trench in the Ypres WW1 salient, a famous place. Worse still I could not climb out because the sodden earth kept giving away.
I sploshed along for 100 yards or so until I could find a place to get out, pulled my bike back onto the road and went back to my campervan to dry out.
I looked behind and saw a large lorry coming up behind.
Nothing else about.
So, I pulled onto the narrow right hand side grass verge to let the lorry pass. I put my right foot down on the grass right at the edge of the ditch. The earth being absolutely sodden gave way and I tumbled over sideways. The ditch was 6 foot deep, fortunately it had about a foot of water in it, so as I landed on my back, there was an almighty splash but except for being soaked I was unhurt.
My bike was hanging upside down on the side of the ditch.
I now realised that I was in my own private trench in the Ypres WW1 salient, a famous place. Worse still I could not climb out because the sodden earth kept giving away.
I sploshed along for 100 yards or so until I could find a place to get out, pulled my bike back onto the road and went back to my campervan to dry out.
The worst pedelec accidents I've seen occurred on the designer's drawing board.
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I forgot about one I had, but one above just reminded me. My friend and I had had about 3 pints towards the end of a long ride. It made me us both surprisingly drunk. After leaving the pub, we had to negotiate a very tight zig-zag path up a steep bank. I can can remember looking at it and thinking, "Can I manage this in my present state", but I went for it anyway. On about the third zig (could have been zag), I failed to negotiate the bend and my bike slipped down the steep edge. I fell off and ended up upside down in a bush. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't extricate myself because the bank was so steep and my movement was limited by the bush, gravity and my state. Luckily my friend was very strong, and he managed to reach down and pull me out.
It was after closing time and nobody would be using that path, so I would have been stuck there for some time if I had been alone. The best thing, though, was that i couldn't stop laughing during the whole event. It even started before I negotiated that turn when I just knew in my heart that I'd go no chance of getting round it.
It was after closing time and nobody would be using that path, so I would have been stuck there for some time if I had been alone. The best thing, though, was that i couldn't stop laughing during the whole event. It even started before I negotiated that turn when I just knew in my heart that I'd go no chance of getting round it.
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Deleted member 33385
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What?!?!? World Championships? Was it motorbikes, pedelecs or other? Were you one of those mad people constantly drilling out cylinders to see how much power you could get before the engine exploded? Rally type tinkerers I've met tend to see an exploded engine as sign they're doing it right. Good job you were wearing a helmet.
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Deleted member 33385
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It might have been a Venus Fly Bush - attracting you with the scent of beer, subconsciously causing you to lose balance while tipsy. If your friend hadn't dragged you out, you would have been digested completely, leaving room for the next unfortunate human...
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Deleted member 33385
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Lorries were one of the reasons why I quit cycling in the 80s: I almost got crushed by the rear wheels of a very large lorry once, as I was pedalling at speed along a rapidly narrowing road. The lorry got closer and closer as the road narrowed - he either didn't see me or didn't care. Faced with the prospect of my imminent demise, I chose to try to mount the pavement, because I had no time or room to slow and stop... so I tried to hop the front wheel onto the pavement, but I didn't gain enough height, my front wheel hit the kerb at too acute an angle and I tumbled over a few times along the pavement, thus evading my being crushed by the lorry's rear wheels. With today's technology, it would be relatively easy to add laser or ultrasonic proximity sensors, like they use to aid parking on cars, and multiple cameras and screens with AI aided cyclist-at-risk-of-sudden-death-or-dismemberment alerts. Much of the AI recognition systems are open source, because of all the futile work on self-driving cars. The issue I suppose, is cost. And lorry drivers texting.
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Deleted member 33385
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Ebike world championships in Bristol 2014 open class.
You can see all the chalk on the road in the photos. i think the photos are from 2013 because there was much more in 2014 and it was coloured. Also it was drizzling with rain, but those photos look dry.
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Deleted member 33385
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Ebike world championships in Bristol 2014 open class.
You can see all the chalk on the road in the photos. i think the photos are from 2013 because there was much more in 2014 and it was coloured. Also it was drizzling with rain, but those photos look dry.
Wow! What were you riding and why? (Not why you entered the race (also why you entered the race))
It was just a fun event. My bike would have won hands down. It had 2kw in the front, 2kw from the back motor and 1.5kw from the crank-motor, so 5.5kw overall. The acceleration was unbelievable. It had the power of an average 125cc motorbike, but only 1/4 of the weight and a lot more torque. I tested it many times on local hills. the problem was that i wanted it to look not too different from a normal bike, so I had normal tyres and hadn't anticipated the chalk and the rain, which prevented the tyres from getting traction. I knew it was dodgy, so I was gentle on the throttle; however, my oponent was starting to pull out a lead, so I gave a bit more power, which resulted in the back wheel overtaking the front.
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Deleted member 33385
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5.5kw??!?!? Yikes!!! What a monster!!!! What a wonderously insane bike! What was top speed and acceleration? Those non-knobbly Marathons were probably your Achilles heel. Was the frame filled with oxygen? (could come in handy when one is knackered) or is that a sponsor? And are you going to have another go?
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Deleted member 33385
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Deleted member 33385
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View attachment 40916
1000kw 1341 bhp id make a battle bot out of it with a 75kg drum spinner gear to1000mph.
Robot mincer for sure!
Any bicycle tyre with a motor like that would become a long streak on the road pretty fast.
This EV Dragster Has An Incredible 4,000 kW Or 5,364 Horsepower
Australian company has developed a one megawatt electric motor and it's used for of them to power this all-electric dragster.
insideevs.com
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