Worst Pedelec Accident?

[Deleted member 33385]

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

They may break the sound barrier for land vehicles faster with an EV...

 

[vfr400]

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?

the Oxygen guys were my friends at the time. they've all moved on, so i don't know anybody there now. Top speed was about 33mph, but acceleration was insane. It reminded me of my old GSXR1100, like being catupulted forward, nothing like a normal ebike.

Unfortunately, they stopped doing the event that year, which is a real shame. There used to be three free events during the year. We had that one, the Tour de Presteigne and Redbridge. All of them gave you the chance to try out the latest Ebikes and meet up with guys from the forum and the trade. All we have now is the Cycle Shows in London and Birmingham, but they don't have the fun atmosphere of those free events.

 

[georgehenry]

My £100 Emate and I had a close shave on the way home from work today.

I was literally about 100 yards from my house after my 10 mile ride home when a car started to pull out on me from a side road as I was almost on it.

Looked like a young student girl. Fortunately she saw me at the last minute and stopped with about the bonnet of the car out in my road. If she had kept coming I would have had nowhere to go and would not have stopped, so it could have been nasty.

I may have shouted a rude word as I swerved around her.

Thing is she had stopped and looked right at me with eye contact before she pulled out.

I also had cars just behind me which she must have seen.

I myself had a high viz yellow jacket on and my front light on.

Oh well no harm done luckily.

I really love my £100 second hand ebike and I don't think either the £100 ebike or me would have fared well.

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/the-tale-of-a-£100-second-hand-electric-bike.33079/#post-467114

 

[Deleted member 33385]

I also had cars just behind me which she must have seen.

I myself had a high viz yellow jacket on and my front light on.

The same thing happened to me at a roundabout... a taxi pulled out and stopped - he didn't see me either, despite my being clad head to toe (helmet too) in hi viz yellow and headlight on, and I suspect that your young lady driver judged distance by the cars behind you, because you were invisible, despite your best efforts. They don't expect to see us! So they don't!

Perhaps if they knew there were consequences to the appearance of their cars in a collision with a cylist - such as a collision activated paint spray gun at the front of the bike, spelling out "DRIVE MINDFUL OF CYLISTS!" all over their cars - they'd take more notice? Or your country could adopt the Dutch system where drivers are automatically liable in collisions with cylists, unless proven otherwise. Dead cyclists tell no tales...

 

[vfr400]

I myself had a high viz yellow jacket on and my front light on.

Also known as an invisibilty cloak.

 

[Deleted member 33385]

I'm writing a letter to Boris Johnson demanding that:

1. Drivers should be conditioned to be aware of cylists... as part of their driving course. This would be best achieved by drivers being kept awake driving for 28 days straight, while driving through a fake town with cyclists jumping out suddenly at every opportunity. Trainee drivers would be kept awake for 28 days by waterboarding.

2. The NHS develop an app which activate the mandatory electric shock collars which drivers wear, whenever they are about to hit a cyclist.

 

[Edward Elizabeth]

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?

You're more likely to die of a head injury while driving a car than riding a bicycle - you're right, you never know when you might need one.

Wear one by all means if you must, but until you personally start wearing helmets for even riskier head injury scenarios yourself you have no moral authority to preach to others.

 

[Deleted member 33385]

You're more likely to die of a head injury while driving a car than riding a bicycle -

That's not actually true, but I can't be bothered to dig out the link others have posted with the stats, and neither is "Cycling is safer than walking". You don't have any right to preach either. Each to their own, everyone's happy. Happier when brain dead of course.

 

[Edward Elizabeth]

Mile for mile in the UK, despite seatbelts being compulsory, it is true.

Latest full year for which there are figues is 2018, and they show an overall risk of death per journey mile is lower in a car (about 9 per billion) than for bicycles (53 per billion), but head injuries are a major cause of death among mototirsts and a minor one among cyclists, and accordingly those numbers don't add up well for motorists in that specific injury category.

Interestingly, more people die while walking (59 per billion journey miles) than cycling, yet society doesn't feel a compulsion to victim blame pedestrians and make them don armour.

 

[Deleted member 33385]

Mile for mile in the UK, despite seatbelts being compulsory, it is true.

Overall risk of death per journey mile is lower in a car (about 9 per billion) than for bicycles (53 per billion), but head injuries are a major cause of death among mototirsts and a minor one among cyclists, and accordingly those numbers don't add up well for motorists in that injury category.

Interestingly, more people die while walking (59 per billion journey miles) than cycling, yet society doesn't feel a compulsion to victim blame pedestrians and make themselves don armour.

Back all of that up with links to reliable sources, as others have.

 

[vfr400]

Wear one by all means if you must, but until you personally start wearing helmets for even riskier head injury scenarios yourself you have no moral authority to preach to others.

Is that aimed at me? If so, I've never preached to anyone about wearing helmets. I don't recommend anyone wear one nor not wear one. That's a point of personal choice. What I'm saying is that you'll always have more protection when wearing one than not, and if you're happy to run the risk of not wearing one, that's up to you, but you should think carefully about the risk and the consequences., and you never know when you'll need one.

As an aside, I used to do a lot of boat fishing in small boats. I never wore a lifejacket even though I had them on board. one winter day it was very cold, so I put on one of those sleeveless types of buoyancy aids as a body warmer under my jacket. I was still wearing wellington boots because I had been bait-digging before. That was the only time I was knocked overboard by an incompetent crew, who didn't have the wherewithal to steer the boat back to me for several minutes. It's weird how I always need these things when I use them, but don't when I don't.

 

[flecc]

It's weird how I always need these things when I use them, but don't when I don't.

That supports the theory of greater risk taking when wearing protection.
.

 

[vfr400]

That supports the theory of greater risk taking when wearing protection.
.

I think that the circumstances in these two events events would hav played out the same with or without the protection. Only the outcome would have been different. There wasn't really any way that the risk could be subconciously or otherwise adjusted. I always took down the sails at the end of the trip without a life jacket on, normally under auto-steering. This time, I had a friend with me, who I gave instructions to steer straight to a navigation point and I explained to him what would happen if he didn't, but he decided to watch me instead and veered off course so the wind got in the sail and pushed me overboard. Most people would argue that it's riskier to take down the sail on your own.

 

[Deleted member 33385]

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.

View attachment 40914

I have to ask: How are you powering your spectacularly monsterous creation? Did you use three separate battery packs?

 

[vfr400]

I have to ask: How are you powering your spectacularly monsterous creation? Did you use three separate battery packs?

64V and 48v Lipos- 5aH 6S hard-packs. There wer 8 (4S2) powering both hub-motors and another three (3S1P) for the middle motor. The grounds were common so that I could use one throttle to work all three controllers.

Imagine a normal Ebike running with 36v and 15 amps. Multip y the power by 1.6 to go from 10S to 16S, then double it to get 30 amps, then double again for two motors then add another one and multiply it by 1.3 to get 13S and 22/15 for the current, which would be another 1.9 ebikes, so the total would be 8.3 times as powerful as a normal ebike. That's why I needed two wheel drive. the problem is that the rear motor has so much torque that it lifts the fromt wheel and it's difficult to get the power down. It left black stripes on the road every time I opened the throttle.

If you have any more questions, it might be an idea to revive this thread because this one is supposed to be about accidents. Fond memories of old members. Funkylyn got cancer and disappeared. Old Bob, Muckymits and Jackhandy - where are they all now?

New Oxygen E.mate Turbo

Spotted in Telford and rumoured to be on its way to Bristol and available to test-ride later in the day. Reputedly the best hill-climber you're ever likely to encounter.

www.pedelecs.co.uk

 

[Deleted member 33385]

That supports the theory of greater risk taking when wearing protection.
.

That's why people who have previously been healthy immediately before retiring, get ill and die afterwards. I see it all the time: business owner clients who build succcessful businesses over decades and then decide they've made it, relax, eat and drink like fools, hand it all over to someone (usually a son or daughter), who decide that what worked well for years clearly needs change, and then both the business and the original client's health rapidly declines. I don't tend to ask questions after that. Retirement is consent to death.

 

[flecc]

Retirement is consent to death.

I can't agree with that. I made two important decisions about my future at the very young age of 16 and one of those was to retire early with a target of 50. I could have done that but hung on a little longer to do a favour for the business, but still retired at 54.

And I'm still very much alive and kicking at 85 now, 31 years later and very much longer than the average retirement.
.

 

[Nealh]

It depends as Flecc has mentioned how you phase the retirement in and what you do with your time. I have steadily reduced my hours from aged 49 (8 years ago) and now work a 2 or 3 day pm shift driving, my time otherwise is spent doing various other activities, diy, my ebikes, apiculture, gardening, puzzle books and other projects. Keeping busy or keeping the mind ticking over is a requirement I believe.

I do remember when as an apprentice all the older guys retiring and and most never lasted more then 3 or 4 years, the ones that remained at work part time kept reasonably active but later on when they finally retired they all passed away. They had no hobbies or outside interests and sure some though I've done my bit and had little or nothing to fill their time.

 

[flecc]

Keeping busy or keeping the mind ticking over is a requirement I believe.

Indeed. I cycled (unpowered) more after retiring than ever before, my annual mileages often looking more like car mileages, and also walked extensively in the countryside for my natural history interests. I also did a lot of voluntary work in the local nature reserve and am on the committee of the organisation supporting the running of that.

Due to heart problems I can no longer cycle at all and my walking is increasingly limited, so I'm now in the physically low activity phase of old age, but I'm still active on the committee and this place keeps me on my toes mentally.

So long as I avoid the level of physical activity that can trigger heart episodes I might live a few years longer yet, but that's more up to fate and my genetic inheritance than anything I can do about it now.
.

 

[vfr400]

One case is unlikely to be representative of the whole population. You also have to consider that we cyclists are likely to have much better immune systems, have a lower BMI and have stronger cardio-vascular systems, so we're not representative of the general population. One medical research paper that I read showed that some 70 year old regular cyclists had immune systems comparable with 20 year olds. Was there a thread on the forum about it?

Since the Covid-19 started, everybody started cycling. Is that why there's been no flu in the last 12 months? It's now at its lowest ever!

Right, I'm just off for another 40 miler. See you later.

Something about it here:

How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining

Highly active elderly people can boost their immune systems to protect against infection, according to research.

www.bbc.co.uk