Post by toejam on Mar 29, 2005 13:04:55 GMT -8
...sooner or later it will give you problems.....
I was out riding today and had a crash.
It was a good ride, initially, and would have turned out better if not for the accident I had.
I was starting up the hill toward the paved section on the Greenway on my singlespeed. I had heard a sort of a "thunk" as I was starting up the hill but wasn't sure what it was. I had heard it before but thought that it was a stick flying into the spokes (because I had actually seen it happen once) so I ignored it.
Anyway, I started up the hill and was heading for the crest. For maximum torque I stood up on the pedals and put all my weight on the right pedal downstroke.
That was when the chain came off.
It was like stepping into a hole you didn't know was there. My whole weight, which I expected to be held up by the forward motion of the bike, suddenly slammed down as I lost my balance, and my stomach went into the handlebars. I have had this happen before, but was able to catch myself. This time I lost my balance in the cinders and, almost going over the bars, fell to my right as the bike tipped over.
My elbow hit first because my hands were still on the grips, and then my knee, all of this in cinders, which dug little trenches across the flesh of my leg. Landing on my knee really smarted, and, while still lying on the ground and waiting for the pain to subside, I called my wife and asked her to come and get me, for fear I wouldn't be able to walk home.
Eventually, though, I was able to stand up, and because I take blood thinners, I was bleeding like a stuck hog from several fairly large scratches across my knee and shin. My elbow hurt like hell, too, but I didn't stop to look at it.
As I walked up the hill to the rendezvous point that my wife and I had agreed on I was able to ascertain what had happened. It looked as though the axle had shifted, which proved that Sheldon Brown was wrong about a quick release skewer being able to hold a singlespeed hub in place. The axle shifting was the "thunk" I heard, which threw the chainline out of alignment, and because my rear cog is a hyperglide cog the chain slipped right off.
The bottom line is that for lack of a real singlespeed hub with nutted axles (about $40) and a real singlespeed cog (another $20) I lost a LOT of skin, bent my handlebars, and jammed my shoulder in the process.
The implications are clear: you have heard the old adage "the right tool for the right job", and this is an example of using parts in a way they were not meant to be used.
It's a situation I will remedy in the future.
I was out riding today and had a crash.
It was a good ride, initially, and would have turned out better if not for the accident I had.
I was starting up the hill toward the paved section on the Greenway on my singlespeed. I had heard a sort of a "thunk" as I was starting up the hill but wasn't sure what it was. I had heard it before but thought that it was a stick flying into the spokes (because I had actually seen it happen once) so I ignored it.
Anyway, I started up the hill and was heading for the crest. For maximum torque I stood up on the pedals and put all my weight on the right pedal downstroke.
That was when the chain came off.
It was like stepping into a hole you didn't know was there. My whole weight, which I expected to be held up by the forward motion of the bike, suddenly slammed down as I lost my balance, and my stomach went into the handlebars. I have had this happen before, but was able to catch myself. This time I lost my balance in the cinders and, almost going over the bars, fell to my right as the bike tipped over.
My elbow hit first because my hands were still on the grips, and then my knee, all of this in cinders, which dug little trenches across the flesh of my leg. Landing on my knee really smarted, and, while still lying on the ground and waiting for the pain to subside, I called my wife and asked her to come and get me, for fear I wouldn't be able to walk home.
Eventually, though, I was able to stand up, and because I take blood thinners, I was bleeding like a stuck hog from several fairly large scratches across my knee and shin. My elbow hurt like hell, too, but I didn't stop to look at it.
As I walked up the hill to the rendezvous point that my wife and I had agreed on I was able to ascertain what had happened. It looked as though the axle had shifted, which proved that Sheldon Brown was wrong about a quick release skewer being able to hold a singlespeed hub in place. The axle shifting was the "thunk" I heard, which threw the chainline out of alignment, and because my rear cog is a hyperglide cog the chain slipped right off.
The bottom line is that for lack of a real singlespeed hub with nutted axles (about $40) and a real singlespeed cog (another $20) I lost a LOT of skin, bent my handlebars, and jammed my shoulder in the process.
The implications are clear: you have heard the old adage "the right tool for the right job", and this is an example of using parts in a way they were not meant to be used.
It's a situation I will remedy in the future.
