Just thought I would post this little story as a reminder not to skimp out on maintenance of such an important component of our bikes.
I built up my new bike recently and while installing my new brakes I had to swap over and shorten the hoses. On completion I didn't bother giving them a bleed as they worked just fine while riding around my street. I thought I did a good job on them, but not so.
Last Saturday I was doing shuttles in Wollongong with some friends at a popular track, when I thought I would do a manual down the road while riding to the track. I'm pretty good at manuals, I've had plenty of practice. I was going maybe 40km/h it felt like while I was doing my manual. Just going along feathering my rear brake as you do, when I felt the bike tipping back a bit, so I went to grab the brake to pull the front down. But the brake lever came in all the way to the bar and in a split second I was on the ground. I had jumped off the back of my bike and landed on my feet, but I managed to hyperextend/dislocate my right knee when landing on the ground.
I've just got the results of my MRI, I've ruptured my ACL, torn some cartilage, micro-fractured my two main knee bones and damaged a couple other bits. At the moment the absolute earliest i'll likely be back riding is 6 months.
So what's the lesson to be learnt here? Don't be a show off for one. Which might be a bit hard for me to learn. But more importantly, make sure your brakes are running in absolutely pristine condition and they've been bled properly. They're more than just a performance component, they're a safety component.
Yes this incident happened as a result of me being a dickhead, but it could have happened while I was just riding along the track as well. I hope no one else makes the same mistake as I have.
I built up my new bike recently and while installing my new brakes I had to swap over and shorten the hoses. On completion I didn't bother giving them a bleed as they worked just fine while riding around my street. I thought I did a good job on them, but not so.
Last Saturday I was doing shuttles in Wollongong with some friends at a popular track, when I thought I would do a manual down the road while riding to the track. I'm pretty good at manuals, I've had plenty of practice. I was going maybe 40km/h it felt like while I was doing my manual. Just going along feathering my rear brake as you do, when I felt the bike tipping back a bit, so I went to grab the brake to pull the front down. But the brake lever came in all the way to the bar and in a split second I was on the ground. I had jumped off the back of my bike and landed on my feet, but I managed to hyperextend/dislocate my right knee when landing on the ground.
I've just got the results of my MRI, I've ruptured my ACL, torn some cartilage, micro-fractured my two main knee bones and damaged a couple other bits. At the moment the absolute earliest i'll likely be back riding is 6 months.
So what's the lesson to be learnt here? Don't be a show off for one. Which might be a bit hard for me to learn. But more importantly, make sure your brakes are running in absolutely pristine condition and they've been bled properly. They're more than just a performance component, they're a safety component.
Yes this incident happened as a result of me being a dickhead, but it could have happened while I was just riding along the track as well. I hope no one else makes the same mistake as I have.
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