Tumbles you've taken on a bicycle?

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I have no clue what just happened...

I was riding my prized possession not too far from my house on the side of the street (residential) next thing I know, I open my eyes and I'm laying on the road five feet away from my bike and there is a line of cars holding up the street. I got up and collected myself and the bike and moved to the sidewalk and told the people in their cars to go on by.

The handlebars were bent so that they were parallel to the front wheel...needless to say both my bike and I took some SERIOUS scratches...I'm surprised my arm is still intact from the way it looks right now. The first thing I did when I got it home is I took a shower and screamed and cried in there for a while as all the scratches on my body were BURNING...they still are. Yes, I am a man, but wow...I just had to let some frustration and pain out in there.

Luckily I have nothing broken...except for my bike, my new phone that I just got, my sunglasses and my watch that I was wearing.

:cry: :cry: :cry:
 
One time, I was trying to double peg a ledge, and flipped onto my head.. ouch
I believe this to be the reason I'm dumb :lol:


Also, my knees, and wrist always hurt because of my bmx'n days
 
I haven't crashed in years, and always wear a helmet. There is only one time I haven't, last year, and that's when I sprained my knee and ankle doing a wheelie on my "highboy". I also hollered to my brother to take a picture of me doing a wheelie.

1zvzoth.jpg


He got a pic just as I was going over backwards. Too much weight on the frontend.

2hrpv80.jpg
 
Wildcat said:
I haven't crashed in years, and always wear a helmet. There is only one time I haven't, last year, and that's when I sprained my knee and ankle doing a wheelie on my "highboy". I also hollered to my brother to take a picture of me doing a wheelie.

1zvzoth.jpg


He got a pic just as I was going over backwards. Too much weight on the frontend.

2hrpv80.jpg
Click to expand...
:lol: :lol: :lol:. Oh man thats not funny, well kinda just cause i have been there to many times. I was showin off in front of my kids with my mini bike doin wheelies (just got my new torqaverter clutch) wheelies at the twist of the throttle when the foot peg broke off just as the front wheel hit the ground. Needless to say i didnt get off the throttle fast enough and it drug me for a little bit. I think it was more painful to my ego that physical.
 
I hear you. My wife let everyone in the ER know I had crashed on a home made bicycle.
 
I've taken at least 2 over the bar headers not to mention scrapes bumpes and bruises and bent up bikes.

Would/Did I do it again? YES

Helmet/NO
 
Never been busted up too bad but my two most memorable are once as a kid I was racing by buddy across the parking lot, him on his PK Ripper and me on my Mini Ripper. He cuts me off and I was end over end a number of times. There was plenty of roadrash on that one. Another time, in the early 90's when suspension forks were becoming popular, I had a set of manitou forks and thought I was invincible. Me and a buddy were riding some trails and there was about a 4' rock drop off at the start of a big hill, as I took the drop my fork bottomed out and the crown became a really good brake for the front wheel. I went over the bars and ended up with the bike on my back with one foot still in the toe cage. Somehow the bars had turned around and trapped my ankle between the brake lever and the bar end. So I'm laying there on my face with my bike hog tying my legs behind my back. Glad there was no camera phones and you tube back then cause he would have plastered that everywhere.
 
I`ve had 2 or 3 bad ones and all were on a BMX.
1st one, me and my cousin were finishing up a night ride, making one last jump off of a sidewalk that stepped down to the curb, about 3 steps I think. Anyways, my cuz makes his jump, lands in the middle of the street and turns. My turn. Make my jump, land in the middle of the street, miss the turn and hit the curb on the other side of the street. Wake up a few minutes later with the biggest knot on my head, dazed and confused. I think they call those concussions these days lol.
2nd one, just a complete wipeout on my Hutch Windstyler. Broke the fall with my face so to speak. Broke my right wrist and left cheek bone.
3rd one, thought I could still do what I could 20+ years ago. tried jumping off my deck on my old Motomag. Miss timed everything. Broke my collar bone and another small concussion.
The 1st incident was in `83, the 2nd `87 and the 3rd 2005 lol. The last 2 were also alcohol related and I can thank the Lord that that will never happen again.
 
HotRodJen said:
when i was 7 i took a really nasty dive on my bicycle , thought i was speed racer and split my elbow to the bone pretty much eek , ive been lucky to only had little falls since then nothing to major ... knocking on wood now
Click to expand...

Ouch, I just had one at the sk8 park a few days ago folded my thumb back and dislocated it. I just sat down took a breather, took a pic, then re-set it and kept riding. (It's happened before) I have the pic on my other computer I'll post it later.

Here's the pic, My Mosh got a few new scratches and scrapes too. :cry: But I pulled off the first top tube grind to method to hand plant crash..... :oops:

P1220443.jpg
 
1. When I was about 8 (I'm 41 now), I got a socket set from my grandpa. Thinking I knew what I was doing, I turned my bike upside down, took off the front wheel, and put it back on. Just because I now had tools, and I mostly, just beause I could. (The fearlessness of youth, right?) So I turned the bike over, took off around the corner, and was in the alley next to my house, and the front wheel flew off. I endo'd straight over the bars, scraped up my face a little, but totally smashed the middle finger on my right hand when the bars hit the ground. The fingernail turned all purpley blue, and eventually fell off. I think I broke it, but didn't know any better. To this day, that finger and the nail are both wider than the same finger on my other hand.

2. In JR high, we had a BMX race every year. The outdoor rec teacher would rent a bulddozer, and make a track in the dirt area behind the school. We had trenches instead of whoops, and a 3-4 high jump over a water hazard, landing on flat ground. In practice, we all jumped it, except for one kid-my buddy, who's name is also Mike. Of course, he was in my heat race, and was right in front me. I couldn't pass his chromoly DiamondBack with my tank Murray X20R, and the big jump is coming up. I shoulda backed off, but didn't. We jumped that thing about a bike length apart, him first, and he totally ate it. And me, watching him hit the dirt, didn't pull up enough and came down right next to him by inches as he slid out of the way. Of course, I endo'd (again), but instead of flipping over, my bars went all the way forward horizontal. Of course, it was videotaped, and the teacher played that video quite a bit over and over again.

3. My friend Steve had an after school paper route (remember those?) and I usually rode along with him. One day, we were riding across a major street, and we got too close together, and my handlebars tangled with the straps of the big bags that held the newspapers. Guess what? It caused me to flip over my bars (there's a pattern here, unfortunately), and my left shoulder caught the end of his bars, where the end of the grip was torn off, making nice little tears in both my shirt and skin,l about 8 inches long.
And to think I still love bikes all these years later!
 
My worst was back in 98 or 99.. I just got my brand new bright yellow Haro Zippo and decided to bunny hop a log that was laying in the middle of a concrete playground. Well, I was not used to the bike at all and it was heavier than my old bike, got some speed up, hopped, back tire it and flipped me. Blew out one knee and ripped the skin to the bone on both of them. I couldnt walk right for a month because every time I moved my knees they would break open. Most miserable time of my life haha.
 
I ground down an elbow and knee on a sharp turn wipeout with a bent crank. This was the worst and didn't help an elbow with affected ability due to a cast. Second was once again on a sharp turn, but wet asphalt. Chipped a front tooth barely, and scuffed my chin quite much. It all grew back normally. That's all. No concussions luckily.
 
At about age 10 I hit a pot hole flying down a hill on my street. The front end of my muscle bike went up, the front wheel fell off, the forks dug in and I did an endo. Tore off the sissy bar and etc. A motorist picked me up and took me home. He put my bike in his trunk in a few parts. My injuries were just scrapes and bruises. Took an LBS to get the bike back together.
 
Countless

Airborne and some Judo based self-defense training while in the military made it so I don't get hurt as much when tumbling anymore though. I have a two week old strawberry on my left knee, but it's just about healed up now. I hit, rolled and popped up onto my feet and only had the strawberry to show for it.
 
We were kids, maybe twelve or something, and they were building a new tennis court down at the Terry Fox park. Me and Jeremy went to check it out. No fence yet, so we did a few power slides, left a few marks on the new paint, and we're outta here. Did I say no fence? I meant no chain link, just the steel posts. The horizontal bar blended in with the background, so Jeremy didn't even see it when he rolled teeth first into the bar. I remember being impressed with how far his Haro ghost rode. He landed flat on his back, and it just kept going! I walked both of our bikes home for us, and sat in the dark his bedroom reading Batman comics while he definitely didn't cry.
 
I'll do my top three (most embarrassing)!

1) Five years old, living in Boise at the time (1974), bunch of kids were jumping a packed mound of dirt on their bikes in an open lot...I was watching in jealousy as I didn't have my first two-wheeler bike (rode friends bikes on occasion, but didn't have one of my own). I was living at my Grandmother's at the time, went to the shed as I remembered there was some bike stuff in there (my Uncle's most likely, he is nine years older). I found a purple or violet 20" Schwinn in there with no seat or bars...and a couple schwinn '10 speeds'. Took a seat and bars off one of the road bikes, reversed and flipped the drop bars and viola...my first real bike. Went and joined the rest of the kids jumping their bikes. Got a few jumps in...my last was one of my few vivid memories being a five year old. Hit the jump...I remember clearly the image of the front wheel separating from the forks, rear wheel touches the ground...then the vivid memory of the bladed forks digging into the packed dirt. Fortunately I don't remember much of the aftermath :doh: .

2) Summer after sixth grade. See a couple of my 'hot' classmates walking down my street wearing tube tops. So I start doing some 'tricks' I'd come up with on my BMX bike (stuff that I believe came to be known as 'manuals' or something, I was never into freestyle stuff...so?). As theI was were walking past my driveway I was doing a slow circle standing on the side of the bike holding one grip when I tried to pull off a wave to them. Lost hold of the grip, bike went down, I landed on upturned grip groin first. I was writhing on the ground...they were trying to discern if I was okay...I was squeaking out that I was fine and finally managed to get on my feet and shuffle my way back into the house all bent over. Not a success.

3) Getting back into bikes in my late 30s, bought a tank midschool DB 24" BMX cruiser that I would carry on the back of the truck for spontaneous rides at work or wherever. I had driven my youngest daughter to the pet store as she needed some supplies...I pulled out the bike to ride around the parking lot while waiting. When I saw her coming out I got the brilliant idea that I was going to bunny hop onto the tailgate of the truck. Next thing I know I was doing the hysterical laughter while in immense pain as I went straight up, pedal caught the tailgate, and I went straight back down straight onto my tailbone...bike on top of me. Not a success.
 
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Last October, riding my Marin 650B aluminum frame on an abandoned rail "trail" in the New River Gorge in southern WV. Came upon a tree fallen across the trail, with a small path around the tree. I started to just ride around the tree, and then decided not, but stopped on a small incline and lost my balance. It felt like my foot caught on something when I tried to stop my fall, and my full weight came down on the bike, pinning my right foot under the crank. Felt like my foot had been crushed under a boulder. I got up, walked it off for a few minutes, and finished the ride, another 12 or so miles. The foot ached, but I had no trouble pedaling. But on the 90 minute drive home, my foot started aching badly and was really stiff. It was purple and badly swollen by evening. X-rays the next morning showed I had broken my big toe and had a hairline fracture in the arch.

That was the last time I ever rode that frame. It was squirrely anyway, so I stripped it of all of its parts, and moved them to a steel frame I had found that was heavier, with a significantly longer wheelbase, the ride I call Big Red and have shared on these forums. Big Red is smoother and far more stable than the Marin frame. Recently I returned to that trail for the first time since the accident, and did the same 14 mile trek. The weather was stunning and the ride was completely uneventful. Any nerves I had about returning were banished. I found the spot where I had tumbled, and there's absolutely nothing there except a slight incline. No rocks, roots, or snags. My wife called it a fluke accident caused by a moment of indecision. I'd say she's right. Here's a photo of Big Red in the exact spot where I went down on the previous bike.

DSCF4240.JPG
 
I like that someone can unceremoniously revive a ten year old thread and not catch any grief over it! Lots of forums aren't like that.

I've had a few, but this one stands out in my mind. Early '70s and I had a new Schwinn 3 speed; I think it was a Collegiate. First bike I ever had with front brakes, and I wasn't yet accustomed to them. I had built a ramp in our (long) driveway out of a concrete block and a piece of 2x8 or something like that, then rode down the driveway just as hard as I could go, looking forward to getting some big air!

Just before I reached the ramp, our cat casually sauntered directly in front of me. I grabbed a big handful of brake. Next thing I know I am underneath and tangled in the bike. Both brake levers were involved because one of them stabbed me in the neck while the other one tangled in the shoelace of my left sneaker so that my leg was twisted with my foot dangling in the air in front of my face. I had to first pull the right brake lever out of my neck (thankfully it didn't go in very deep) and then twist myself up even harder to release my foot. Nothing broken and I didn't even go to the doctor.
Nobody saw it happen but the cat, and she didn't say anything. Nor did I.
 

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