Tilt your seat back just a touch. And try the hands off the bars thing on slight uphill grades. This will improve pedal stroke and increase quad power over the top of the pedal stroke. Then, even when leaning forward, your legs will be suspending your weight. Eventually you will be steering from the rear wheel and the handlebars and front end will be loose. Pretty soon you will be bouncing your front wheel off other guys' rear wheels for the fun of it. (Don't actually try that, even though my eight year old son does it to me. He also scrapes his pedals on the curb in the rare event he rides on the street).
How fast is Too Fast? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter KliersLC
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Tilt your seat back just a touch. And try the hands off the bars thing on slight uphill grades. This will improve pedal stroke and increase quad power over the top of the pedal stroke. Then, even when leaning forward, your legs will be suspending your weight. Eventually you will be steering from the rear wheel and the handlebars and front end will be loose. Pretty soon you will be bouncing your front wheel off other guys' rear wheels for the fun of it. (Don't actually try that, even though my eight year old son does it to me. He also scrapes his pedals on the curb in the rare event he rides on the street).
- Thread starter
- #22
Part of it is the geometry of my current bike. I have ridden hands free a lot, (including my current mountain bike) but I just can't balance on this bike. I used to play tire tag with my brothers a lot....that brings back some fun memories.
I'll give that a try today and see if it helps.
- Thread starter
- #24
Headset is good and moving the seat back helped with balance. I spend quite a bit of time on my aero bars, and noticed today that I don't put much pressure on my elbows. They just kind of loosly sit there.
I'll add that the only time I have crashed on my road bike was due to going too fast on wet pavement. Even then, I could have landed in some soft grass but tried to save it and ended up with road rash....
I am more worried about punctures at speed.....
I'll add that the only time I have crashed on my road bike was due to going too fast on wet pavement. Even then, I could have landed in some soft grass but tried to save it and ended up with road rash....
I am more worried about punctures at speed.....
I've been over 50 regularly on a road bike ... one time some jackass in a convertible mustang pulled up next to me and yelled something like "Do you know how ****ing fast you're going!?" I was like .. yea, no kidding, get the hell away from me!
I've been over 45 on a fully loaded touring bike as well ... front and rear panniers. Brakes/rims were literally smoking hot by the bottom. Lucky I didn't blow a tire off.
I've been over 45 on a fully loaded touring bike as well ... front and rear panniers. Brakes/rims were literally smoking hot by the bottom. Lucky I didn't blow a tire off.
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I think the helmet issue comes into play when you hit something indirectly. I remember a study about ski helmets that claim that if you hit a stationary object (tree), anything over 12 mph the helmet/no helmet does not matter. I think where it comes into play is if you wipe out and are tumbling down the trail it will help avoid more severe injuries to your head.
But if you are trying for 40mph offroad I would not want to wreck!
But if you are trying for 40mph offroad I would not want to wreck!
Uncle Grumpy
SILVER Star
A Lemond or a Leonard Zinn?
Uncle Grumpy
SILVER Star
X2, it's the angle of the impact that determines the force.
Ever watched a Moto GP racer lose the rear in a turn at 100 mph? As long as they don't hit anything they walk away. I was on a casual Sunday ride when a guy went over the bars and landed on top of his head. He became a quadriplegic at 15 mph wearing a helmet.
Freaky things can happen at any speed.
- Thread starter
- #30
Lemond. The geometry seems to agree with me.
- Thread starter
- #31
He he he.....
I hit 46 two days ago on my LeMond.......
I hit 46 two days ago on my LeMond.......
Surly Long Haul Trucker 50MPH loaded with touring junk, going down hill of course 
It was very stable all the way down. I did not notice how fast I had gone until I looked at my max speed on the bike computer.
Mark
It was very stable all the way down. I did not notice how fast I had gone until I looked at my max speed on the bike computer. Mark
Cube Dweller
Moderator
Soooooooooooooo...then what happened?
Did you spring your weight evenly over your pedals, drop deeper into a tuck, suspend anxiety and let it tick over to 50+?
Or did you say ohshitfxxx, sit up, put the weight back on the saddle and let the wind drag you back down to crash=road rash but not a trip to the hospital speeds?
lol. I can remember the first time I did that. And I've done it almost every time since. Since '02, I descend like a [STRIKE]married man[/STRIKE] father....
Or did you say ohshitfxxx, sit up, put the weight back on the saddle and let the wind drag you back down to crash=road rash but not a trip to the hospital speeds?
- Thread starter
- #36
Soooooooooooooo...then what happened?
Did you spring your weight evenly over your pedals, drop deeper into a tuck, suspend anxiety and let it tick over to 50+?
Or did you say ohshitfxxx, sit up, put the weight back on the saddle and let the wind drag you back down to crash=road rash but not a trip to the hospital speeds?
Neither,
I ran out of hill and downshifted for the upcoming climb..... It is hard to find a long enough hill in this part of VA, but I will be riding that section again tomorrow, so I'll see if I can push it over 50.....
The fact is, if you hit a solid object with any helmet at over 12mph you will suffer some level of brain injury. It's just a fact of life.
Fortunately most crashes aren't into the wall, they are sliding banging rolling affairs.
Bottom line on that is, tuck, roll, pray that you land on those plastic shoulder guards or some other hard parts, don't just lay out and slide on your backside, that only works on 'laugh in'.
Fortunately most crashes aren't into the wall, they are sliding banging rolling affairs.
Bottom line on that is, tuck, roll, pray that you land on those plastic shoulder guards or some other hard parts, don't just lay out and slide on your backside, that only works on 'laugh in'.
flyinbrian
@brian_and_the_car
As a motocross riding friend of mine once told me... Crash minus one...
The helmets you see in DH racing aren't motorcycle helmets. There just full face MTB helmets. Most manufactures have a light weight full face helmet so. Even specialized does. They are actually quite a bit different from moto helmets. My specialized full face has venting just like a regular bike helmet. My 661 full face doensn't have quite as much but it half the weight of a moto helmet. Plus the crash certs for a moto helmet are much higher.
As for how fast is too fast I've never seen a speed limit on a trail
. As long as you are incontrol its not to fast.