Hospital for a few days

[caphilli]

So, my friend who I went for a ride with the other day got in an accident today. Guy is not in the hospital with a separated shoulder and a few broken ribs. It's unfortunate, but something told me it was coming. He didn't look very comfortable when we rode, and I thought that was just because he's new at riding. However, he ride over 300+ miles in one day on his way home from school and rode over 700+ miles since he got the bike. One thing stood out though, he had mentioned one morning when someone pulled in front of him, he locked the rear and almost went down. After hearing that, I wasn't too surprised when I heard he went down. He's what he told me through txt from the hospital:

"I got cut off as this lady turned into a parking lot and she cut across my lane and I couldn't stop in time and I locked the rear wheel and flew off. My bike slid and I hit her driver side door with my right side of my body"

To me, it sounds more like he locked up the front break and highsided.??? Anyone have another opinion? I'm going to go see him tomorrow (visiting hours were over by the time I got home from work). Hopefully I can see the bike and understand what happened better. I don't quite understand how he hit the driver side... Unless the lady was cutting across both sides of the street... Also, why couldn't he have swerved a foot or 2 out of the way? Hym, I'm quite interested in finding out what exactly happened.

For now, I wish him a speedy recovery! Ride safe everyone! ATGATT!!

This is the bike two days ago. Only 4 weeks old and 700 miles on it. :/

[rusninja]

Pretty sure rear lock = high side if you regain traction. Sounds like he spooked and when he saw he locked rear and let go which sent him into a headshake tank slapper. :S

[rusninja]

Link to original page on YouTube.

[NDspd]

I wish your friend the best. Sounds like a highside to me.

[JoeLansing]

When he can get to a computer, send him here so he can tell us what happened? The worst we'll do is yell "More Practice!" at him.. Broken bones like he had aren't a gear problem, so his gear might be good. You didn't mention what he was riding, or if you knew his skill level. Did he pass MSF?
- Joe

[csmith12]

That sucks man, best wishes to your friend and hope he gets back on 2 wheels soon. The only thing that matters about his down, is that he learns from it!

[KJohnson21]

Best wishes to him!

Rear brake lock is one of the most common contributors to accidents. The rider applies the rear brake too aggressively during the panic response, causing the rear wheel to slide, severely limiting maneuverability, which almost guarantees that rider will hit what's in front of them or go down because of the sliding wheel. If the rear brake is released while the bike is sideways, a crash will happen because the rear wheel will start spinning in a direction that the bike is not traveling, bad combo.

This is why emergency braking should be practiced often, even for experienced riders. And the best instinct to train for is to grab the front brake and don't touch the brake pedal. Even if done perfectly, the rear brake doesn't add very much to an emergency stop.