Worst Crashes/Accidents/Failures etc on E-bike: Bring pics

Thx DrkAngel: Good tips and clever. Also, like your philosphical quotes. Best.
 
DrkAngel said:
Recently adopted by Currie eBike offerings, the application of specific gearing and severe current regulation, allows a 20mph motor only speed but with substantial assist actually increasing right till near 30mph. This comes near to legally allowing my personal safety mode of blending with in-town traffic.
I just choose a vehicle that I can see over and hop in behind it and use it as a traffic, and wind, blocker - not too close!

Simple ... "USA legal" 30mph eBike
TAG = 20mph (10A controller mode)
PAS = 30mph (20A controller mode)

file.php

See - Currie Revolution
 
Forum member just posted on the Facebook side of his accident cleaning his bike under throttle. Rag got stuck in the chain and pulled in his hand. Stitches and a broken finger:


DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!!



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#bananascale
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Well... its my turn.

I was riding home after work. About 430pm, almost home when I decided to take another path around the neighborhood. Made a quick turn and went through a narrow pass between a telephone pole and a supporting wire. Misjudged it and clipped the pole with my left toe and then pedal. This made me get my right foot stuck in the rear tire and swingarm which stopped me from 15mph in under 4 feet. And I somehow managed to come to a stop on one foot and two wheels. After prying my right foot out, it felt really twisted but it's actually better than my left now. I got lucky and learned a lesson at slow speeds. I'll be back to riding after I replace this bent crank arm.
 
Kyle was guaranteed his money back. Back 2 months ago.
 

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So my original 1987 Raleigh Ozark rims decided to suffer from fatigue due to the torque of the motor. If you look, there is a hairline crack all the way around the rim joining the eyelets!

This happened at 50kph as follows:
1. Rim separated at the centre and cause the rim width to expand
2. The rim hit the brakes and locked the wheel, snaking to a halt
3. during the snaking, the spokes poked through the eyelets and make the sound of a shotgun as it popped the inner tube
4. Pretend this is all normal in front of the commuters waiting at the nearby train station who are staring.
 
Ghost (bike)rider said:


So my original 1987 Raleigh Ozark rims decided to suffer from fatigue due to the torque of the motor.

If you analyze the effect of motor torque (or pedal torque) at the spokes, it's not much. It gets divided up a lot of ways.

Your rim failure is characteristic of tire overinflation on single-walled rims.
 
Ghost (bike)rider said:
4. Pretend this is all normal in front of the commuters waiting at the nearby train station who are staring.
+1 for style

Chalo said:
Your rim failure is characteristic of tire overinflation on single-walled rims.
So, maybe something that can be prevented by proper inflation and regular inspection? Its a failure mode I had never contemplated.
 
gogo said:
Chalo said:
Your rim failure is characteristic of tire overinflation on single-walled rims.
So, maybe something that can be prevented by proper inflation and regular inspection?

Double-walled rims are the best prevention. And they pay dividends in structural integrity. Look no farther than Alex DM24 if you want the best rim for the money in 20", 24", 26". In 700c, the best bang per buck must be Sun Rhyno Lite.

Single-walled rims are slightly easier to change tires on, but the reason they exist is because they are cheaper to make than double-walled rims.
 
www.recumbents.com said:
In 2007 I was out for a nice ride to test my first ebike and the motor kept shutting off. Why I did not know. Reached behind seat to see if motor was warm and brushed something.

This was before I knew that BMSs shut off the battery whenever they feel like it.

This bikes name is FingerEater.


Fortunately missing the first joint of my ring finger is not very noticeable.
-Warren.

Yes, seen this done "first hand"(sorry, bad pun) in a motorcycle shop and at a sawmill factory. :{. There is a huge amount on concentrated energy stored in a moving chain.
Always put a guard around the chain to prevent pant legs and body parts from being snipped off. The portable sawmill guy lost an entire hand and pulled his arm out of the socket just brushing the side of the chain. Even a few pieces of recycled HPDE from milk carton goes for a low weight solution to cover the chain travel area. Besides, it keeps the oil from the chain slopping all over, and keeps out debris from flying into the works and possibly stopping the rotation.

I repaired one engine case on an ATV when the chain came apart from a tree branch drug into the path. The chain slapped the case and cracked it with a hole. The plastic guard did its job and stopped the user from losing an ankle by deflecting the flying chain towards the engine case. I put a rubber tire knob plug with JB weld in the hole to continue riding that weekend. Replaced the case cover and not some bones.

I myself would consider sheet metal and proper brackets when working with chain drives of more than a couple of HP equivalent.
Why not put a thermal cutoff fuse on the drive supply wires? Much like the bimetallic thermostats used on hot water heaters. Use one for each phase wire, and they make reset-able ones that will close the circuit once cooled off. Cheap at Digikey.com.
 
Just two weeks ago hit a car. Was going straight down the road when the car going the opposite way turned in front of me. Closing speed 45 kmh.

No serious injuries, but smashed his windshield, smashed my computer, bent wheel, bent front fork, and bent frame. Hope the motor is okay.
 
Gloop said:
Just two weeks ago hit a car. Was going straight down the road when the car going the opposite way turned in front of me. Closing speed 45 kmh.

No serious injuries, but smashed his windshield, smashed my computer, bent wheel, bent front fork, and bent frame. Hope the motor is okay.
Highly recommend a headlight with strobe function for daylight use.

Gets way more attention than a brighter normal light,
gives a better indication of movement-speed,
is not mistaken for sunlight reflection,
etc. ... great safety improvement!

I used a wide\narrow zoom light for many years with great success, noted by lack of driver reaction when I forgot to turn it on.
Recently, for daylight travel, I have experimented by removing the focusing lens and replacing with a semi-clear pop bottle twist cap,
Rather than a somewhat narrow forward beam, strobe is a larger area 180º + forward environment safety device!
Easier to confirm operational also.
I swap to normal light for near dark use.
 
Glad you're "ok", and thanks for posting. Were you covering the brakes with your fingers? Were you able to use any braking before impact or choose an impact angle?

You don't have to reply to me, but feel free to quote me in a thread response if you wish. Many of us like to learn from others' experience.

The accident happened at night, I had my 2 Watt headlight on, but not on strobe. In hindsight, I should have had strobe on, but it was very dark where I was.
I was originally going about 50k and had begun slowing down for the stop sign so I was braking, at the time of impact I was doing about 35 k and the driver was doing 10.

It all happened so fast. The drive didn't signal. Usually when I see a car signalling a turn I slow doing because I don't trust cars.
In this case I have no time to do anything. I couldn't veer out of the way nor brake any harder. Somehow I protected my head.
There are only two things I could have done differently. Wear more lighting on strobe, or go a whole lot slower.

My worst injuries are a knee that hurts when i walk, a pulled tendon in my leg, and chest pains esp when I cough or sneeze.
I'm surprized my steel fork and frame are so damaged. I don't know if the motor axle would be damaged too, but the tire is seized so I can't test it out.
I have to send the wheel back to Grin Cyclery in Vancouver for repairs, so I will ask them to test it for me.

I plan to get a second helmet light, http://www.mec.ca/product/5029-832/4sevens-quark-qp2a-led-flashlight/ so that I have two front strobes.
 
Gloop said:
The drive didn't signal. Usually when I see a car signalling a turn I slow doing because I don't trust cars.
In this case I have no time to do anything. I couldn't veer out of the way nor brake any harder. Somehow I protected my head.There are only two things I could have done differently. Wear more lighting on strobe, or go a whole lot slower.

Honestly, in my experience, in situations like that, it's just as likely that they would still have done what they did, either because they don't believe you're going as fast as you are, or because they simply aren't looking *at all* and wouldnt' have seen on oncoming semi truck either. ;)

Sometimes a super-loud horn, or a car or truck horn, can startle someone into hesitating before they do whatever stupid thing they were about to do, and make them look, but I wouldn't bet my life on that either. :/ (I do have a car horn on CrazyBike2, and I've used it a few times with success, but I still don't depend on it as my only "defense" action).


But really, the most important to me, the third thing you could've done...part of the "don't trust cars" for me: If there is a possibility of a car doing a turn in front of me like that, I assume they will and do what I need to to ensure that I won't be able to collide with them if they do.

Sometimes that means coming to a complete stop until they've passed because I just can't tell, and there's nowhere I could go if they did.

Sometimes it means moving leftward in my lane *towards them*, away from the right edge of the road or out of the bike lane, so I have soemwhere to go when they do their thing, even if that is into their lane (if there's no one else but us in that stretch).


FWIW, I'm also lit up like a motorcycle, car, and christmas tree, :lol: but I don't depend on that, either, even though it probably does more for cars/trucks paying attention to me than anything else I've done so far (partly because the bike is so different that they don't know what I am, and probably assume I'm going faster than I am because I look kinda like a motorcycle to them).


I used to try to depend on painting my bikes up in DayGlo colors, reflective stickers and vests, etc. But Iv'e found that doesn't really do enough (it does help a lot), and that's one reason I went for the lighting.



Buuuut: When i have built a pure bicycle-looking bike (the Fusin test bike) but still with all that same lighting on it, the very same drivers that give me full lanes and road respect when i ride CrazyBike2, instead they did what they do to most cyclists and zoom right past me as if I weren't there, or worse, as if I *shouldn't* be there.

Some places aren't so bad as that...but main roads usually are, here.
 
amberwolf said:
But really, the most important to me, the third thing you could've done...part of the "don't trust cars" for me: If there is a possibility of a car doing a turn in front of me like that, I assume they will and do what I need to to ensure that I won't be able to collide with them if they do.

Sometimes that means coming to a complete stop until they've passed because I just can't tell, and there's nowhere I could go if they did.

Yes. I now have a habit of slowing dramatically for all cars that are turning, but previously I did as well, just not as slow as I do now.
One complicating factor was that this happened about 30 m from a T intersection, and the car was turning into a relatively unlit Chevron ramp. So he turned onto my road and turned very quickly into the Chevron, without stopping or slowing much for the turn.
 
Gloop said:
I was originally going about 50k and had begun slowing down for the stop sign so I was braking, at the time of impact I was doing about 35 k and the driver was doing 10.
Accident happened in intersection ... with stop signs?
If not mistaken ... you could have avoided any problem by stopping at stop sign ... as legally required, and as driver had the reasonable expectation of. ... ?
 
Glad your OK

" My worst injuries are a knee that hurts when i walk, a pulled tendon in my leg, and chest pains esp when I cough or sneeze...."

Sounds like a busted and/or cracked rib to me....I've had the same(not from bike accident tho)...where it hurt when coughing and/or sneezing. Lasted a bit long time also.
 
DrkAngel said:
Gloop said:
I was originally going about 50k and had begun slowing down for the stop sign so I was braking, at the time of impact I was doing about 35 k and the driver was doing 10.
If not mistaken ... you could have avoided any problem by stopping at stop sign ... as legally required, and as driver had the reasonable expectation of. ... ?

I never made it to the stop sign. Anyway the police found the driver at fault, and supposedly i'm getting compensated for my injuries and broken equipment.
 
amberwolf said:
"...part of the "don't trust cars" for me: If there is a possibility of a car doing a turn in front of me like that, I assume they will and do what I need to to ensure that I won't be able to collide with them if they do."

Gotta give a big AMEN BROTHER!!! Listen up new riders, this is the way it really works for the long haul.

And be mindful of our "speed" not being much like majority of regular bicycles. I've witnessed that seemingly cause drivers to wrongly judge closing distances.
 
Word. Assume the worst about car drivers and you'll be right enough of the time to be glad you did.
 
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