Over the handlebars at 27 mph. Wheeee!

dogman dan

dogman dan

1 PW
Joined
May 17, 2008
Messages
36,380
Location
Las Cruces New Mexico USA
First words out of my mouth when I landed. " Black wearing mother------!" Riding in full darkness to work this morning thanks to the early date of daylight savings, doing 27 mph, and suddenly a shadow.... frocker dressed like a ninja walking along in the bike lane of a 45 mph freeway frontage road.

I have a good headlight, but confess to letting the battery for it get weak. The first thing I see of this dumbass I'm about 10 feet away. :shock: I try for a pass on the right, and just clip his shoulder with my left shoulder. He spins around a couple times, and comes up unhurt. I go superman over the handlebars at 27 mph. Holy crap! But I came out OK :lol: :lol: :lol: . I landed on my metal reinforced shoulder, and though sore, am not really hurt. Got a nice hematoma on my hip, but did the ol tuck and roll, and didn't even tear my high visibility jacket. Somehow not a scratch on my helmet. Last time I crushed one.

A bit more damage to the bike. Slightly bent front wheel. Road rash on the right hand shifter and brake handle. Destroyed the headlight. Destroyed the front fender. Bashed battery box, and insulation rubbed off the wiring. Wheew, that was close, if both wires had rubbed my brand new ping would have smoked itself in a dead short.

I can't believe it didn't taco the Ebikekit front hub. You see people talk about low quality rims etc. BULLSHIT! This 85 pound bike went flipping but the wheel is only slightly out of wack. Amazing!

Here is a pic of the battery box. Folks, when shit happens, a shrink wrapped battery in a cloth bag does not cut the mustard. My ping is fine, sheathed in a plastic box, inside a metal box. I do need to armour up the wires though! Piece of garden or radiator hose oughta do it.View attachment DSC01797.JPG


Back to the Ninja dumbshit, in my adrenaline rush this morning, I didn't remember who this idiot was while I chewed his ass for wearing black coat black pants black hat and black shoes and walking in the dark on the roadside. I NEARLY HIT THIS IDIOT LAST SPRING RIGHT AFTER THE TIME CHANGE! And lectured him then that a car was gonna get his ass. AND TWO SPRINGS AGO THE SAME DUDE, WEARING BLACK WALKING THE BIKE LANE! Lectured him then, wear anything easier to see in the dark but black! THIRD TIMES THE CHARM DUMBASS!


Now for the x files part of this story.... Two years ago, I buy a new pingbattery and at about cycle 30 I got a waterbottle stuck in the wheel and went over the handlebars. That one broke both collarbones. See if you can guess how many cycles I have on my new 48v pingbatttery...... Shit like that makes you see how superstision gets started. Now I can hardly keep from thinking, "I'm never gonna buy a new battery again." :roll: Real world is sure weird some times.
 
Good to hear that you had a better outcome this time.
I went over the bars a few times as a kid but sure do not want to try it again.
Take the weekend off and heal up fast.
 
Practice makes perfect. I was kinda amazed I got hurt two years ago. That was the first time I went over the bars at low speed. My fastest one, in my youth was 50 mph. Plowed a furrrow in the dirt with my motorcycle helmet. Apparently skipping along the pavement hurts less that rotating straight into the curb at a 90 degree angle. This time it was more like knocked off the bike, than front wheel locked up. When you do go flying, you gotta try to roll, and rag doll so nothing breaks. I got lots of practice wiping out on skis years ago, but concrete sure is stiff.

Two times in recent years, joggers wearing all black got squished by cars here.

As for me, I'm reconsidering any riding in the dark if those damn ninjas are going to be out there.
 
Well, cops may look at it and say, He's just walking down the road and I ran him down. The dude wasn't really in a ninja outfit, just wearing the El Paso uniform, all black. Faggy to wear anything but black. But boy is it stupid to go out in the dark like that. Really stupid after I nearly hit him twice before. Can't cure stupid, can only cull it out.
 
sorry to hear about that Dogman. I've never had a bike wreck in my entire life. I guess I've been lucky. People in the country drive a lot safer I think than in the city. That's been my experience.
 
Once the sun gets up I bet that black is even more stupid. Glad you're ok. Next year as we approach the time change, I'll try to be sure to remind you to watch out for the black clad idiot.

John
 
Damn good thing you know how to fall, and didn't try to put your arms out to try and stop it (aka, to try and break your arms and collar bones. lol).

Knowing how to wreck makes all the difference. Having enough wrecks under your belt to feel comfortable enough to relax and wreck like a tumbling rag doll is critical in avoiding injury in wrecks. I had figured a guy with your life experiencess would be able to relax and come out ok.

Glad to hear you're not broken my friend! You could carry a can of reflective sign spray paint with you to tag that ninja next time you see him. lol
 
I vote with methods (kinda) you should tag that black walking mutta... seriously though maybe gear up motor cross style next year at DST and just take him out... any long sections of overpass where he would get tossed over if you square on railed him?

Honestly.. had it been me, the third time... If I could stand I would kick his ass! No joking around, he would have needed EMS even if I had avoided him if he had made me crash at 27mph!

Glad your okay.. and yea, armoring up the packs and even the conduits isn't a bad idea - not when you got a bunch of bone heads walking in the dark wearing black...

One more thing.. why isn't your light permanent? I have a few of the fleas which are my preferred headlight but I always carry a spare and cycle a backup pair as one fails out (runs out of power)... I do have a permanent beam (3 LED) on my folder and plan one on my mtn bike (though it goes through changes more than the folder).

-Mike
 
I can get a pic of the road where I crashed later, and I'll edit into the first post. It's two lane highway frontage, one way. There is about 3 feet of bike lane, and then a concrete curb, and no sidewalk for walkers. I think as I crashed I rotated 90 degrees and ended up with the bike half in the dirt, and half in the bike lane, sliding along with the battery box on the curb. My body did the same thing, so instead of tumbling end over end, I hit on my right side hip on the curb and rolled.

Still cool in the mornings even here, so I was wearing ski gloves, and didn't shred em. Even in summer, I wear at least half gloves.

Relaxing when you are about to hurt real bad is NOT EASY. A skill I learned real eary from a guy with a brown belt in judo at about age 8. He needed somebody to toss, so he taught a whole crowd of us how to fall. :lol: That skill has saved my ass rock climbing, skiing etc. I skied double black diamonds for decades and only broke a rib once.

I had (it's smashed now) a really good light permanently on the bike. A halogen from an EV global. Run on a seperate lead from my 36v ping, it's really bright. But yesterday I was running my 48v battery and don't have the tap for the light power on that battery. So I grabbed a 24v tool battery and lit up with that. But it wasn't so fully charged, and was kinda dim that morning. Even so, it was a lot more light than other lights I've used, headlamps, really good flashlights etc. In the conditions on that morning, riding west into dark, 1 full hour before sunrise, nearest streetlight a mile away, etc. I doubt I'd have seen the guy very soon with the headlight on 36v either. Clealy at 27 mph, we are overdriving our lights in most cases. Had the f---er been wearing a reflector about 1"x1" or a light colored hat, I could have seen him 75 feet out. As it was, I literaly saw him 10 feet away. Had I been in a car, and over the white line, I'da hit him with the car.

Mabye by next year, at the time change, some guy texting and driving will have weeded him out. :twisted: Guys at work suggested I paintball him next time I see his black coat. Paint a yellow spot on his back. Seriously, I'm tempted to set a reflector vest out on the crash site for him to pick up. But I doubt he'd wear it, can't cure stupid.

Pissed as I am with the dude, I was riding too fast for my light, and could have seen a lot more if I'd waited for a glow in the east before leaving. Riding 18 mph, I could have had time to swerve more. I was stupidly hauling ass in the dark. Now all I have is really shitty lights, so maybe the thing to do is wait till I can see just enough to tell if ninjas are out there instead of leaving the house in the pitch black. On the other end of the day, after the time change, I may be asleep before sundown. :roll:

I still can't believe I didn't ruin a helmet. Not a scratch on the thing, but I'll keep wearing em. Learned that long long ago.

The important thing, the bikes ok :mrgreen: A headlight is toast, and the mount for the front fender is toast. But the battery didn't short, and only a few tweaks of the spokes straightend the wheel. I put some of that spiral cable organizer stuff on my battery leads for next time. Dangit, some how I know there will be a next time. I do like to haul ass on the commute, and now the bike can almost hit 30 mph.
 
dogman said:
I had (it's smashed now) a really good light permanently on the bike.
Click to expand...

I've got the identical light on the 24V LE I picked up this winter (and am going to part out soon). Want it? I sell it to you for a song.

Not crash related either, but you say you got a new Ping. What were the stats on your old one? How many miles, cycles, etc? Did it die? Or are you just upping to 48V?
 
In the movie "Reservoir Dogs" the criminals are ordered to refer to each other by assigned color names during the crime. Such as Mister Red, Mister Blue....EVERYone wanted to be "Mr Black"...The way that the stereotype cowboy movie characters got to have black hats for bad guys and white hats for good guys is based in truth. Working out in the hot sun, a white hat is cooler than any other color, and when rustling cattle at night just before they are to be branded, a black hat makes you less visible.

Glad you are OK, D-Man! I will now plan on using two headlights, one powered from the pack, and one with a self-contained rechargeable battery (hmmmm...must search for headlight threads...)
 
.
 

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Td- great road sign!
Dogman - aren't u in Texas? Isn't it okay there to ride a bike and carry a gun? More over, can't you shoot wild animals in your way? Loosely I'd say he fits.
I have the roadkill cookbook but I checked no recipe for ninja idiot cannis.
Really am glad your ok... Wish ninja boy was a bit more hurt... U know, three strikes and all!

-Mike
 
Heh Heh, the nija sign need the red bar across it. No ninas allowed. 8)

Thanks for the offer on the headlight, I'm thinking about just putting something brighter in the housing that is repairable, but I may want it anyway. Actually, I think the best thing is to just wait for a glow in the east before heading out to work. Then I can see anything in the lane. Along with dumshits wearing black, there is always the risk of hitting road trash, like a nice black discarded tire that fell off the trash trailer. If I wait a bit, then I only need the light for sombody to see me. Bottom line, I was definitely overdriving my light at 27 mph.

I'm nearly in Texas, in southern NM, right by El Paso. For damn sure I can pack heat as long as it's NOT cocealed, even into a bank. Just no bars or voting booths. The state govt does treat us like we are in Texas. But I don't need a gun, just enough light to see ninjas. On my roketta, I don't drive at night at all, the headlights are totally inadequate for 50 mph. Some day a car will get that dumbass for sure.

I got the second ping to double my range on crosscountry rides, and 48v for better hillclimbing if I head for the mountains. But the old v1 36v 20 ah ping has 5500+ miles on it and is doing fine, though it is starting to get unbalanced just a bit easier than before. Estimated 500 cycles and still no detectable loss of range. Always discharged at 1c or less was the key I think. But I'm tired of tracking it's mileage and now just switch back and forth, one week at 36v the next at 48 to keep both batteries currently cycled. I may not need another battery for many years now. But lipo is calling me for a bike using my 5304. Mabye next years budget.
 
Again I commend you for not pummeling the dude! As far as the gun goes... handle bar mount with low velocity rock salt rounds or even rubber bullets... three years in a row, the dude didn't get the point... a butt full of rock salt and one thing is for sure he would be off the walking bit for a while.

Seriously though, all joking and BS aside... I think we all overdrive our headlights (over 20mph) what scares me are the road hazzards (pot holes, shards of glass, etc) and I ride right in the middle of the lane still... at night especially on dark roads and even worse in the rain. I was thinking about this just a few days ago (running 2 fleas just to be safe) because I know on my motorcycles this is never an issue... I kinda wish I had those types of lighting on the eBike but I think those are like a few hundred watts of power - more electric than I care to part with.

I have found pulse or burst headlight mode to be quite useable, it's brighter than even the highest brightness and with even just one flea... I guess all the years at clubs with strobe lights paid off because I can actually see...

I guess we are all in the same boat, the trade of power versus ability when it comes to auxiliary lighting and such.

-Mike
 
mwkeefer said:
I think we all overdrive our headlights (over 20mph) what scares me are the road hazzards (pot holes, shards of glass, etc) and I ride right in the middle of the lane still...
Click to expand...

Yes, I think that's the main issue, especially since dogman said his light's battery were low. With enough light, you can see even "dark figures" with enough distance to react safely.

Car headlights are typically 55 watts each, I think(?) and they seem to pretty safely driven at 40-50 mph. I used a 35 watt halogen light on my original 28 mph bike and the visibilty was excellent - I definitely don't think I was over-driving it, and I would've seen dark figures well ahead of 10 feet. Probably closer to 100 feet.

Now that my scooter is detuned to a pretty range conserving 20 mph, I find 20 watts with a somewhat poor "spot light" is just adequate for spotting potholes as I have about two to three seconds to react (Human response time is usually something like .5 seconds, I believe). Good lights are definitely worth it.

However, yes, it does seem pretty poor that someone whose effectively camoflouged would walk in the bike lane. What alternatives did he have? Was there a sidewalk nearby? The shoulder of the road? Or a dirt shoulder near the road? Or no pedestrian accommodation whatsoever?


Here's a chart of stopping distance versus speed:
nhtsa.gif


At 30 mph, the stopping distance is around 30-40 feet. Give another 20 feet for reaction, and you need a light that can light up the most invisible critters at least 60 feet ahead. I like 100 feet a lot better. :)

Btw, halogens put out approximately 12 lumens per watt, so a 35 watt bulb puts out something like 420 lumens and a 20 watt halogen, about 240 lumens. So, if you're looking for LED flashlights for battery capacity and power savings, look for that magical lumen number (As well as other relevant things).
 
Probobally could have seen him closer than 10 feet if I'd been paying more attention, and who knows maybe it was 20 feet,, All I know is I saw him with not enough time to react enough. I began to dodge him, and still just clipped his shoulder. I'm guessing about 1 second from sight to impact. Exactly the amount of time it took me to say SHIT!

But for sure, I did not have two seconds of road lit up that morning at that speed. When using that light at 36v (42-44v actual) the light is great, but maybe only for 20 mph. I was going 27 mph becase I'm stupid, and the bike path is pretty new pavement, and smooth as silk. No potholes at all for 10 miles. But there could be anything that fell off a truck there in the path. The other two times I saw the dude sooner because it was starting to get light, but this time it was pitch black out, no moon, no dawn glow.

The road has no pedestrian place at all, shoulder all rough and full of weeds, so the only place for the dude to walk is the bike lane. He was likely headed to the 7 am bus ride. I'm leery of riding in the driving lane in the dark, for fear of the commuter putting on makeup, or texting while driving. Both of us were doing the same thing, following the white stripe dividing the driving lane from the bike lane.
 
oh man.. fair ending to a bad situation.

I just ordered a dual halogen setup from ebikes.ca, i have the 12 led square block and it's " ok " but i'm legally night blind.. can't see jack at night unless it's REALLY lit up.. so i avoid night driving unless i absolutely have to.

++ on the metal box protecting the pack !! way too many canvas bags and duct tape packs on bikes going around here... not enough.

Might want to clip a playing card on the spokes.. warning sound for pedestrians the Dogman is comming... clear the way ! :twisted:
 
Ypedal said:
oh man.. fair ending to a bad situation.

I just ordered a dual halogen setup from ebikes.ca, i have the 12 led square block and it's " ok " but i'm legally night blind.. can't see jack at night unless it's REALLY lit up.. so i avoid night driving unless i absolutely have to.

++ on the metal box protecting the pack !! way too many canvas bags and duct tape packs on bikes going around here... not enough.

Might want to clip a playing card on the spokes.. warning sound for pedestrians the Dogman is comming... clear the way ! :twisted:
Click to expand...

Yes, good point. The quietness of an ebike seems to have its disadvantages... when you're effectively riding at night without a light. Maybe dogman would''ve been saved by a high-RPM RC motor chain drive. :p
 
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