From: jbrandt@hpl.hp.com (Jobst Brandt)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
Subject: Re: alloy failure
Date: 19 Jan 2001 18:32:49 GMT

Orin Eman writes:

>>> Try smashing into the rear of an old VW bug...  That will do it.

>> How old, and what does the VW have to do with it?

> The original style, not the new ones (at least as far as I know,
> maybe someone has smashed into one).  The bumper and shape of the
> rear made a nice ramp for the bike's front wheel.  The front of the
> bike went up and stopped, the rider kept going forwards.  Bloody
> nose and cuts and bruises in the groin area.

I think you are imagining this.  If you run into an obstacle that is
100mm (4") or higher, the wheel will stop and the bicycle will
overturn.  Your scenario of riding up the back of the car is
apparently based on imagery rather than fact.  There are enough
examples of bicycles running into curbs lower than the bumper of the
VW who did an end-over.

Jobst Brandt      <jbrandt@hpl.hp.com>

From: jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org
Subject: Re: Standing - was Rohloff 14 Gear Speedhub
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Message-ID: <9jED8.6745$lX2.41158@typhoon.sonic.net>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2002 01:05:09 GMT

anonymous writes:

> I hesitate to pedal standing because:

> 1) sudden drivetrain failure without warning is most likely at max
> stress, just when it'll likely cause me to slam my nads into the top
> tube and crash

Hypothesizing will get you nowhere.  Had you really experienced that
some time in your bicycling experience, you would know that the rider
flies over the bars.  That you strike the top tube with your crotch is
an old bugaboo passed on by imagining souls.  The same is true of
striking the handlebar stem when going over the front when striking an
obstacle.  It doesn't happen that way.

> 2) riding out of the saddle feels off-balance and not as much in
> control as in the seated position

That may be your experience but not that of most bicyclists who
actively ride.  You had best not argue that case with most tourists
and racers who ride instead of hypothesizing about it.

Jobst Brandt  <jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org>  Palo Alto CA