As those of you who are acquainted with us will know, here at Femme Pedale we always put safety first. Well, it's in our top ten.
Couple of safety issues have reared their ugly heads recently – although these particular concerns seem almost redundant in the current lovely weather.
1. Lights – annoying but necessary
I know this is thoroughly depressing, put its starting to get dark earlier. Without lights cars, who seem to regard us as invisible fairly often anyway, have no chance of seeing us. I mention lights specifically thinking about the next Femme Pedale ride, 'Reclaim the Bad Weather Bike Ride' – with a 7pm start time, if you're coming, bring your lights!
2. Brakes in the rain – a story of personal tragedy
I've broken my bike, argh! This is a cautionary tale of why you should make sure BOTH your brakes actually work. So I'm cycling along in the rain, decide to pull over, apply my brakes – BOOM – my bike's balancing on its front wheel. (I'm told this is a 'nose manual'.) Landing on my feet with cat like grace (ahem) I then realise I've bent my forks so far back my wheel's almost touching the frame. Bike's out of action, and now I sadly watch all the people having fun cycling around in the sun.
Really should have fixed my dodgy back brake.
Anyway, bring your lights, make sure your brakes work, and join us...
September 10th – 7pm Central Library (also finishing point), for
Reclaim The Bad Weather Bike Ride!
To be fair though, if your forks bent as a result of pulling your front brake hard, then your forks were already catastrophically fucked - regardless of the condition of your brakes. I'd be careful with what bike parts you're using, I've seen peoples faces after their frames or forks have snapped, including a guy who had to have surgery to rebuild his cheekbone. Not nice.
ReplyDeleteOh no... are you going to keep the frame, or start afresh?
ReplyDelete