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holy smokes I ever scare the sweet lovin' bejeesus out of me today...

thought I'd take the bayview extension to pottery road, and for those that don't know it, it's a windy, long hill... .it's easy to hit 50+km/h on a mountain bike... which is exactly what I was doing when, as usual, I observed the traffic getting jammed up in the lefthand turn lane to go onto pottery road. THinking I was going as fast as traffic at that point, so why not do the proper etiquette thing and get in the lefthand turn lane myself?

so I check behind me, coast is clear, when I look forward, and notice that some guy cut on an angle from the inside lane to the turning lane, but not all the way into the turning lane... traffic to my left, the nice open space leading from the middle lane I was currently in to the turning lane (blocking my planned exit strategy if traffic wouldn' let me merge)...

and sure enough traffic wouldn't let me merge.... so now I had to cut back out to the right hand lane and shoulder to miss this freakin car that seemed only a car length's away at 50kph... so I panicked, grabbed a handful of front brake, but also caught too much back brake as I started my swerve back out...

now at 40kph and sliding sideways on my freakin' mountainbike towards the back end of a car... then an old voice I haven't heard in a while told me to get my hand off the rear brake, and start looking somewhere other than the bumper I was headed towards... the back, now free to roll, snapped back to the right just as I tucked my hips to the right, and I swear I just barely missed the sheet metal of the car... and in the next 30 meters, I was somehow able to get the squirrley bike under control, and 'drift' through the intersection...

I don't even know how I did it because a part of my brain was telling my body what to do, and the other part of my brain was figuring out just how much this was gonna hurt.... I haven't been that scared on my moutainbike in a long time... think I'll find a bit more safer route down that way next time.

glad to hear you are alright.. you've got MaDD SkiLLz.. someone with less experience (like me) would probably have gone down hard in that situation

Damn, i have had some scary moments while on my bike in my years but notin that close and facked up, good to see your alright and that's some wicked ass skills on a bike to, drifting a mountain bike :lol:

Thats sweet steve .. animal instincts...

Now you'll know not to diss women on the net.

You know GOD is a woman, right?

holy s**t.

i hope you went for a beer after that. :o

wow yeah, that would have HURT!

Start the day with a new lease on life.....

ANTHONYD,Jul 13 2005, 08:32 AM Wrote:holy s**t.

i hope you went for a beer after that. :o
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i was on my way to volleyball where i sweated my sweet ass off for another 2 hours before riding back home.

I took a ball to the side of the head while talking on my cellphone, spraining 2 fingers and dropping the cellphone into the sand, and when I got home, my airconditioner was not running because it melted the power bar (12amp air con, 15 amp power bar).

my karma is running on empty.

i doubt my little 'power slide' on my bike was about as beautiful as a 270lb sweaty guy can make it while he's totally out of control.

thats the reason I have 2 8inch disk brake on my rig.

never underestimate the power of stopping. :P

plus its sweet to pull some endo's on a mtb... :lol:

french_connection,Jul 13 2005, 09:18 AM Wrote:thats the reason I have 2 8inch disk brake on my rig.

never underestimate the power of stopping.  :P

plus its sweet to pull some endo's on a mtb...  :lol:
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oh, I have old school magura racelines (with brodie brake boosters)... I've crushed rims with those badboys. but they have the full length brake lever, which I love for extra power and modulation... the short 'ergo' levers they have these days suck.

I'm used to doing endos, stoppies and front pivots on my bike, I do it with disc brakes and grap the same amount of brake on the short levers and 8" discs, and I'm flying over the handlebars.

DORIFTU!!!!


i wanna start riding my bike again.


How much would it be to convert it to disc brakes.

scoobasteve,Jul 13 2005, 01:16 PM Wrote:DORIFTU!!!!


i wanna start riding my bike again.


How much would it be to convert it to disc brakes.
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if you have disc brake tabs, it's easy... if you don't, you would have to buy a new fork, and then you could get an adapter that will give you rear disc capability.

But I strongly suggest against it.

1) the rear disc adapter will create stress risers in places the frame may not be able to cope with.
2) a new suspension fork should be the same travel, offset, etc of the fork you already have to ensure that you don't change the geometry of the bike. big forks can increase your wheelbase and head angles to make the bike rather unwieldly.

To convert your bike to discs front AND rear, you're going to spend at least a $1000 on the fork, adapters, and wheels and then another $500-$1000 on brakes, when you could just buy a lower-model rig with mechanical discs for the same total cost.

Mmmm disc brakes. Then I'd have as many discs on my bike as I do on the Focus :D :lol:

disc brakes are nice, but they're not an absolute 'must have' for the riding 90% of the population does...

in vancouver, bike shops are constantly busy rebuilding people's disc brake calipers and pistons... you NEVER see that outside the westcoast... the brakes are hardly used to their full potential here.

But they are trick, and for dirt jumpers and the like, a much welcomed convenience (a bent wheel rides smoother with a disc brake than with canti's or v-brakes).

my suggestion is, ride until you're breaking things, then replace them with better parts... you'll know for sure when you NEED disc brakes, and then you can go and spend the money on them.

Yeah, eventually i wanna buy a new bike too. any reccomendations under the $1000 level?

scoobasteve,Jul 13 2005, 01:49 PM Wrote:Yeah, eventually i wanna buy a new bike too.  any reccomendations under the $1000 level?
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I have to check some out, but as a rule of thumb, at under $1000, stay with front suspension at the most, and make sure the bulk of the money is spent on the fork and frame.

I think you should be able to find something with mechanical disc brakes, but expect to upgrade other components as they break. Usually at that price point, the 1st thing I'd upgrade are the cranks, as they tend to be a bit flimsy for the heavy-set at that price point.

dang Steve, glad you made it out!

Now, looking back, was it just a little fun?? at all? :) they say if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space!

BrooksZX3,Jul 13 2005, 06:01 PM Wrote:dang Steve, glad you made it out! 

Now, looking back, was it just a little fun??  at all? :)  they say if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space!
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Right when you said "i drifted through the intersection", this is what popped into my head...

DRIFT YO!!

When i was in Shanghai, i was hop-scotching all in and out of traffic and other bikes, going fatser than most traffic. And my buddy in front of me saw a truck in the side street coming out, so he went and hoped the curb going super fast.

I saw him and was like "i cant be a punk, i gotta go hard or go home...

went to hop the curb, lifted to early slammed right into the curb, over the handle bars, skid across the side walk.

All i hear is al the Chinese people yell "Ai-yA!!" which is like "OUCH, or OH MY" i guess...

i got banged up pretty bad, but i just picked my bike up and started bolting
my buddy was laughing so hard he was crying...bastard