The mysterious curse of the bi-wheeled mechanical contraption
Arse.
So I was trundling into work this morning, thinking to myself "this is so much more convenient than the infrequent bus with a lengthy walk at each end of the day," and I was easing off the throttle approaching a busy Gloscester Road (from Waverley road, if you care), when I noticed to my considerable dismay that my footbrake had disappeared from beneath my foot.
"Oh dear," says I, "how will I stop my bike from cheerfully zooming into a cross-stream of fast traffic now?"
Well, I released the throttle and tried my first real emergency stop - with only the front brake. I'm quite impressed with myself that my instinctive reaction to the front wheel starting to skid was to ease off the brake, rather than the newbie kamakazi reaction of "AHHH losing control... Must... Brake..HARDER..."
So as I skid and slid closer to the stampede of oblivious armoured death machines I planned my escape, as I really didn't want to break any more bits of me - that'd really put a crimp on my day.
At this stage I must heartily thank the countless people who implemented wheelchair access to all junctions where pedestrians cross roads... I pulled off a fantastic sharp turn onto the pavement, coming to a controlled stop a couple of metres later.
The transmission between the lever and brakes had come away. Damn. While wheeling the bike to a suitable parking space the transmission pressed against the ground and bent to an unusable shape. Damn.
I managed to catch the bus into work, and was only 10 mins late, but was too late for a canteen breakfast.
Since I'm bussing home, I'll be an hour later than expected, so I expect I'll miss dinner too.
The bright side is that I kept control and didn't even scratch myself this time. The damage to the bike isn't going to cost much, and it broke down conveniently close to Kellaway Av., where I'm told there is a competant workshop (which I was planning to visit soon anyway). Unfortunately I've got no idea when I'll find time to get the bike to the garage.
(the curse being that I only get 3 days use out of it before it breaks)
ADDENDUM: can any House of Goth resident reading this please leave a comment so I know you know I'll be too late for dinner. I guess I'll pick up something simple to eat on the way back.
So I was trundling into work this morning, thinking to myself "this is so much more convenient than the infrequent bus with a lengthy walk at each end of the day," and I was easing off the throttle approaching a busy Gloscester Road (from Waverley road, if you care), when I noticed to my considerable dismay that my footbrake had disappeared from beneath my foot.
"Oh dear," says I, "how will I stop my bike from cheerfully zooming into a cross-stream of fast traffic now?"
Well, I released the throttle and tried my first real emergency stop - with only the front brake. I'm quite impressed with myself that my instinctive reaction to the front wheel starting to skid was to ease off the brake, rather than the newbie kamakazi reaction of "AHHH losing control... Must... Brake..HARDER..."
So as I skid and slid closer to the stampede of oblivious armoured death machines I planned my escape, as I really didn't want to break any more bits of me - that'd really put a crimp on my day.
At this stage I must heartily thank the countless people who implemented wheelchair access to all junctions where pedestrians cross roads... I pulled off a fantastic sharp turn onto the pavement, coming to a controlled stop a couple of metres later.
The transmission between the lever and brakes had come away. Damn. While wheeling the bike to a suitable parking space the transmission pressed against the ground and bent to an unusable shape. Damn.
I managed to catch the bus into work, and was only 10 mins late, but was too late for a canteen breakfast.
Since I'm bussing home, I'll be an hour later than expected, so I expect I'll miss dinner too.
The bright side is that I kept control and didn't even scratch myself this time. The damage to the bike isn't going to cost much, and it broke down conveniently close to Kellaway Av., where I'm told there is a competant workshop (which I was planning to visit soon anyway). Unfortunately I've got no idea when I'll find time to get the bike to the garage.
(the curse being that I only get 3 days use out of it before it breaks)
ADDENDUM: can any House of Goth resident reading this please leave a comment so I know you know I'll be too late for dinner. I guess I'll pick up something simple to eat on the way back.