Basalt st crash

[jszorady]

Decided to take a quick ride on my new mokwheel basalt st. Long story short, I lost control after hitting some loose gravel. I hit the ground hard on my right shoulder. After a stay at the ER X-ray showed a broken scapula and some fractured ribs. Hurts like h$##. I think my bike riding days are over for the next few months. One thing I learned, at 69 years old I don't bounce like I did at 13.

The bike suffered minor damage.
I fully intend to ride again. I think I may lower my seat a bit to bring down the center of gravity. I may also bleed the tire a few psi for better ground contact. Sucks to be me right now.

 

[Mysery]

Feel for you. No more bounce for me either, just go splat.

 

[addertooth]

Hmm, rear wheel powered 750 watt bike. It runs Chao Yang tires. I took those tires off my eBike due to their disappointing performance.
I would consider a tire upgrade, if traction is the issue, long before I would fiddle with tire pressure. Those are not high pressure tires to begin with.

 

[jszorady]

What tires would you recommend?

 

[addertooth]

I would first ask: "What is the common surface you ride on". Then I would ask "what is the worst surface/terrain you ride on".

Desired terrain and surface define what tire best matches your needs. But right now, I have two Chao Yang tires sitting in the car port. They will likely go to my step-son, when he wears out his tires. They Won't go back on my bike. I found there was too much flex in the sidewalls, especially during critical cornering. The carcass was very thin too, and more prone to punctures.

 

[jszorady]

Thanks for the reply.
It happened so fast, I'm not sure what went wrong except I do know the front wheel went down first . My panicked reaction was to brake both wheels at once, but in hindsight I probably should have used just the back wheel brake.
Chances of recovery would have most likely improved.

 

[addertooth]

These things happen. It is all part of the learning curve. Even experienced riders have mishaps. Mend quickly, and get back to enjoying life.

 

[Smaug]

Sorry to hear you went down and busted yourself up, my man.

"Hit some loose gravel" is a tough one. If it's gravel on top of pavement, it's almost like ball bearings to a person on any kind of bike. With your eFatty, you had a better chance than most due to the larger contact area of the fat tire. As you say, less pressure would make that area even larger, at the expense of battery life. However, on pavement, I would probably still run the 20 psi and just avoid gravel as much as possible. The problem is that sometimes, we don't see it until we're upon it, for example on a freshly chip-sealed road.

On a 20x4 fat tire, the max recommended pressure is usually 20 psi. That would be for pavement. On a gravel or dirt road, you'd want to go even lower, to enlarge the contact patches. Some people carry pumps with them, so they can deflate the tires a bit when unpaved roads are encountered, then inflate again when pavement starts.

Get well soon!

 

[jszorady]

Thanks.
Doc says recovery will take a couple of months.
Goodby summer.

 

[HumanPerson]

pool exercises

 

[Smaug]

Thanks.
Doc says recovery will take a couple of months.
Goodby summer.

I see you're in Cleveland.
August is still hot.
September can be hot or mild.
October - November can be rainy & cold, but if you dress for the weather, there's still lots of riding days.

Chin up!