manhole cover on corner....ow....slide crunch ow

Get well soon Baggazee.
I always try and ride around manhole covers, but they put some of them in totally stupid places.

Hey 'Zee, sorry to hear and hope the painkillers are doing their job.

Surely worthwhile reporting the incident? I know when I had my off that Westminster Council were there within half an hour to patch up the hole where a manhole cover that was sinking may have contributed to the crash.

Not helful right now, but I was interested to read the article in MCN about road planners being expected to be more bike-friendly in future - ie not putting manhole covers in stupid places. Not holding out much hope, but if they can do ti on the continent....

Originally Posted by BigApe

I have actually high sided going over a manhole cover. In fairness it was my own fault to a degree. I went out for a rather rapid trip with friends. I got close to home and slowed down to more acceptable speeds, but the Adrenalin was still flowing. I went round a corner doing about 25mph and leaned into the corner and shifted my @rse off the seat. It was as it was starting to fall over that a realised that I was going nowhere near fast enough to be hanging off the bike and it was going to fall over. The only thing I could do was yank the throttle and speed up to keep the bike from falling over. At this precise moment the rear wheel went over the manhole cover. Needless to say the rear span on the cover. It stopped spinning when it got back on the tarmac, causing the high side. I shot up in the air and did a somersault before I hit the ground again. With a round of applause from some workmen working on a near by scaffolding, I watched my bike slide down the road. Sparks were flying and plastic bits and pieces were dropping off as it slid down the road. No bother I thought, all these bits are more or less easy enough to fix. But then I realised that it was heading for the curb, not good. It hit the curb front wheel first, the suspension compressed and then catapulted by bike in the air, did a half spin and landed back on the ground. End result was a totally written off front end. and both sides trashed. DOH

Simon - it ain't funny at all - but you do make me laugh. Every time you come off you do it with such style

I have to admit I wasn't laughing much at the time. But when the other three guys that I was riding with started taking the p I couldn't help but laugh with that at me. Bike took a couple of weeks to fix and my injuries were no more than a broken thumb.

Errr sorry didn't mean to steal anyone's thread here. I'll just shut up now and climb back under my rock

Originally Posted by BigApe

I have to admit I wasn't laughing much at the time. But when the other three guys that I was riding with started taking the p I couldn't help but laugh with that at me. Bike took a couple of weeks to fix and my injuries were no more than a broken thumb.

Errr sorry didn't mean to steal anyone's thread here. I'll just shut up now and climb back under my rock

Laughing hurts!

Glad to hear that it'll only be a few weeks until all's well. Also glad my crash was so much less stylish & spectacular!
So, on to the important things, how long am I likely to be sitting at home watching DVDs and reading the forum then?

Originally Posted by BaggaZee

So, on to the important things, how long am I likely to be sitting at home watching DVDs and reading the forum then?

I'd say it depends on what you do for a living. My ribs stopped hurting when walking (on crutches ) after about three or four weeks. But then I had 11 broken. I would say another couple of weeks after that you'll be back to normal

Sorry hear about your off BaggaZee. As they say it all takes time for the pain to go. DVD and Forum mungus then!

ADSL router died, great timing!!
Finally got a replacement.

Well, went to the Doc's on Thursday last & he said another 4 weeks & signed me off! I thought that was ridiculous & told work I'd probably be back in a couple of weeks but they told me that if the Doc's signed 4 weeks, I have to stay off 4 weeks! Something to do with insurance probably.
Shame!

Originally Posted by Clunk

I guess its just not a high enough priority for them to do something about it. Until people start successfully sueing the utility companies for causing accidents they wont do anything about it.

My dad is a civil servant who may or may not work in a position of some importance in the scottish executive regarding new motorways and trunk roads. He gets very ****ed at the state of city roads in edinburgh. But he acknowledges that they are not going to repair them till the cost of compensation outweighs the cost of repairing them. And as a report (was it..) last year stated that the cost of fixing edinburgh's roads would be £1.5 billion, that's not going to be any time soon.

As for manhole placement, I noticed as I went into uni today the turn into george square had three rows of three manhole covers within a meter of each other, in the centre of the turn. I was just glad I was only doing about 5 miles an hour.

And I feel for you, with your off, I know how horrible thinking 'This is really going to hurt' as you slide along the ground is.

[northwind]

Edinburgh's roads only seem bad till you go somewhere whee they're really bad- Glenrothes springs to mind...