Am new to London, cycling to get around, the left side of the road, this forum. I searched and didn't come up with anything, so hope I'm not repeating any covered stuff.
I just took my first fall. It was completely my fault, had a bit of a wobble and flipped off. Actually the cars around were super nice about making sure I was okay. Luckily, only a scratched up elbow and knee. Remarkably, laptop is completely fine. I checked everything on the bike that I could think of and basically all I noticed is that the saddle has a scrape and the stem seems to have rotated a few degrees. Is there any good list of other things that I could check out -- I mean, some kind of checklist maybe that I could run down, perhaps to make a preliminary determination as to whether to take it in to the shop?
Thanks
The usual checklist I make is ...
Does the bike look fucked?
Jump back on bike and ride slowly until you are sure everything feels alright.
After 10 minutes you realise you have actually hurt yourself and you ache like fuck.
Seriously though, normally after taking a fall, the stem/handlebars will be on the piss and possibly the saddle, chain probably would have come off and you may have stuck a nice buckle in one of your wheels. After that most of the damage is cosmetic, scratched up brake levers etc.
Most bike kit is pretty tough and I have crashed enough times while under the influence that the bike is probably less likely to break than me.
The usual checklist I make is ...
Seriously though, normally after taking a fall, the stem/handlebars will be on the piss and possibly the saddle, chain probably would have come off and you may have stuck a nice buckle in one of your wheels. After that most of the damage is cosmetic, scratched up brake levers etc.
Most bike kit is pretty tough and I have crashed enough times while under the influence that the bike is probably less likely to break than me.