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Comment by jrockway | Hacker News Reader

But I can't imagine falling at 20mph... it's bad enough falling at 12.5mph, believe me.

I've never ridden a segway, but I have crashed my bike at this speed. I imagined that it would be really bad, but having done it a few times, it is really not that bad. You are moving parallel to the ground, so most of the energy is absorbed by the pavement slowly grinding the top layer of your skin off. Somewhat painful, and very bloody, but not life threatening.

I imagine that riding into a wall at 20mph would be pretty bad, though. All that energy instantly acting to crush your bones and internal organs. I haven't actually tried it, so this is just speculation. (Please report back if you try it ;)

(Oh, and as for the helment; I always wear one, but I have never landed on it while crashing. Let your arms and legs do the work :) I think you have to do something weird to land on your head.)

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I managed to land on my head n the middle of the road from a bicycle accident when I was in high school. I hit a pothole and me and the bike went slightly different directions, I was tucking to roll when the top bar of the bike came down across my ankle and stopped the roll. That was the closest I have ever come to being knocked out, and it was very, very close.

EDIT: Although I was very dazed at the time, my ankle was actually injured worse than my head.

I hit a concrete block in the road once, and I think I went over the handlebars. I hit my face, though, not the helmet :(

Hey, I even have a picture: http://rants.jrock.us/post/55729583/good-idea-riding-your-bi...

This was a long while back, I wasn't wearing a helmet, no body I knew back then even had a bike helmet.

>> I think you have to do something weird to land on your head.

Not weird, just reckless. Like tolerating faulty rear breaks for a little while. What was I thinking :)... Anyway, the helmet took it and the dog that prompted the full stop got away unscratched...

Yeah, gotta be careful with respect to maintenance. I crashed earlier this summer because I shifted my chain into the spokes, locking the rear wheel in a turn. I knew the limit screw was set improperly, but I figured it was not enough to cause any problems. Well, I was wrong. I landed on my leg, though, and unclipped quickly enough that I didn't even scratch myself too badly. (Threadlock is your friend, BTW, so the limit screws don't unscrew themselves. I still pull the derailer cable before each ride to make sure the chain can't be shifted off the cogs, though.)

Also, did you use your front brake? I tend to see my rear brakes as a backup; I use it if the front brake fails, if the front wheel has poor traction, or if I'm descending and just want to slow the acceleration. The front brake can develop about 5x more stopping force, since the front wheel can't skid. And, if you are used to using it, you won't go over the handlebars in an emergency. http://sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

>>Also, did you use your front brake?

I used both but only the front worked. So I landed on my helmet, bike on top. Quite the other way than you, I tend to use mostly the rear break. Not being used to rely on the front, not in a "to the floor" way anyway is what got me. That and the lack of proper adjustment tolerated to the rear one.

Also, nice link. Thanks.

You have to use them both and learn how to apply more or less of one or the other depending on the circumstances.

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