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Have you ever clotheslined yourself at high speed?

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NeedleBanger

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I just picked up a Pivot Mach 429 SL off pinkbike in pristine condition with all new Fox Factory suspension, and within 24 hours I went head first into a braided cable (ie. walking path divider) while going full speed on the bike. It was getting dark when it happened around 10:30pm, and I was blasting down a slightly slanted downward residential back alley in the fastest gear, and planning on riding between the wooden posts that separated the back alley from a large grassy field behind it. I couldn't even see the cable which was strung through the wooden posts because it was the exact same colour as everything else in the surrounding area - dull gray. Not to mention that it was completely nonsensical to string a metal cable through these wooden posts in the first place, but that's just my opinion. When I finally did look up and see that I was 25ft away from a collision I had exactly until the count of ONE to lock up the brakes, which did nothing anyway since I was on gravel. I hit that cable going 35-40 kmph and absolutely lawn-darted over the handlebars and into oblivion. I slashed up my leg and sprained both wrists but I couldn't care less about that, what really pissed me off was that during the impact the braided cable went over my front tire, gouged up my formerly mint condition kashima coated stanchion & scratched the hell out of the outer body of the fork, and stopped the bike dead in it's tracks once it reached the headset!!!! 24 hours in, wow 😎 A couple years ago I clotheslined myself on a tree branch while biking and it slashed my face open from my jaw to my cheekbone too.

Anybody else ever been clotheslined savagely?
 
#2 ·
1989, riding down Main Street in my hometown, following my friend, we had the same bike but he’s a bit taller and had cut his bars down. He rode underneath a sign that had 2posts, his bars were narrow enough, mine weren’t. I was going maybe 10mph, so I just ended up lunging forward, my toe lips held me on the bike!
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
Danhikeski said:
1989, riding down Main Street in my hometown, following my friend, we had the same bike but he’s a bit taller and had cut his bars down. He rode underneath a sign that had 2posts, his bars were narrow enough, mine weren’t. I was going maybe 10mph, so I just ended up lunging forward, my toe lips held me on the bike!
Click to expand...
Misery loves company, thanks for your story!
 
#4 ·
Clothesline myself into a steel cable on my Harley back in 73'...Caught it with my nose, flipped off of bike and landed on my ass. Got my nose stiched back up and had two black eyes...not sure why they had the entrance cabled off. Parking lot attenees wanted to call an ambulance...
 
#5 · (Edited)


Clotheslined by a tree branch. Was sudden enough that the grip pulled my glove off as I was knocked back. Ungloved hand got wrecked enough to not be able to hold the handlebar.
 
#6 ·
once years ago, hit a cable that was obstructed from my sight by some trees. I got hit across the chest and knocked me off the bike and scared me more than anything. Luckily I only suffered scratches and some bruising as it could have been a lot worse.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Yep. Well, almost. About a month ago I was on a mission to do my first 100k ride (did it! 🥳). About halfway into the ride I was going down this loose, rocky doubletrack road at around 30km/h. There was a corner, then a pretty small diameter chain strung across the road to stop cars coming up. The posts on the sides were bright red I think, however they were completely hidden by overgrown bushes, and I didn't see that skinny little chain at all.
Complete lockup at the absolute last second, bike sent me over the handlebars and the chain. I flew a good few meters, luckily I survived with only minor scrapes.
The bike stopped, and very gently rolled over the chain, using the two stanchions as a kind of pivot point... Left a few deep and long gouges on both my stanchions. It's "just" a Pike, but I bought a new air spring and had the damper tuned like 2-3 months ago, so I was pretty upset. My first thoughts were something like "f*ck I need to buy new forks, okay that's pretty sweet, but I wanted to spend my money on travelling this summer, goddamit!". Still rode the next five hours, maxed out the compression and on the downhills I pretty much sat on the rear wheel to prevent the fork moving as much as possible, so I wouldn't kill my seals and bushings. 😅

Got home, ordered a Sendhit stanchion repair kit immediately. The fork has been working
perfectly ever since luckily.
 
#8 ·
Be careful with this kind of incident- a girl in my neighborhood was riding a horse in a local park over 50 years ago and didn't see the branch that she hit, knocking her off. She was 17 at the time and she has been unable to leave her wheelchair since that happened.
 
#9 ·
I've never been clotheslined, but I just assume there are cables across posts unless I am sure there are not. I would not be testing out a new route like that at 40kph+ at night. I'd glad you are okay. Bike damage can be fixed. If you ended up unable to ride ever again that would have been awful.
 
#10 ·
Glad you are OK. I have a fuzzy recollection of a kid in CT getting killed doing something similar on an ATV several years ago. Maybe it was PA, or even MA.

In the early 90's I rode the same trail on consecutive days. Day 1 there was a large tree, about telephone pole sized, down in the middle of a high speed descent. I stopped and looked at it and decided there was enough room to get under it at speed if I ducked low enough. Day 2 I attempted the same thing, but another tree (about the size of my forearm) had come down overnight at chest level maybe 2 bike lengths past the first tree and was hidden from view during the approach. I saw it as I was coming out of my crouch and it caught me square in the upper chest taking me clean off the bike and knocking the wind out of me.

I was pretty sore for a long time and had some very interesting bruises on both arms and my chest, but nothing broken. It could have been much worse. To this day, I don't ride faster than my ability to stop in the amount of distance that I can clearly see ahead.
 
#12 ·
NeedleBanger said:
I just picked up a Pivot Mach 429 SL off pinkbike in pristine condition with all new Fox Factory suspension, and within 24 hours I went head first into a braided cable (ie. walking path divider) while going full speed on the bike. It was getting dark when it happened around 10:30pm, and I was blasting down a slightly slanted downward residential back alley in the fastest gear, and planning on riding between the wooden posts that separated the back alley from a large grassy field behind it. I couldn't even see the cable which was strung through the wooden posts because it was the exact same colour as everything else in the surrounding area - dull gray. Not to mention that it was completely nonsensical to string a metal cable through these wooden posts in the first place, but that's just my opinion. When I finally did look up and see that I was 25ft away from a collision I had exactly until the count of ONE to lock up the brakes, which did nothing anyway since I was on gravel. I hit that cable going 35-40 kmph and absolutely lawn-darted over the handlebars and into oblivion. I slashed up my leg and sprained both wrists but I couldn't care less about that, what really pissed me off was that during the impact the braided cable went over my front tire, gouged up my formerly mint condition kashima coated stanchion & scratched the hell out of the outer body of the fork, and stopped the bike dead in it's tracks once it reached the headset!!!! 24 hours in, wow 😎 A couple years ago I clotheslined myself on a tree branch while biking and it slashed my face open from my jaw to my cheekbone too.

Anybody else ever been clotheslined savagely?
Click to expand...
Was the cable between all the posts or just that section?

My apologies for asking, but I'm curious.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I was clotheslined by a guy who boobytrap a trail in San Antonio, TX on multiple occasions in the early/mid 2000s. I heard he got caught several times and eventually served time. The bare metal wire/cable was thick enough that I saw it as I rounded a high-speed corner, I couldn't stop in time, but did manage to throw a shoulder into it rather than face, neck or torso. I got a nasty welt from sliding across the metal cable.
 
#14 ·
GlazedHam said:
I was clotheslined by a guy who boobytrap a trail in San Antonio, TX on multiple occasions in the early/mid 2000s. I heard he got caught several times and eventually served time. The bare metal wire/cable was thick enough that I saw it as I rounded a high-speed corner, I couldn't stop in time, but did manage to throw should into it rather than face, neck or torso. I got a nasty welt from sliding across the metal cable.
Click to expand...
That's really low, but there's a lot that hold malice towards those on 2 wheels. 😑
 
#15 ·
You’re very lucky not to seriously hurt or dead. When I was young (probably 7 or 8) we got to the park to see some older kids had set up a string across a dirt jump and were going under it to go over the jump if that makes sense. We all did a few times. Another kid came around a blind corner as fast as he could without knowing the string had been put up. It sliced deep into his neck and nearly took his head off. He was in the hospital for a long time, had a terrible scar across his neck when he came back, and talked with a raspy voice ever since. I’ve had cancer multiple times snd that’s damn near the most traumatic thing I’ve ever been through…and I was a bystander who just saw it happen. Your bike can be fixed.
 
Discussion starter · #16 ·
HollyBoni said:
Yep. Well, almost. About a month ago I was on a mission to do my first 100k ride (did it! 🥳). About halfway into the ride I was going down this loose, rocky doubletrack road at around 30km/h. There was a corner, then a pretty small diameter chain strung across the road to stop cars coming up. The posts on the sides were bright red I think, however they were completely hidden by overgrown bushes, and I didn't see that skinny little chain at all.
Complete lockup at the absolute last second, bike sent me over the handlebars and the chain. I flew a good few meters, luckily I survived with only minor scrapes.
The bike stopped, and very gently rolled over the chain, using the two stanchions as a kind of pivot point... Left a few deep and long gouges on both my stanchions. It's "just" a Pike, but I bought a new air spring and had the damper tuned like 2-3 months ago, so I was pretty upset. My first thoughts were something like "f*ck I need to buy new forks, okay that's pretty sweet, but I wanted to spend my money on travelling this summer, goddamit!". Still rode the next five hours, maxed out the compression and on the downhills I pretty much sat on the rear wheel to prevent the fork moving as much as possible, so I wouldn't kill my seals and bushings. 😅

Got home, ordered a Sendhit stanchion repair kit immediately. The fork has been working
perfectly ever since luckily.

View attachment 1986487
Click to expand...
Jesus christ thats what happened to my stanchion too but mine is more of a spiralling ropeburn pattern 🤦‍♂️
 
Discussion starter · #17 ·
vikb said:
I've never been clotheslined, but I just assume there are cables across posts unless I am sure there are not. I would not be testing out a new route like that at 40kph+ at night. I'd glad you are okay. Bike damage can be fixed. If you ended up unable to ride ever again that would have been awful.
Click to expand...
I'll absolutely be doing that from now on!
 
Discussion starter · #18 ·
n00b 4ir said:
Was the cable between all the posts or just that section?

My apologies for asking, but I'm curious.
Click to expand...
The cable ran between all the posts for a length of roughly 40-50 feet in total, and the very last link was left open for people to walk through. It was around the corner & out of eyeshot from where I went flying, conveniently.
I managed to mangle myself way worse last night when I went flying over the handlebars, again, while cutting through a construction site 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ I jumped down a decent little drop and into a ditch and landed in fricking quicksand which stopped me dead in my tracks and WEEEEEEE over the handlebars faceplant straight into the stickiest clay mud **** I've ever encountered (probably discard cement knowing my luck), everything was 100% caked after that - straight to the nearest carwash, bent bars all over the place, you know how it goes. I made it a point to take it easy today! 8 days ago I snapped a seat post clean off in my ass crack while landing a jump on a steep trail at the local bike park, that one left me with some lovely purple bruising...
It's been a lively week I'll say that much.
 
#20 ·
When I was a teenager I did something similar on my dirt bike. It was an unfinished cul-de-sac in my buddy's neighborhood that had trails we rode on all the time at the end of. Cable was always on the ground for years, not suspended except this one time. I hit it in 3rd gear or so maybe about 25-30 mph, it caught on the forks/triple clamp and ripped it out of one of the 4x4 posts. I still had plenty of momentum and it came up over the handlebars and wrapped around my neck two or three times, the looped end smacked my helmet and cracked it, then unwrapped. I was fully stopped a few feet after the unwrap. Totally not injured, just needed a new number plate and some new underwear.
 
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