Just a few comments on pedal strike. As others have mentioned, it is scarey as all get out when it happens. I would encourage you though that it's not inherently catastrophic. The momentum you and the bike possess when moving forward is pretty significant, and it's mostly the _reaction_ to the strike that gets you in trouble.
(and those of you who have been on the list for a while have heard me mention this idea before on bike-to-bike-tire-overlap-contact and dropping-into-expansion-crack-surprises.) If you contact the ground near the bottom of the pedal stroke, your foot and the pedal will be through the bottom of the stroke probably faster than you can react. If you have a strike when your foot is forward of bottom dead center, you will probably find you stop pedaling (assuming a coastable drivetrain) rather than push through and lever the rear wheel off the ground. It is probably a good exercise to lean your bike with the pedal at 6 o'clock to see how far you can actually lean before you hit. I have one bike - a 650B conversion - which had a reasonably low bb to start and is extremely easy to drag a pedal. But, with most setups, you actually have to go over pretty far. Of course, riding fixed is a whole different animal, as you can't stop pedaling and you do have enough momentum to lever yourself off the ground with a pedal strike. One of the nice benefits of learning to ride on a direct drive setup is that you find you can modify bike lean versus body position. I don't corner quite the same way on a fixed setup, but in general I'm able to corner just as quickly and sharply. hope that makes sense. - Jim / cyclofiend.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/oNhqdK8zYk0J. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
