Hi, I'm a complete beginner and I'm riding a road bike for the first time. I bought one now and fell straight onto the gears on my first ride. I'm not used to the click shoes yet. I'm a bit paranoid now that I might have already broken something. How would I recognise that directly?
by Party_Compote_7826
7 Comments
Inspect frame for cracks.
For shifting- Does it still work? If yes keep riding. If no maybe bring to shop for fix.
If it shifts fine and derailleur doesn’t wobble, its likely just a cosmetic.
If you are just learning, you can change the setting on your pedals and it should be easier to unclip. Also make sure your seat isn’t too high.
It happens. My chain dropped at high speeds on my first ride last year. Scratched up the crank pretty bad.
use a black marker pen to touch up on that scratch.
if anything is broken it would most likely be the derailleur hanger. check for hairline cracks or if it’s bent.
I feel you. I’ve been riding for over a year and recently rode a demo bike from a nearby LBS and fell for the first time on a $7000 bike. Similar to you, I scratched the rear derailleur, shift leveler and pedals but thankfully no frame damage.
Scraped up my leg and hand pretty bad but honestly didn’t even care because the fall probably will cost me $500 for them to fix the bike.
All in all though, just remember our bodies are the most inportant and as long as you have no long term body damage and the frame isn’t damage, it always could’ve been much worse and in the long run it will just be a story.
I agree with others, test out your gearing but likely it’s just cosmetic and you can probably get some touch up paint if you’d like for the scratches.
Stay safe and have fun
Sorry to read that 🙁 for unclipping, it takes practice and a lot of practice so it becomes second nature, and you can do it without having to think about it. Stay positive, we all went through it at some point.
It looks mostly cosmetic to me, but the tips from the others are useful. For the click pedals, I installed it first on my old city bike, practiced clipping in and out, fell a couple of times until I got comfortable to put it on my new bike lol. Also as someone else suggested, you should change the setting in your pedal to the lowest tension so that it is much easier to unclip.