fishtailing on new road bike!

[SadieKate]

Good point about the braking. I think my fishtail was the turn combined with the tomato soup in which I was riding. Not recommended riding conditions. Maybe if it had been marinara.

[maillotpois]

Definitely braking is the consistent factor here.

Mine was new brake pads, SK was riding through Campbell's soup and braking, V braked too hard in a turn - perhaps since this is a "new bike" you don't quite have a feel for the brakes yet. Or maybe the brakes are adjusted a bit tight so it doesn't take much pressure to give you a bit too much brake power. You may want to get the brakes looked at.

[aka_kim]

The only time I've fishtailed when not braking was in high cross winds when my headset was loose and I was going too fast. If there wasn't wind or something slick on the pavement, check your bike.

My scariest fishtail - I braked too hard on a downhill (Mt Diablo) on wet pavement when a car coming uphill rounded a corner in my lane. I was flashing on Beloki's horrible fishtailing and crash at TdF since that was how I was fishtailing - and flashed too on smashing into the grill of the still approaching car - before I just managed to get the bike under control and steer around the car.

[wiseowl]

I am pretty sure i wasn't braking, but maybe i was applying pressure to the brakes without realizing it. It was windy out...hmmm.

[Veronica]

T I was flashing on Beloki's horrible fishtailing and crash at TdF since that was how I was fishtailing.

That's funny, I had the same vision. He never really got back to form either. That's sad.

V.

[redrhodie]

Notice one more consistent thing here, Wise....it seems like we all recovered from our fishtails. I'm just pointing this out so you know it happens sometimes, and you shouldn't be too scared to ride. I felt like it was luck that I didn't fall, but maybe your body knows instinctively what to do. Or, we're all just lucky!

Another tip--when goind downhill, sit up on the saddle, and get into a less aerodynamic position. This may bring your weight back over the rear tire, and slow you down slightly, making bike handling more manageable. Someone told me to do this after I fishtailed. It hasn't happened to me again.

[MaineMaid]

Weellll, I'm gonna plunge into this discussion with some trepidation since I'm such a new rider. However, one of the people I work with asked me in the spring,(when I had just begun riding), if I had discovered "convergence" yet. Um...no, I replied. What is it? It appears to do with physics and it occurs on bikes when the wind is coming across the bike and hitting one of the wheels. We'd normally think that the wind would push the wheel in the direction its blowing from, but what happens is the force of the wind on the spinning wheel actually makes the wheel buckle INTO the wind. When the wind gust stops, you/we/me , on the bike struggle to keep the bike upright because now the pressure from the wind has been released. In my very short time on the bike I've felt it a lot here in Maine.
Does any of my drivel help you reconstruct the event???

Jan in Maine

[DirtDiva]

As long as your front end is pointed where you want it, your back end can move quite a lot before you're in real trouble. You get a bit more practice at it riding on dirt, but it does hold true on the road too.