At least the gogoro has a loud enough whining sound to let you know it’s there
Another reason to absolutely hate on Toyota Prius!
Never thought I’d be sharing about a dangerous moment since I usually ride pretty conservatively, but there was one during my ride out to Shiding the other day. I was coming down the 47-1 from the 9. A lovely road, well shaded. All you hear was sounds of birds, monkeys and rustling of leaves, and the best part – there was zero traffic (unlike the 9). Going down a road like this is as close to cycling perfection as you could ask for. About midway down the mountain, the canopy of trees suddenly opens up, and you get a stunning view of the mountain where you just had coffee 20 minutes ago (at Helen’s). For a couple of seconds I was mesmerized. It’s been a few years since I rode down this road and I had forgotten this amazing view. So I took a good look, without realizing that I was traveling over 50 kph. Then I felt the bumps. Turned out I had veered off the lane and was riding over the gravel that was on the side of the road. I started shouting out of panic and dogs in a nearby farmhouse started barking back. Somehow I stayed on the bike and steered it back into the lane. Somehow my tires weren’t punctured. In a pool of cold sweat, I continued the descent down the mountain, now at half the speed I was going, and kept my eyes fixed on the road all the way down to Shiding. Yep, gotta keep your eyes fixed on the road as you descend.
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Guy died on the nine just near the 47-1 turn off coupla days ago.
I love the 47-1.
Good to hear!
Having to share roads with large vehicle is why I don’t like cycling. In Taiwan potholes are not as common but in Austin they are almost everywhere. That was why I stopped biking there (in addition to cars not really yielding, and Austin is extremely hilly).
The 9 is not a pleasant road to bike on with the trucks and big motorcycles. Sure Xueshan tunnel has greatly reduced the traffic, but it’s still unpleasant. Many big bikes think they now own it. But I’m willing to put up with it for the lovely ride down the 47-1.
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Really? what happened? I know both 47 and 47-I, but I have them a bit mixed in my mind. Have done them several times but not on bicycle.
Lost control descending? Same way everyone goes.
It could have been a car or a bus or a truck or a motorcycle or a scooter… Or a flat and then going into the other lane like another rider in yms a couple of years ago.
I’ve had some close calls, but the one that keeps repeating that I never tend to change up is the descent down from YMS to Jin Shan. I always tell myself that I’ll just take it slow as I sometimes worry a small gust of side wind will send me rolling down the hill at 60-70kph.
Near the end of the descent, there’s a short secction that you can hit your max speed and at that time, my front wheel tends to wobble a bit. At this point, I am ready go tumbling, but somehow hold on and the grade settles so my speed slows.
Not sure if it’s my handling/wheel/bike, but have to remind myself to take it easy on that downhill, but sometimes speed is just too much fun.
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That must be very close to where I saw this motorcycle (a beautiful GS) in two pieces, a guy laying down next to a blood pool and her girlfriend or wife in the ditch. Also a blue truck next to them.
Stop cheaping out in those components 
what a shitty troll face…
You should not be moving at 60kph on a bike. The bearing and stuff isn’t designed for that kind of speed. You’d need heavier bearings, like the kind used on scooters. But it would add weight, in the worst part of the bike too.
And if you wanted to slide down a hill at that speed you need better brake too, like disc brakes or something.
Really? can you link any reliable source to that? Or you just made it up?
Leave alone that for the same speed, a scooter’s wheel spins much more than a bicycle wheel.
This is why. When wheel starts to wobble and all that, that’s the bike telling you that you’re going way faster than it’s safe. Of course you’re not going to know until the bearing gives out at speed and then you’re in a world of hurt.
Vehicle safety is no laughing matter. This is why people soup up their scooters. If you want to go fast you need to upgrade your brake, suspension, everything.
Waiting…
A wheel wobble or a whole bike shake? these are two different things. Wheel wobbles can come from a worn or loose wheel bearing (usually one each at left and right ends of front axle), or insufficient compression of the axle and bearings inside the forks… they can unwind over time, and often just need a pair of 5 mm Allen wrenches to tighten them up. Or something like that, varies for each design: cone spanners, etc…
or it can be a badly weighted front wheel, where there is a heavy spot on one rim. Used to be more of an issue with steel wheels that were welded into a hoop with a butt-plate opposite the valve hole . Or you have a heavy spot in a badly made tube, or whatever.
but many bikes actually have a resonant frequency that gets activated at a particular speed. Steel frames suffered more from this, because carbon and aluminum frames were so stiff that the resonant frequency was way higher than the speeds likely to travel at. To reduce this, you can adjust weights in the handlebar, or add damping material inside frame tubes to play with their resonance. It’s usually a combination of things too, like handlebar compliance, stem length, chain stay length, weight over the front or rear, etc.
if it happens to you, ride through it! either go faster or go slower, or wait for the road surface texture to change. Don’t try to resist too much: stiff arms make it worse. you can dampen some vibrations by squeezing your knee against the top tube, or changing hand positions in the drops.
I have gone well over 100km/h a couple of times in the right circumstances (check out the main road descent over Roseville Bridge in Sydney), and wheel bearings are fine for that as long as they are well maintained. Riders in big races easily do 80-90 km/h on a regular basis.
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Good advice. Go faster. Don’t pussy out.
Sean Kelly would be the go to guy on this.
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this happened to me on a hardtail mountain bike once, on a long down hill on a rutted and corrugated dirt road in Australia. damn thing vibrated so much i had absolutely zero grip, just chattering away on top of the ridges, unable to do much at all… just kept hammering away and eventually the road surface changed frequency so i did too.
so sore in the nuts after that. like riding a jackhammer rather than a broomstick.
Oh, I would not believe that for a second. Have you seen an individual time trial where pro riders are riding at an average 52kph on flat surfaces?
It’s definitely something wrong with my bike or me, not the way the bike was designed.
I think it’s this. My bike is 7kg and almost all the weight is in the rear. Stem is aluminum, but it’s light. Bars are carbon, but also on the light side. Nonetheless, this wobbling has happened to me with both 32mm carbon wheel set weighing something around 700g with tube and tires and 38mm alu wheel set weighing at around 850g.
I do not think this happens to me with my disc brake bike that weighs 8.7kg vs my rim that is give or take 7kg.