Forced to "upgrade" my leash

[Smoother]

I have wheeled over 800 km but I ALWAYS use a leash, to keep my wheel from running off over a cliff, etc.  On Sunday I was forced to upgrade my leash, I guess Lassie ( my wheel) was tired of the old one.

so, what happened? you ask.

well, I was riding along minding my own business.  It was a windy day and I had just finished watching the kitesurers doing their thang.  All of a sudden my leash ( which is a luggage strap in a loop) was ripped out of my hand.  I wasn't sure how, at the time, but I know where it went; under the wheel.  About the same time I was thinking ' oh, this is going to be a problem, I better get off soon. No, better get off now...' The leash bound up around the wheel and the wheel shot off infront of me dumping me off the back.  I wasn't going that fast, so I was able to run it off, with two steps.  More disturbing was the fact that I was on a public road ( quite rare for me) and there was a car passing me at that exact moment; in fact, the wheel shot off to the left a bit and landed about 60cm from the car as it rolled by.  A little further and it would have either banged into the side or gone under the rear wheel. Phew!!!

I took Lassie over to the beach and found a low wall on which to examine the carnage.  Using various bits of trash strewn in the sand, I was able to remove the damaged leash, all FOUR pieces,of it!  And believe it or not, within 3 m of where I was standing I found leash 3.0 ( 1.0 being the one that came with the wheel, and 2.0 now recently deceased). See picture of 2.0 deceased, and 3.0 long live the leash, long live the leash.

 

Leash 3.0 is just the right length, made of man made rope material and both ends have been finished and wrapped with black tape.  It's as good as if I ordered it from Amazon for instant on the beach delivery, I could not believe it.  I'm very happy with 3.0 and it will be with me until the next near death-leash-induced incident.

now about how it happened.  The strong wind was coming from the rear, and 2.0 must have been blowing forward.  At some point it contacted the tire and was dragged downwards.  As it wrapped itself around the axle, the tension got high enough to shred it.  These straps are strong,. I use two of these to tie down my 700lb ( 340kg) motorcycle in the back of a van, and I once used one similar to this to hoist a car engine out of an old car.  The torque needed to destroy it must have been immense.  Actually, if Lassie hadn't slowed temporarily to shred it and then accelerated, I would have been able to ride through it.  Very impressive... Not me, the torque !

moral: use a one piece leash, and not too long to touch the tire when held normally.

[abinder3]

Definitely sounds like leash 2.0 was too long.
Glad you're okay though.

 

 

Allen

[Bob Eisenman]

13 hours ago, Smoother said:

I ALWAYS use a leash

I was attempting to learn to ride reverse last summer. One day the EUC leaped away from me after an awkward dismount. At one point about 15 feet away it came to a stop after bouncing and landing on the bracket which held the trolley extension which I had removed for the practice session. Later I found that the bracket had deformed just enough on impact to disallow the use of the trolley extension bar. Attempts to bend it back were unsuccessful. Reversing the bracket allowed a partial reinsertion of the trolley handle which got stuck after a certain point. The trolley handle came apart a few days later when, after exiting a train with the bot, the stuck handle pulled apart after I forcefully tugged on it.

I stopped using a leash awhile ago but have no qualms about riding without it on the relatively flat terrain I most often see.

[LEO_LEO]

the use of the leash is great, but it should be kept in hand and not tied as I did. In this second case it can become dangerous because if you fall at low speed, run with the EUC that spins you between your feet (... and the footboards blades can do much harm).