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Alleged loss of pedal cycle at Chapmans Peak


WERNER WIEHART

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I live in Jozi but I am sure the wind was blowing in Cape Town, it always does. Just pay the man out for a new carbon bike.....

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What I want to know is what pedal cycle was it alleged to have been? If it's worthwile i'll fetch it myself after work post GPS settings

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I did a Ironman Tri in Gordans Bay in 2001 and the wind was blowing at gusts of 125km/h and i saw bikes picked up by the wind and thrown 10-15 meters and they were standing.

 

But thats Gordons Bay. In 1985 we lost our roof and in 2002 I had a kitchen back door blown off its hinges.

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The wind comes up, lifts his 8kg(or so) machine, with no surface areas that can actually catch the wind, over this railing that is probably 1 meter high and drops it to the depths below.

 

 

 

Me living in Gauteng would'nt believe this could happen, BUT after Argus 2009 I believe it can happen. I saw it happen to a lady with my own eyes. She was walking back to the start on the highway. She battled to keep her bike down in the wind. The nxt it was blown over the safety rails. It can happen

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Maybe he got REALLY p!$$7d off (like David Miller one year in the TdF, when his chain broke in the last k!!) and chucked his bike over! :lol:

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Guest Frail4Life

you sound like the green insurance company with the cover over everything in adverts. Only you guys will call it a peddle cycle as its stated like that under my insurance shedule aswell.

 

not quite sure of the bike being flung over the guard rail though, seems plausible but not really believeable however i also have to admit that flukes do happen. Look at what happened to another hubber just about nearly having his leg chopped off by a truck & the series of murphys laws that nailed him in that incident. not too mention the blood all over his bike & a couple of stitches later. Pretty lucky to be alive id say

 

THANKS BumpNgrind.

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Good evening fellow hubbers!

 

I would like to establish whether any of you have been training in the area of Chapmans Peak on Saturday, 26 June 2010 at approx 09:30 and may have found a cyclist who may have claimed that his pedal cycle has fallen over a rail at the lower part of Chapmans Peak whilst mother nature called. Please advise me also whether the wind did in fact blow. I was on the road myself but have not experienced any wind that may have caused a pedal cycle to fly over the barrier. I would truly appreciate your assistance before we engage in the mountain climbing exercise.

 

Kind regards

 

Why don't you just contact the SA weather bureau?

 

:)

 

I guess that you are working for an insurance company and want to retreive the said pedal cycle.

 

You better hurry as there are a few Hubbers ahead of you :)

 

 

you sound like the green insurance company with the cover over everything in adverts. Only you guys will call it a peddle cycle as its stated like that under my insurance shedule aswell.

 

not quite sure of the bike being flung over the guard rail though, seems plausible but not really believeable however i also have to admit that flukes do happen. Look at what happened to another hubber just about nearly having his leg chopped off by a truck & the series of murphys laws that nailed him in that incident. not too mention the blood all over his bike & a couple of stitches later. Pretty lucky to be alive id say

 

Do you guys reeeeeeeeeally think this is how insurance companies investigate claims? :rolleyes::P

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. The wind comes up, lifts his 8kg(or so) machine, with no surface areas that can actually catch the wind, over this railing that is probably 1 meter high and drops it to the depths below. His story is so unlikely it probably is likely. If I were an insurance assessor, this guy would have a hard time convincing me of his story.

 

WRONG!

 

this story is totally plausible. the wind in the cape is insanely strong!

it could quite easily push a bike over an armco barrier (as found on chapmans peak).

 

armco's are about knee height, much lower than your assumed 1m, so if you want to get scientific about it, more than half the bike is above the barrier, so it would be quite easy to push it over.

 

 

Other than hurricane force winds, there is no ways that wind will lift a bike over a railing.

 

clearly you have never been on the downwind side of a mountain in the cape when the wind is blowing at gale force!

 

on chapmans the wind can quite easily reach "huricane force" speeds as it rushes down from 1km above.

the wind doesnt have to "lift" a bike, it just needs to push it over the railing. but to answer your question, the wind in cape town CAN gust strong enough to lift a bike.

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WRONG!

 

this story is totally plausible. the wind in the cape is insanely strong!

it could quite easily push a bike over an armco barrier (as found on chapmans peak).

 

armco's are about knee height, much lower than your assumed 1m, so if you want to get scientific about it, more than half the bike is above the barrier, so it would be quite easy to push it over.

 

 

 

 

clearly you have never been on the downwind side of a mountain in the cape when the wind is blowing at gale force!

 

on chapmans the wind can quite easily reach "huricane force" speeds as it rushes down from 1km above.

the wind doesnt have to "lift" a bike, it just needs to push it over the railing. but to answer your question, the wind in cape town CAN gust strong enough to lift a bike.

 

What i'm questioning is whether the wind can actually "lift" a bike....weighing say, ~10kgs right off the ground...and lift it over a 1m high rail...

 

Where are the physics theorists???

 

This whole debate is devoid of actual facts....BUT very interesting!!

 

If one look at a normal bike geometyr...(i.e No deep sections wheels / kites attached etc etc.)

 

At waht wind speed would the bike achieve a "lift-off"? compared to just being blown over?

Compare that to the cyclist still standing and living to tell the tale...(albeit a very looong one)

 

I know the Cape and the windspeeds that hav ebeen recorded - at Cape Point wherte I work many days a week - the wind can gust strong enought to have blown tourists off their feet (but that is just being blown over...)and broke a leg...

 

Anyone have access to a wind tunnel?? I see a mythbuster in the making!!

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I had a bike with Fulcrum wheels that have bladed spokes. The bladed section of the spoke can't be much more than 5 mm but its amazing how they behaved in the wind. I was standing next to the bike once holding onto the saddle and bars when a gust of wind literally ripped the bike out of my hands. So, yes, I can believe this story.

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Its amazing.

 

No real facts, yet we have a rip roaring argument.

 

The Hub.

That just happened!

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I had a bike with Fulcrum wheels that have bladed spokes. The bladed section of the spoke can't be much more than 5 mm but its amazing how they behaved in the wind. I was standing next to the bike once holding onto the saddle and bars when a gust of wind literally ripped the bike out of my hands. So, yes, I can believe this story.

 

You must admit...it's a damn interesting scenario...true or not!!

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