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news
Broken bike (CC licensed image by garryknight, www.flickr.com)Yorkshire cyclist thrown 35 feet to death after wheels lock, inquest hears
A coroner’s inquest has been told that the wheels on a cyclist’s bike may have locked as he braked on a descent, causing him to be thrown over the parapet of a bridge and sustaining fatal injuries.
James Nelson, aged 32, was out on a training ride on the evening of 13 August when the fatal incident happened, reports the Craven Herald.
The experienced cyclist, who was a member of Skipton Cycling Club, had been late setting out from home and may have been trying to catch up with other riders, said Skipton coroner coroner Rob Turnbull.
Marks on the road at Dibble’s Bridge on the road from Hebden to Pateley Bridge suggested he had been travelling at around 19mph when he braked and was thrown 35 feet into a dry river bed below, the inquest heard.
Mr Nelson’s mother reported him missing the following morning, and his body was discovered by two Environment Agency workers surveying the River Dibb.
A post mortem established the cause of death as multiple injuries to his head and chest.
David Taylor from North Yorkshire Police’s collision investigation unit said he believed that the wheels of Mr Nelson’s bike had locked as he braked on a 16 per cent descent.
He added that it appeared that the bike had collided with the wall of the bridge, that conditions were fine and dry, and that there were no potholes on the road surface.
The officer said there were no signs of another vehicle or an animal being involved in the collision, although it was impossible to rule that out entirely.
The coroner concluded that Mr Nelson’s death was due to an accident, and was "a tragic and sad loss" to his friends and family.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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18 comments
Rip James we all miss you on our rides
tragic story, just goes to show sometimes luck deserts you. Feel really sorry for those he left behind
In general if I'm cruising and there are no cars or other things that will slow my progress, then I don't need to use my brakes much.
All it takes is an animal to suddenly appear and it's either brake or prepare for a collision. Brakes just locking up, what's that about? Serious question 'cause I want to know how that could happen. Or is it just down to lack of maintenance?
Err ……… it was a 16% slope down hill so this is a bit of a clue.
Condolences to the cyclist's family and friends. An unfortunate incident for all involved.
RIP James. May you continue your journey in the state of grace.
Cycling down such a steep gradient, grabbing a handful of brake as he realised he was going too fast, he could easily have just gone over the handle bars and landed where he did and died from his injuries. I don't think his wheels would have locked, he probably just braked too hard and too late as he realised he was going too fast.
Horrific.
Why do they think it locked though, or have I missed the mention of tyre marks on th road? I had similar experience recenty. 16% slope near Skipton but both my brakes failed (known fault on Tektro Lyras) at 30mph and I had to take it in to a stone wall.
Awful story
Condolences to his relatives.
My brother in law has these brakes, so did a search on this - very worrying. It doesn't seem to be clear whether this only happens when used with rotors that are too thin (eg shimano) or whether adjusting them for pad wear via the cable rather than via the pads is the cause (or a combination). Either way it seems surprising there hasn't been a recall. Who is body responsible for product safety recalls in the UK?
(Sorry to take this off track but....)
It's adjusting for pad wear using cable which is EXACTLY what the instructions say to do. Here's my best explanation on another forum:
You need to adjust the pads and NOT the cable length. The instructions I had said ‘pull cable until slack taken up’. The newer instructions the shop had were ‘do not have more than 20mm length of cable after the retaining screw on the brake cable’. You would want it around 3 o’clock position. If you pull the slack so the retainer is higher (i.e 12 o’clcok) it can fail. You pull the brake, the cable shortens and then it drops past a dead point under the line of the brake cable. Tektro obviously know this and hence the change of instructions. They’ve just never done a recall to fix it.
Very sad someone losing Life when doing something they love.
RIP
It's better than losing your life doing something you hate. Some people die at the office or shovelling snow.
But it's sad all the same. RIP James Nelson.
Would you rather die doing something you hated?
I just hope it was quick and he wasn't lying in agony for hours as his life ebbed away.
RIP James.
How do wheels lock when braking in dry conditions? I haven't heard of that before.
Err by squeezing the brake levers too hard? Not very difficult with properly set up powerful brakes and good pads.
And on a steep downhill gradient - tends to unload the rear wheel.
Condolences to family...
Massive shame. RIP.
RIP James see you in the big velodrome in the sky