the birm*

The pros and cons of [cheap] hydraulic disc brakes:

I was riding home from school along the uni bike path, popping monos (a wheelie that you do standing up, without pedalling), seeing how long I could hold them for (which is what I often do along this section on my way home).
The deal with monos is that you pull up and balance. If you go down forward you lean back and if you lean back too much, you brake, thus bringing the front back down. So I was doing a few, waiting for a mate, when I pulled up a bit hard, braked…braked…braked and nothing happened. Well, at least with my rear brake. The result was that I slammed the concrete with my rear cheek and right elbow with a mighty bang. I thought I’d broken something, I got up, looked at the bike but could hardly breathe or move due to the severe pain in my butt. I knew I had a gaping hole in my shorts and that blood would poor out shortly…so I hopped [painfully] back on and rode home slowly. Once home I checked myself out and found that there was neither hole nor blood, which was nice. My bum was all red and very sore. Kinda like a funny dull pain, I couldn’t sit or stand without laughing in pain. Hours later [after riding into town to watch Brazil with Adam] I looked at it again and was almost sick. My whole right cheek was like a bruised peach: black, red and purple. check out a photo here