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How to protect my bum from breaking tailbone when falling?


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Hi from Poland! I'm new here and new to trials/street. Training it was my childhood dream but back then I was too scared to try and too poor to get another smaller bike for tricks. Now I'm 32 and have Polygon Trid with bigger gear in the back (yes, I know it's not trial bike per se) and I'm starting out. My trackstand got realy good after just 3 days so I'm hyped as hell. Tried unweighting front wheel and get it up today, which goes kind of good (super fatiguing after a while lol). What I'm concerned about is obviously falling on my a-s-s and potentially breaking my tail bone. How do you guys protect your bum from that? Is it even possible to neutralize that kind of force when you fall with your whole weight and hit concrete?

I suppose it's smart to learn jumping back off a bike before that happens but there may be times where it's just not possible I guess.

Any help would be great, thanks!

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I suggest you just try to not worry about it too much.

Your body's instincts are very strong. If you start to tip off the back, you will instinctively want to step off. If you progress with just a little caution then your reactions will learn how to save you from that type of crash, and each time you save yourself the habit will get better.
Of course, sometimes there's nothing you can do and you do just land straight on your bum. It doesn't happen often, but it can. Sometimes you can just walk it off, but other times it will hurt a lot. Even if it hurts a lot, your tailbone is VERY strong. Whilst it can break, I've never heard of it happening on a trials bike.

Are you particularly worried because your rear brake is not very good? That would be a good reason to replace it. But if the brake is good for you, just keep practicing and don't try to get too adventurous too fast and you will be fine :)

I'll wager everyone on this forum has had a crash like this at some point - some of them light and some of them heavy. It happens, and it hurts, but 99% you will not break your tailbone.

Enjoy!

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Posted (edited)

Wow that's a long post :) Thanks! About cross country, I should add that I ride Trek X-Caliber 8 almost daily so it's not a problem to start learning wheelies, as you suggest. But it's a 29 inch wheeler and learning stuff kills me, super hard on a big bike. Which actually isn't really surprising cuz all things physical are hard for me for now. I lost 40 kilograms since 2022 and started getting back on bikes in March. Feels good :)

Funny thing is, I was feeling super unsure standing on my Trid since I bought it and it all changed when I put new big, pinned flat pedals from Crank Brothers on it. Surprising difference, I finally feel like I stand on a platform that covers my foot and shoes, and not some weird, small, almost spd-like little thing (but without spd shoes lol).

You mentioned important thing with that setup of yours actually. I noticed that my bar is really low in comparison and I'm standing on my Trid really bent to the front. I'm thinking about changing it to some more trials-specific, like yours. I suppose it's way more comfy to pull it up when it's higher.

I guess my plan to reduce spendings for fun-related things will not go very well 😅

Edited by marekdam1
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Thanks :) To be honest I don't actually understand all this measurements and I think I'll stay with what I got for now since I'm so inexperienced that I don't know what's good or bad for my riding.

Yesterday I practiced wheelie and trackstand on my 29" Trek. What I felt after the session was that the most missing part in my little Polygon bike is... lack of gear switching. I know trials bikes are single speed too but still. Last week I changed the back gear from stock 14 teeth to 18 teeth and it's much better still hard as hell. I'm gonna change it to even bigger like 21 or 22-23 cuz I just can't kick the pedal properly when I need it. But with bigger back gear comes lack of potencial speed when riding a little distance or getting some momentum before the jump :( Ehhh and there goes my "multiuse" bike.

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