At 10:30pm tonight, a guy in a taxi full of his girlfriends swung his passenger side taxi door open and I ate it.

This is a full (and sorry, lengthy) guide about what you can do to protect yourself in this number one danger of riding bikes in the city, and how to recover once you take the spill.

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Protecting yourself:

1. The only thing that stands between your head and the sharp edge of the car door is chance; or your helmet.

2. Always keep your hands on your brakes, you never know when you’ll need to come to a screeching halt. (A heavier clunkier bike is going to have a harder time stopping than an efficient road bike with good brakes).

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I currently tuck mine into a handlebar bag, but that means reaching in every time you need to use it. Better would be a proper handlebar mount. The big screen and long, long battery life make the iPad a great handlebar HUD, GPS tracker and general mapping device. I’m in the middle of building a touring bike (Surly Long Haul Trucker framer and Shimano Alfine 11 hub, as you’re asking) and I have a feeling that the iPad might neatly be stowed in the map-case attachment for the Ortlieb handlebar bag. Samsung, maker of me-too touch-screen devices, commissioned Brick Lane-based bike builder 14 Bike Co to make a bike and mount for its Galaxy Tab tablet. In keeping with current fashions, the bicycle is a fixed gear model with obligatory Brooks saddle, and although it does actually have a pair of brakes, there are no cables or levers — kind of like a tablet that runs Flash, but doesn’t enable it by... Samsung says that this lets you flip up and use the Tab when on the bike, but it also means that the thing will flap from side to side whenever you turn a corner.

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