A thread for daft omissions or difficulties that scuppered your cycling plans.
I'll start. I wanted to fit a new rack to my touring bike (the one I use most, especially this time of year). All the bolts came out OK except the last one, which was stuck solid. I rounded out the allen key slot trying to dislodge it, so now I have to choose one of my other bikes, or put all the other bolts back in, which is a faff. I have an extensive array of tools, but no mole grips which might do the job, so I'm reduced to waiting to borrow some little ones from a friend. Grrrr.
For want of a nail ...
Re: For want of a nail ...
Many years back - 1984, I think, a friend of mine Tony was due to compete in the British Ironman competition. He had his bike on the roof of his car and drove into the car park on the Saturday (the race was the next day). He hadn’t reckoned with the height barrier and damaged his front wheel badly before he could stop. No matter he had a spare one in the car. Next day, he started the race and completed a 2.4mile outdoor swim before jumping on his bike and leaving the bike park for the 112 mile ride. After 5 mins his forks collapsed sending him over the handlebars and out of the race. He ended up in hospital with concussion and a broken shoulder. If only he had checked the height of the car park barrier.
2 x
Re: For want of a nail ...
Mine's more of a stitch-in-time story. My fahgettaboudit bicycle lock every year or two garners enough rust to become sticky. The lock mechanism is fine, but the patina of rust on the tines adheres to the matching rust inside. It gradually becomes a little harder and harder to separate, giving me plenty of warning to attend to it; then it will be right as rain for a long time.
Last time I used it, it was very hard to separate. The right thing to do was to keep the separates parts in my pannier, and fix it when I got home. But I had a bottle of £28 (not really) wine that I didn't want to smash, so reluctantly reassembled it to attach to the frame, and made a mental note not to forget.
Can you guess where this is going? I've just spent half an hour near the maintenance area of Halfords repeatedly spraying the lock with half a can of GT85. It's working again, but not completely fixed (will need more attention). So a wasted half hour, a £4 purchase I didn't really need, and now everything smells of solvent. It was locked around the rack, so I had to turn the whole bike over to allow gravity to work the GT85 inside.
Still, I am grateful it was stuck to my bike and not stuck to a Sheffield stand.
Last time I used it, it was very hard to separate. The right thing to do was to keep the separates parts in my pannier, and fix it when I got home. But I had a bottle of £28 (not really) wine that I didn't want to smash, so reluctantly reassembled it to attach to the frame, and made a mental note not to forget.
Can you guess where this is going? I've just spent half an hour near the maintenance area of Halfords repeatedly spraying the lock with half a can of GT85. It's working again, but not completely fixed (will need more attention). So a wasted half hour, a £4 purchase I didn't really need, and now everything smells of solvent. It was locked around the rack, so I had to turn the whole bike over to allow gravity to work the GT85 inside.
Still, I am grateful it was stuck to my bike and not stuck to a Sheffield stand.
1 x