Note to the offspring

wafflycat said:

Note to my offspring. It's a good idea to *remember* to check one's bike
over periodically, to help ensure vital components such as handlebars have
not worked loose and will not flap all over the place when one is doing an
event. Such diversions can slow one down a tad when one doesn't need to be
slowed down a tad.. or three..

Cheers, helen s

--

~~
you may need to remove dependence
on fame & fortune from organisation
to get correct email address
~Noodliness is Good~

🙂 🙂 🙂

A good lesson for an apprentice bike mechanic.

wafflycat said:

Note to my offspring. It's a good idea to *remember* to check one's bike
over periodically, to help ensure vital components such as handlebars
have not worked loose and will not flap all over the place when one is
doing an event. Such diversions can slow one down a tad when one doesn't
need to be slowed down a tad.. or three..

BTDT
One of my worst falls was when the (riser) handlebars turned turtle,
jamming the brakes on, while I was honking up a hill. I went over the
top, landing on hands and knees. The bike landed on me.

I was about 18.

Colin McKenzie

ed_o_brain said:

wafflycat said:

Note to my offspring. It's a good idea to *remember* to check one's bike
over periodically, to help ensure vital components such as handlebars have
not worked loose and will not flap all over the place when one is doing an
event. Such diversions can slow one down a tad when one doesn't need to be
slowed down a tad.. or three..

Cheers, helen s

Quoted message said:

🙂 🙂 🙂

A good lesson for an apprentice bike mechanic.

Brings back memories from my cleated shoes, clips'n'straps days. Riding
into Maidenhead on the A308 (IIRC) and approaching a roundabout. Being
a good boy I have both hands on the handlebars. Usually Handlebars is a
singular noun, in this case it suddenly became plural. So, I have one
half of the handlebars in one hand, one half in the other. I cannot
undo my feet from the pedals without letting go of one side or the
other. If I let go of the still attached to the rest of the bike side I
will have no steering, which would be ugly. If I let go of the other
side it will probably drop into the front wheel which would be ugly. I
am approaching a major roundabout in mid Saturday traffic.

I didn't crash. I didn't panic, though that would have been an option.
I spotted an appropriate pice of road furniture ( pedestrian corrall)
and braked to a halt, then dropped the loose side and grabbed for the
railing. I was then able to reach down and undo the straps, hunt for a
phone box and phone my parents.

We made it back to kingston just in time to get to Evans (where I had
bought the bars a year previously) who graciously replaced them and the
bar tape FOC and I was able to ride to work on the Monday.

...d