Didn't get lost, even with route finding in the dark; 42 km at a rolling average speed of just under 5 m/s (4.97) which wasn't too bad and can be attributed to my noodle-like legs and the route finding in the dark.
The ping noise was both main bolts -- the ones into the rear dropouts -- of the rear rack coming lose, no doubt encouraged by a ferocious pothole or two at the southern end of Royal York Boulevard and a possible excess of anti-seize compound. The lightly loaded rack then settled onto the fender, the brake, and the rear derailleur, which seems (surprisingly, at least to me) to have avoided causing damage.
Zingerella's TPB had the under-the-down-tube bottle cage bolts in place, though no bottle cage; these were long enough that shifting into the smallest two cogs would have been ill-advised, but my noodly legs already considered that ill-advised, so it wasn't a problem to have the rack back on that way for the rest of the trip. In future I will remember I can sacrifice a bottle cage if I have to, though I'm also going to get some spare bolts and use the bottle cage braze-ons the Experiment has in the same place to carry them.
The rear rack has a lot of spring, being, if left to its own devices, rather wider than the rear dropouts. So I think I need some bolts with flat heads that I can thread through from the inside and some nuts and lockwashers for the outside, and this will tend to stay on better. (Also, the rear light needs better mechanisms of electrical connection. Now that the rack is off the bike, taking it somewhere to find out what little slide-on connectors fit will be simpler.)
The Experiment does not like making U-turns on bike paths. On the other hand, it has a degree of directional stability that feels vaguely supernatural and continues to be inexplicably easy to pedal.
13 April 2011
If there had to be a ping noise...
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3 comments:
At least you didn't have what I had with the Tubus rack on my REI Novara bike. The bolts that held the rack to the seat stays weren't tight and the whole rack pivoted back onto the rear wheel. http://www.flickr.com/photos/archergal5129/5189516033/in/photostream I had a 16 lb bag of dog food strapped to the rack at the time.
Luckily I was going slowly up a hill when it happened, because I came to a fairly quick stop when it happened.
You may find a weak chemical thread lock an alternative solution to lock nuts.
It interposes itself between the fasteners involved, so should still function to prevent seizing.
Janice --
That looks like it would been exciting at any speed. Glad you stayed up!
Ric --
It's a stainless bolt (or at least nickel-plated, but I think stainless) into a threaded hole in the titanium droppout. I don't know enough about the chemistry to know if Locktite or similar would work; I know I need to be careful about always putting copper anti-seize compound on anything that goes into a threaded titanium anything. Since I can't actually use grease with nylocks, I am probably looking at good old fashioned lock washers of one description or another.
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