9/20/13 5:56 AM

Just a little humor from my morning commute. Perhaps some others have had a similar experience.

Rolling my rando bike out of the garage, I notice one front fender stay is out of its bracket, and projecting sideways. This could cause all sorts of mischief, particularly as I ride over some woods trails, so I endeavor to fix it. The hardware is there, apparently it just loosened enough for the stay to pop out (I heard a metallic noise riding home yesterday, but didn't notice the fender).

So instead of loosening everything up and readjusting the fender, I take the little bracket out of the dropout fitting, loosen it up, reinsert the stay, and proceed to try to screw it back into the fitting. I guess I loosen my grip a little, and SPPRONGGG, the stay (which I didn't realize is like a fully loaded howitzer) launches the allen bolt and washers to who knows where (I'm outside in my gravel driveway). I look for awhile, but I don't have the time right now. Fortunately the bracket is still on the stay, and I rummage around my shop and find another bolt that works.

Note to self: Next time be cognizant of the awesome projective properties of a fully loaded Berthoud fender stay.

9/20/13 6:34 AM

Good thing you had a ride ahead of you, to de-stress. pun not intended

9/20/13 7:34 AM

Murphy strikes again. If you had been in an enclosed area where the bolt was easily found, this never would have happened!

9/20/13 7:47 AM

A while ago I was bleeding the brakes on my mountain bike (one of those Shimano rigs that requires a little plastic bowl in place of a plug). All goes well until I'm putting the plug back in, whereupon it falls off the allen wrench. It's a little thing, falls to the floor among the debris, and vanishes utterly. I spent a long time looking, it was getting late, flashlight and sifting, noting. I found it the next day after having made a new plug.

The next day, I was in the same area, putting a different nozzle on my pressure washer. I dropped it (I do this a lot these days) and once again it vanished utterly. Now this thing was bigger, and bright red. Could I find it? Not a chance. More sifting. I finally looked at the wall, and it had lodged in a shelf bracket, never hit the floor at all.

9/20/13 10:01 AM

Nowadays, I don't have to drop anything to lose it. Once (and I swear it only happened once), I was looking for my small garage door opener for a while before I realized that I was holding it in my hand . . .

9/20/13 4:50 PM

This happened twice.

I was tightening up the seat post binder on an old Bianchi and went one turn beyond. The other side took off like a bullet. Fortunately, nobody was standing in front of it! Now you know why my spouse hates it when I close bottles and jars.

9/20/13 4:55 PM

" Now you know why my spouse hates it when I close bottles and jars."


You know what they say, you can be a little heavy for light work. They also say you can be a little to light for heavy work. I am both...

9/20/13 5:43 PM

quote:

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Nowadays, I don't have to drop anything to lose it. Once (and I swear it only happened once), I was looking for my small garage door opener for a while before I realized that I was holding it in my hand . . .

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