s70rguy

I hear you guys, i hear you ...

The worst I ever did (and I cant seem to forget it) was the following.

In my racing days I was into time trialling, more so than the other folk, who thought criteriums and premiums (? prizes) was what it was all about.
So I tried to do as many tt's as I could, and there weren't all that many in Holland. In late august, through september, there always were team time trials, in preparation of the national club championships in October I guess.
I always went for that, got a team together, and prepared my bike. I had a set of 28 radial spoked wheels, Mavic something d'Or rims and went as far as buying Dourdoigne Grand Prix des Nation tubulars for those super light wheels. Egyptian cotton and piste treads! Inflate them to 8 or 9 bars and you're flying ... (beware of the corners though).

So we did the TT (60 kms I guess, about 1 hour 12 minutes? 6 rider team), and went home again, in the car of one of the guys. Rack on the roof, my complete bike on it. About halfway home I hear a loud bang ... I lean out the window, and have a look .. One Dourdoigne blew! I didn't deflate it, and it must have been rubbing against something, until the frail Egyptian cotton sidewall gave up the ghost .. 90 Dutch guilders down the drain ..

bigbossman 

Two sections at $125 each, and about $350 labor and misc parts to remove, repair, and re-install the whole thing. Not to mention the two 4 foot fluorescent bulbs that got taken out by the tail end of the door as it came crashing down. There was glass everywhere......

The bike is already repaired and back together. I had a metallic red nail polish that is a very good match, and that combined with 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper and some fine-cut car finish cleaner did a pretty good job. I had some extra Campagnolo brake cable housing on hand, and since it lays right over the scrapes the bike looks pretty much as it did. So, I'm going to be out whatever a saddle costs and the $5 for new tape (Performance is having a sale).

Rack tray body is a goner, but the other one is ok and I have a spare tray body in the garage. Two of the pillar feet got twisted, so they're pretty much gone unless I can bend them back.

I'm selling the car, and the new car will not get a roof rack. I'm investigating my options, but it looks like a rear rack is in my future - I might be able to fit a bike in the rear seat with both wheels off, but I do not want to risk interior damage to the new car.

My insurance deductible is $500 so I'm probably just going to keep quiet on this one, but I might call my agent and ask a few questions.

04jtb

Glad I don't have a garage now

Sorry to hear that BBM

Pogliaghi

Glad the bike made it but I am sorry to hear of the incident non the less. Suppose it could have been worse.

repechage

Unfortunately, homeowners' insurance is now just for the big losses.

A friend, long ago, built up his brand new custom ordered frame after work one day, left the shop at 2 am and promptly ran the bike on the roof rack smack into the garage door header. One new fork later, (and 8 weeks) lesson over. Rear bike racks probably have a bigger liability from those drivers behind you. Inside the car is probably best, but now you are drifting into hatch or wagon territory...
by the way, a Subaru WRX wagon or the Legacy GT wagon are fast and functional...

Old Fat Guy

I believe BBM is a fan of Porsche 911's --- fast & functional, but the function usually doesn't involve carrying more than two people!

repechage

Too bad, there have been a few 911 drivers who could NOT understand why that ******* econobox wagon just waived good-bye to them. And my oil changes don't cost much either.

but, an all wheel drive Porsche is beyond my grasp, they don't get challenged by me.

bigbossman 

You confuse lack of understanding with indifference.

pastorbobnlnh 

Bummer! I always put a chair or something in the way in the garage to remind me to stop.

But once, with the C-Dale on the roof, I decided to do a little drive thru banking, and I forgot it was up there on the roof.

The front wheel cleared, but the handlebars caught the edge of the roof, and "SNAP-SNAP" the two wheel straps broke, the down tube slipped out of the big grip arm, and the bike proceeded to do an 180 degree flip off the roof and landed neatly on its saddle (with a shock absorber seatpost), next to the car.

I jumped out of the car to only find some dirt on the saddle, two broken straps on the roof rack, and the big embarrassment that two members of the church witnessed the whole mess.

twentyflights

nope, that only happens if you hit road signs in the middle of a two-way street in France

glad your bike is ok...shame about the garage, but all household things must go at sometime, i guess....

geekrunner

Sorry to hear about your mishap, BBM, that Palo Alto is one sharp bike! I especially liked the red water bottles. I have an '88 Le Tour frame coming tomorrow that has a custom red paint job on it, somewhat like yours but it fades from Red to Maroon to Green from front to back. PIcs soon.

geek

High Fist Shin

Sorry BBM. Glad to hear it wasn't too serious.

Dan

bigbossman 

Heh.... you better believe that, after securing the bike and car and then composing myself, I took a good look around to see who (if anyone) noticed. Nobody, nobody at all. >whew<

Yeah - that garage door was installed all of 3-1/2 years ago. The last one made it close to 15 years before it fell apart (without my assistance, for the record).

Thanks - it still is, too.

Just to close the book on this one -

1) I talked with my insurance agent, and this is too small a deal (in relative terms) to bother them about. It really isn't much over my deductible, but it was a fruitful conversation nevertheless as it gave me a chance to review my policy and make some advantageous revisions.

2) I took the Palo Alto out for a 20 mile spin today, and am happy to report that it tracks as straight and true as ever and the retouched areas of the paint are almost unnoticeable, even in full sunlight. If you didn't look for them, you'd never know. The old tape and saddle were dirty and grungy anyway, and the fresh tape looks a lot better. I went to Performance yesterday and bought a "placeholder" saddle that was on sale, and it turned out to be pretty decent. In addition, the rear brake cable was a bit short from the initial build - I've been living with it but I've aways been unhappy with it. Now that's been taken care of.

3) The garage door was repaired in less than 24 hours, and operates much smoother and quieter than the old one.

I'm over it. I'm off on vacation tomorrow through Monday, and if there is wireless broadband in the cabin in the woods I might check in to see what you guys are up to. Maybe. I'll be bringing a road bike with me, so look for a "where'd you ride" entry when I return.

Blue Order

Bob Mionske did a three-part series on garages and roof racks a few years back:

Is it my garage or my car that's at fault?

Garage v. Roof Rack, Part II

Attack of the killer garage door


Glad to hear the Palo Alto came out of it with the least damage!

bigbossman 

One final addendum - I just got back from the local cobbler shop, and he can and will recover the vintage Selle Italia Ti Flite with new white leather (no logo's, though - which matches the decal-less scheme of the whole bike). My universe is almost restored to order.

SoreFeet

Ditch the flight and get Brooks...If its not a Brooks its just a plastic rectal probe.

bigbossman 

I have a Brooks on my Cinelli. Frankly, I don't see what the fuss is about. However, I will cheerfully defer to your expertise in probing rectums, as I have no experience in that arena.

Blue Order

rallymerkur

I just saw a lady break off a carbon seat post in one of my drive thrus at work. She had the bike on top of a dodge minivan. She was all shocked, which is funny cause the seat made a really loud sound when it hit the aluminium clearance warning sign on the way in; I could hear it across the parking lot, and the awning over the drive thru is really low - 8'4", she should have seen it coming.