Mayonnaise

Thought I'd tell what happened to me yesterday in hopes of saving someone from potential disaster. My wife and I were all set for a ride we'd been looking forward to for awhile. Before we left I thought I'd run the car through the carwash. Got home, loaded the car, then began loading the bike on the roof rack (Thule). The nut on the quick release was gone. I assume the brushes at the carwash spun it enough times to knock it off. What am I going to do. Of course it's oversized so I've got nothing that will fit. Suddenly I felt very vulnerable. There's a bike shop nearby so I hustled over there. "Man, that's oversized, I don't think we have it." Thankfully he was wrong and they did have it. I left the shop feeling very lucky, like I just dodged a bullet. I've got a replacement skewer on order to keep in the glove box, just in case.

Leisesturm

I thought you were going to tell us your rig was trashed from going through the car wash with the bike on the rack. I'm surprised they allowed you to do it at all. In our tandem club more than one team has totaled their tandem and also done considerable damage to their garages with tandems on roof racks. One team has done this twice! Our tandem has wheel retainers that keep the wheel in place even in the event that the q/r mechanism fails. Glad you are ok.

WPH

We have a Yakima rack. I keep all the removable hardware in the car at all times the bike is not loaded. The bandits around here would steal the paint off your car if they could manage it, let alone shiny, removable trinkets. A good idea to get some replacement bits though, especially the OS parts.

I did leave my keys on the boot of Jeff's car after a MTB ride a few months ago. He hared off, keys fell off at side of the highway on the first bend. I drove back later and found them in the gutter, all okay except for the electronic key for our Toyota Aurion (ie V6 Camry in N America?) which was totally broken.

How was the ride in the end?

zonatandem

A good reason to carry your tandem INSIDE the vehicle!

gracehowler

"A good reason to carry your tandem INSIDE the vehicle!" Plus 1 on that!
R&J

Leisesturm

Well creesh, me and mine own three tandems together and don't have a vehicle at all, let alone one big enough to hold a full size tandem safely inside...