Fat Russian Woman 1: British Cyclist 0

optimisticbiker

So there I was riding home up Gt Portland Street at about 15mph (according to Garmin) when a group of very large individuals stepped off the kerb on my left looking the wrong way, about 10m ahead of me... just as a taxi starts to overtake... I'm shouting and grabbing handfuls of brake... and the taxi sounds his horn... most of them hear us and step back, but one woman, must have been 20stone at least, in a huge fur tent and a matching hood carries on walking (or waddling more like) - she can't see us 'cos of the hood and seems oblivious. A collision is unavoidable, no way I can stop and no where else to go, the taxi is going round her and there's no space... so I hit her... its like hitting a small mountain. I literally bounce off her.

So I pick myself up while they all stand there gawping... and she says <russian accent>"Vot you crash into me for.Vy you on wrong side?" So I patiently explain that we drive on the left, roads should be crossed at crossing points like the one 20m up the road. I was very calm... then they just walked off... not an "are you OK", "is the bike ok" or anything! :roll:

So now I have a cut on the end of my finger which bled profusely all over the right brake lever, a bit of road-rash & grazing on my right elbow and yet another set of chainwheel teeth tattoos on my right calf (to go with those from my chain-off the other day) and a large bruise on my right thigh; plus the front mech is knackered, has no 'spring-back' so had to ride the remaining 16km or so home in the big ring, which was hard work. A quick look-see when I got home suggests the bit of the casting that the spring clips to has sheared off. No idea where I'm going to get a Tiagra 9-speed front mech tomorrow.

ToeKnee

OptimisticBiker wrote:

... so had to ride the remaining 16km or so home in the big ring, which was hard work. ...

I'd have wimped out and cracked the chain. Hope you get sorted quickly ...

sketchley

Bad luck, hope you feel better soon. I have front mech off old hybrid in the shed. That was 9 speed tiagra but flat bar version. Bike was Sirius comp 2008 if you want to look it up, pm me if you want it.

prj45

Sounds like you were russian along a tad too quickly to deal with silly peds that step off the pavement...

If you moscow that quickly, ride a bit further out!

optimisticbiker

prj45 wrote:

Sounds like you were russian along a tad too quickly to deal with silly peds that step off the pavement...

If you moscow that quickly, ride a bit further out!

very droll...

Libraio

I've got a Tiagra 4400 front mech (dropbar) that looks like it has never been used (it was but is very, very shiny) lying on my dining room table. 't Was part of a lot of spares I received yesterday but I won't be using it. It's yours if you pay posting from Netherlands. Just PM if you want.

optimisticbiker

Sketchley wrote:

Bad luck, hope you feel better soon. I have front mech off old hybrid in the shed. That was 9 speed tiagra but flat bar version. Bike was Sirius comp 2008 if you want to look it up, pm me if you want it.

Just split the chain and took the mech off - its an R443 (to go with the R440 flat bar shifters).

Thanks for the offer but yours is a R453 for 50T big gears, the R443 is for 52T (no wonder it was hard! )

Off to 'let my fingers do the walking' as they say...

deptfordmarmoset

Well if you must dacha bout...

Monkeypump

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

Well if you must dacha bout...

optimisticbiker

Thanks for all the offers, want to try and sort it today as need the bike for commuting on Monday (or I could use the road bike). Anyway, closer inspection of the mech shows that its lost the upper pivot bolt and, judging by the state of the thread in the hole, it obviously had been coming loose for a while and the crash ripped it out of the last 2 threads. These are factory fitted with red loctite to stop them coming undone but clearly this is something that should be checked from time to time and its not easy when fitted to the bike. So let that be a lesson!

I notice that my 105 mechs are all riveted together, no removable pivot bolts; lower manufacturing costs and less maintenance. I also noticed that the R443 mech, unlike the 105 mech, has a bolt to split the chain guide so you don't need to split the chain, bugger

@Sketchely: Shorter Rochford bikes in FInchley reckon they have a suitable replacement mech.. though £29 for a bolt rankles a little! I may yet come back to you!

cyclingprop

Had that problem before. Believe I have a tiagra front mech (came on a compact trek 1.5 2010), ad definitely have a 105 5603 triple. Can get em to you early this week if you want either.

Twostage

OptimisticBiker wrote:

Anyway, closer inspection of the mech shows that its lost the upper pivot bolt and, judging by the state of the thread in the hole, it obviously had been coming loose for a while and the crash ripped it out of the last 2 threads. These are factory fitted with red loctite to stop them coming undone but clearly this is something that should be checked from time to time and its not easy when fitted to the bike. So let that be a lesson!

I notice that my 105 mechs are all riveted together, no removable pivot bolts; lower manufacturing costs and less maintenance. I also noticed that the R443 mech, unlike the 105 mech, has a bolt to split the chain guide so you don't need to split the chain, bugger

@Sketchely: Shorter Rochford bikes in FInchley reckon they have a suitable replacement mech.. though £29 for a bolt rankles a little! I may yet come back to you!

I suffered from the loose bolt syndrome which made my dr cage droop down and foul the large cog. I replaced it with a 4500 and it has rivets instead of bolts which I'm hoping isn't going to have the same problem.

optimisticbiker

Went to Rochford, got a new mech 'cos when i compared the old and new it seemed that some of the other riveted joints were definitely looser, and the plastic roller thingy that the mechanism rotates around was worn too, so given its 5y and at least 15,000 miles old I decided to splash out. They also threw in a quick-link for the chain for free

Nice shop that... nearly bought a crosser as well but decided to wait a couple of weeks when he reckons he'll have some 2012 Spesh Tricross Elite Discs in my size in stock.