Comedy GOLD!!

vinnymarsden

Went out on Fri evening to do around 40miles....I use a Garmin 500 mainly for miles/climbing m/ments etc..
Decided on a flattish route to have a blast...and up to 17.5 miles everything was going great...then the 1st portent of impending doom occurred...the battery failed on the Garmin!
Oh well, I knew roughly where I was going....
Did about another 4 miles and decided to raise my saddle...something I had considered a few times..never got round to it!!
Out comes the m/tool, tweak tweak.....everything ready to go...tighten up the seat clamp...SNAP!!! sheared the bolt!!
NOT the kind of spare bit of kit you generally carry!!
So I rode home at LEAST 20miles with the seat ALL the way down in the tube...turning round every time my arse moved...and generally looking like I had stolen a 10yr old kids Grifter!!!!
At one stage a car went past...and ALL the occupants looked at me, with what can only be described as horror on their faces!!!
There I was, dressed in kit that made it appear I was a cyclist, a bike that looks the part, but looking like a circus clown riding one of those bikes with the oval wheels!!!
My knees were hitting my chest almost and I was working like a dog to keep going!!!
At this point I considered calling home for a lift...but NO SERVICE!!! on the phone...plus I would never live it down..so I carried on, and there was a moment when I was actually crying with laughing at myself at how stupid I must have looked...I only wish it had been me in the car looking/laughing at someone else in that predicament!!!
I got near home eventually and the last bit of that ride is a 3/4mile hill of varying gradients of 6 to 12%....needless to say I had to stand up ALL the way up !! My legs were on fire..felt as big as oak trees..but thankfully my house is JUST over the brow...NEVER been so delighted to roll up to the garage door as I was at that moment!!!
I think the moral of the tale is " DONT TINKER DURING A RIDE!!!!

sloppyschleckonds

Y U HAS KNEES POINTING OUTWARDS

imposter2.0

VinnyMarsden wrote:

I think the moral of the tale is " DONT TINKER DURING A RIDE!!!!

Surely, the moral of the tale is 'don't over-tighten your seat clamp', no ? I only ask because I made a similar adjustment to my son's bike out on the road this morning, and managed not to fck anything up.

MountainMonster

I only move my seat post during rides.

I know your pain though, I've had a seat post snap mid ride and didn't even have a perch to sit on for 30km back home.

chuckla

One of the bolts from your stem might have done the trick! Losing one out of four would have got you home much more comfortably!

lawrences

Pretty sure the bottle holder ones do the job as well.

vinnymarsden

Re the other bolts.....

Tried that...but the broken half of the bolt stayed in the recess...simply would not come out!!!

I did consider all my options and decided that the Cirque De Soleil circus approach was the only one open to me..so after all mechanical solutions had very quickly been exhausted I set off....great fun!!!NOT!!!!

slowbike

Ah ... I do have a rear light that clamps around the seat post - so in theory I could use that to keep the seat at a sensible height even if it's not held straight ...

dee4life2005

Imposter wrote:

VinnyMarsden wrote:

I think the moral of the tale is " DONT TINKER DURING A RIDE!!!!

Surely, the moral of the tale is 'don't over-tighten your seat clamp', no ? I only ask because I made a similar adjustment to my son's bike out on the road this morning, and managed not to fck anything up.

You'd think I've had a bolt shear when tightenting to 4Nm (using a clibrated torque wrench) when the max was about 7Nm for the Stem bolts ... so it is possible for them to shear without being overtightened, doesn't happen often though.