Part fell off bike (I think!!!) and dont know where its from

miketaff

Hi. Apologies to all for being a complete noob when it comes to road bikes.

Long and short of it is that I have recently moved to a road bike from a Mountain bike after breaking its chain and have been absolutely converted. I haven't use the mountain bike since.

Today however I was riding home from work in the pouring rain, and was approaching a junction and went to change from the big cog on the front to the little one (apologies for terms!!!!) - The chain seemed to jam and crunch and then there was suddenly a loud "ping!" and i heard the clatter of something bouncing away from the bike. The chain was then moving freely and i made the turn, but turned round to investigate what had come off the bike. The part i found is show in the pictures below. The "head" is about an inch in diameter and is fairly heavy at 100g. The part the screw goes into is rubber. upon seeing the part I thought something catastrophic had come off the bike. So at the side of the road I inspected the bike for a good 10 mins and for the life of me I cannot see anywhere where this part has come from. I carried on (slowly) - gears worked fine, made a climb up the hill near me - no issues. Am I being a complete idiot and am missing something obvious???? Or do you think this is road debris that has somehow sprung up into my chain then come loose? Thanks for any help - Don't worry - I am not easily offended so if you think I am a complete idiot please do so freely!!!!

BTW the bike is a GIANT TCR 3 2012.

simonj

Ha ha, I bet this has fallen off something other than your bike. Looks a bit old and rusty, does the rest of your bike look old and rusty like this? I'm suspecting not!

craker

Picked up by your wheels and chucked into the chain methinks

miketaff

No! the bike is in perfect condition despite being purchased in 2012 in the post olympics euphoria. A SPD non clip out type accident on my first ride which left me lying in the middle of a motorway slip road waiting for cars to come zooming round the corner seriously dented my confidence and the bike has remained in the shed ever since!!!! Only got the road bike out because of the aforementioned chain break on the MTB.

I thought the part looked a bit shabby - there are some fresh scars where it jammed in the chain or cogs but I didnt feel it flick up from the tyres and there were no cars in front of me that my have bounced it up. It felt too heavy as well for the bike.

Thanks for your reply!

miketaff

craker wrote:

Picked up by your wheels and chucked into the chain methinks

I suspected as much, but wanted to make sure that i wasn't being a complete tool and was going to kill myself tomorrow going back out on the bike and it fell apart!!!!

Initialised

The only bike part that looks like is a bell.

But I think its an exhaust hangar or suspension bushing from a car lending credence to craker's theory.

crankycrank

Looks like a handlebar end plug from a motorbike.

Bozman

crankycrank wrote:

Looks like a handlebar end plug from a motorbike.

+1

DRobins

As above it looks like the bar end weight/plug from a motorbike

zx6man

crankycrank wrote:

Looks like a handlebar end plug from a motorbike.

Yup, looks identical to the one on my zx6r

southdownswolf

zx6man wrote:

crankycrank wrote:

Looks like a handlebar end plug from a motorbike.

Yup, looks identical to the one on my zx6r

Are you sure there is still one on your ZX6R? :twisted:

me-109

Bozman wrote:

crankycrank wrote:

Looks like a handlebar end plug from a motorbike.

+1

+another 1

rolf_f

That's spooky! Exactly the same thing happened to me the other day; loud ping, clatter, everything!