-
I didn't have a good day in the driving seat today.
Drove over to Bewdley for a ride in the Wyre Forest with my cousin. My Dad's bike rack is towbar mounted and he hadn't taken the plate off the towbar which is where we normally hook the bungees so I had to bodge a little.
Instantly regretted this when my bike went sailing off the bike rack at 60 on a dual carriageway near Worcester.
There wasn't anywhere to pull in so it felt pretty sketchy stopping at all, but I had to go and pick the bike up. Lo and behold as I walked back to the car holding my bike I watched in slow motion (well, it felt like it) as someone crashed into the back of my Dad's car then the car behind him nearly rear ended him.
Bike is miraculously unscathed (needs a new rear derailleur hanger, some new handlebars and ideally a new saddle), as is the car because the other car crashed into the tow bar. Driver was very happy to leave it with a handshake.
I'm annoyed at myself for letting it happen.
It's fucking scary being pulled over on a two lane dual carriageway when everyone's doing 70-80+mph. Bike could easily have been run over then I would have been liable for any damage to their car too. And I would have been squashed if I'd been stood behind the car when it was hit. Lucky.
-
What an absolute nightmare. Hope all involved are OK.
This is a very good example of distraction on the road. (rubber necking) I passed a hazard once. (Car with doors open, children still in the back) and preceded to plow into a stationary vehicle in front.
Because I was looking back at speed. No excuse, but I had only just learnt to drive at the time.
'Double wammy' as they say. Glad everyone is OK and just insurance to sort. Feel for all parties.
-
Yep exactly. I don't know if the guy who ran into me just wasn't looking down the road enough or got distracted but with the hazards on he should have seen it, however non-ideal it was as a place to stop.
Hopefully no insurance involved. The chap who ran into me was happy to leave it there, we've got a bent tow bar plate/plug but these can literally be bent back and the tow bar stopped any further damage. Was quite surprised he was happy to do that but at the time was quite concerned with him getting his family out of the danger zone because I was worried someone was going to rear end him (with a car full of family).
Extent of damage to my bike seems to be a bent rear mech hanger, new handlebars/bar tape needed and probably a new saddle, but I'm not sure where I'd stand on that from an insurance point of view - it seems to be a bit of an insurance grey area. We have Pedalcover but this covers 'crashes' and I don't imagine a bike falling off a rack is considered a crash. Given the almost miraculously low amount of damage I expect I'll just suck it up and be glad it wasn't worse.
-
We've never had a problem before when they were hooked through where they were meant to be hooked through, but suffice to say that my faith in bungies has been shaken. Looking around most tow bar mounted racks don't use bungies to keep the bike in place, so while I was thinking that making sure the plate is removed, buying some fresh bungies and using two to keep the bike down should do it, I'm now thinking a new rack might be a better option.
-
Yep. That figures. There's no rush as I'm going back to London tomorrow.
This whole incident has reminded me that I don't like relying on my Dad for a car/rack, partly because he's a cantankerous old bugger (who's already started trying to blame me for the whole incident, which I think is unfair) but also because he's in his 70s and ill and can't really do stuff. I have been thinking about buying a cheap car for a while.
My preferred course of action would be buy a nice facelift MR2 Mk3, buy bike rack for that, enjoy. But as I don't actually have a job at the moment I should probably wait till I do :)
-
FWIW my last carrier was a tow-hook mounted one, it's easier to put the bikes on it but more of a pain to fit the carrier - and you always have to be aware of the extra length, whether the lightboard is working etc.
On the roof means that the central bike is only available to taller people, but they're less in the way (unless you go under a low arch of course).
You can also leave the racks in place, which you can't (really) do with the tow-bar ones. They're physically smaller, so storing is also easier.
Finally, whilst I have two types of carrier the one I prefer uses the front fork to lock into the rack, then a restraining strap over the rear rim - the bike frame isn't clamped/held at all, and they're extremely secure. The carrier also locks them in place which is very handy for services breaks and so forth.
These are the ones that I prefer: https://www.thule.com/en-gb/gb/bike-rack/roof-bike-racks/thule-outride-_-561000
-
Thanks, I need to do some more reading but that's all very helpful. I'm kinda serious about buying an MR2 after much research and thought and the obvious problem there is they don't have a roof!
But someone on spyderchat adapted a tow-hook rack to mount to the tow-hook mounts using M22 x 2.0 bolts which looks very solid compared to lots of perilous looking racks which mount on the bonnet.
Obviously I could plan on buying a more practical car but buying a car based on a bike rack feels like building a bike based on a pair of cantis #dbad
Ordinata
Brun
Fox
Lolo
mashton
Howard
mcmyk
Dammit
Olly398
Bullheart
-
Post a reply
About
Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc
Posted by
Finally got round to finishing something I started a couple of years ago...
Fair amount of artistic licence in the details - pretty sure none of them rolled off the production line with anodised gubbins etc. Also just noticed it doesn't have seatbelts of any kind, but I can't be arsed fixing that right now.
Edit: Right-click and open in new tab to view full size.