Oh this really hurt today...
I was hauling bikes up to a small informal show just 10 miles up the highway this morning. I borrowed a friends small but heavy duty trailer for the job. Strapped and leaning on one side of the trailer I had a 50's ladies Columbia, the custom Elgin I built for my wife, a 53 Wester Flyer and my 36 Rollfast tanker. On the other side I had my (grandfathers) 1898 Dayton Model N tandem. The pedals sat right on the top edge of the sideboards and it was a perfect fit end to end. I used bungee cords and a strap to hold all of them against the sideboards.
Well the suspension on the trailer was very heavy duty so I went slow on the secondary roads to the highway. Once up to speed on the highway (and in light traffic) and at about the 2/3 point to my exit there was a bump or something, as I hit it I looked in my rearview mirror and watched the tandem jump up and roll over the side of the trailer. I think I had the brakes locked up before it hit the blacktop. The only luck thing is that it skidded to a stop on the shoulder instead of in a lane. All the vibration shifted the load so the ratchet strap had loosened up (both sides) and when the tandem went airborne the bungees just pulled it over the side.
Well, this bike only really needed a front tire to be a rider.
Now it has 2 bent right side crank arms. One of the original pedals is destroyed. The minty seats (updated in the late 40's) are ruined, rear handlebar is taco'd (1940's) and I've got a broken spoke or two on the rear wheel. There was a rim - handbrake installed in the 40's as well, it's a twisted pretzel now.
The rear single tube tire survived and there appears to be no frame damage or even a scratch on it but I'll be searching forever for a pair of crank arms. Both wheels still spin true.
I'm pretty much sick with despair...
I was hauling bikes up to a small informal show just 10 miles up the highway this morning. I borrowed a friends small but heavy duty trailer for the job. Strapped and leaning on one side of the trailer I had a 50's ladies Columbia, the custom Elgin I built for my wife, a 53 Wester Flyer and my 36 Rollfast tanker. On the other side I had my (grandfathers) 1898 Dayton Model N tandem. The pedals sat right on the top edge of the sideboards and it was a perfect fit end to end. I used bungee cords and a strap to hold all of them against the sideboards.
Well the suspension on the trailer was very heavy duty so I went slow on the secondary roads to the highway. Once up to speed on the highway (and in light traffic) and at about the 2/3 point to my exit there was a bump or something, as I hit it I looked in my rearview mirror and watched the tandem jump up and roll over the side of the trailer. I think I had the brakes locked up before it hit the blacktop. The only luck thing is that it skidded to a stop on the shoulder instead of in a lane. All the vibration shifted the load so the ratchet strap had loosened up (both sides) and when the tandem went airborne the bungees just pulled it over the side.
Well, this bike only really needed a front tire to be a rider.
Now it has 2 bent right side crank arms. One of the original pedals is destroyed. The minty seats (updated in the late 40's) are ruined, rear handlebar is taco'd (1940's) and I've got a broken spoke or two on the rear wheel. There was a rim - handbrake installed in the 40's as well, it's a twisted pretzel now.
The rear single tube tire survived and there appears to be no frame damage or even a scratch on it but I'll be searching forever for a pair of crank arms. Both wheels still spin true.
I'm pretty much sick with despair...
