She's loving me too much

[MikeN02]

Here's my story of what happened today 3/02/2010.
I usually take the interstate to work, usually about a 15 to 25 minute ride to work. Today was a special day because it was super windy, about 24 mph winds and 27 mph gusts. I was going all over the place on the interstate.

I work in a restaurant so I usually carry my work clothes which consists of a tie, dress pants, and dress shirt in my backpack.

While I was getting off the turnpike to my exit on the interstate to work, I felt the bike Jerk forth and back a little. Kind of threw me off because it felt like a carb bike when it runs out of gas. So I thought I didn't have enough grip on my throttle and I gripped a little harder to keep it at that pace. It did it again but then I was coming to a red light and so I braked. Weird thing was I didn't feel my rear braking at all, I only felt the front. So I tested my rear brake only when the light turned green and I still felt nothing, I even put my foot down more than usual.

While pulling into the parking sidewalk space behind the restaurant that I usually park, I saw in the window reflection that my backpack was open. I was nervous as to weather or not my stuff had flown out on the interstate, so I quickly got off and checked it. And what do you know? My dress shirt wasn't there. I assumed that I didn't zip my backpack all the way and it had a little space opening and the 27 mph gusts + 65mph riding blew it open and not to mention my shirt.

Next thing I checked was my tire/rear brake, and what do I find? My shirt! Except it was a horrible sight to see. The rear brake caliper whatnot clipped the shirt and spun it around and around. So it was jamming the rear tire.

I thank her that she was gentle and didn't cause me a wreck. She knows that I love her dearly and wouldn't do anything to cause her harm.

I pulled most of the shirt off and cut some pieces as well, tomorrow I have to take off the bolt and get the rest off as I'm still a little paranoid of my rear tire with that little piece lodged in between.

[dart1963]

Glad you and your bike made it, sorry about your shirt....
Lesson learned, always secure your gear... I've ridden off a couple of times with my tail bag not secured, but, oddly, it seems to stay there (I think the front straps grab really hard on the passenger rail), I just pull over when I realize it (when I stop and it bumps my lower back) and secure it. But have wondered, what I would do if I got halfway home from work and lost my gear.

Thanks for sharing...

[MikeN02]

Was pretty much secure except I think about half a inch or more of the zippers not closed. Just that insane amount of wind blew it open, might try to invest in a small lock for it.

[flyingminno]

Glad to hear you're alright! But yeah, thats the reason I have a backpack with a clip securing each side and basically squeezing the contents together, as well as keeping the zippers from opening past a certain point.

[ginner]

Originally Posted by MikeN02

Was pretty much secure except I think about half a inch or more of the zippers not closed. Just that insane amount of wind blew it open, might try to invest in a small lock for it.

Thats a scary story mate, if you haven't got a small lock and cable tie will do the job for now.

Glad both you and your bike are ok.

[99vengeur]

WOW! I am glad it all worked out and that it wasn't more severe. I can only imagine what would have happened if your shirt would have got wrapped/caught in the chain on the other side of the tire...

I ride with a backpack pretty frequently, and I learned that it tends to stay closed if both zippers are all the way to one side rather than at the top.

[MikeN02]

Need some advice/help.

So this morning I took off the little nut for the rear brake, and pushed the giant thing upwards. After that I took the giant axel bolt off the swing arm and pushed the giant brake thing out a little so I can tug the rest of the cloth off. Now I put my giant brake thing back in, screwed it on, and screwed back on my giant axel bolt on to the swing arm.

Did a little ride around my neighborhood and got home to take a look and I see that the metal plate at the end of the swing arm and the nut went loose.

So I took an hour to look at the owner's manual about adjusting the chain slack etc.

I adjusted it to a mark 2 marks and a half, tightened the nuts at the end of the plate and torqued the axel bolt.

Did I do this right? I'm kind of scared to ride it right now as the metal plate might come loose/off again which will cause the wheel to be out of alignment.
I checked my chain slack it seemed fine, and took it around the neighborhood for 30 minutes, nothing came loose and hit 40 for a little bit, changed gears etc to see if anything happened.

Also, my brakes tend to squeak sometimes while braking... is this normal?

[porky45]

I'm assuming you're talking about your chain tensioners. You should have 2 nuts on either one. You need 2 different wrenches. 1 wrench should hold the front one in place and the back wrench should be used to tighten that back bolt so neither of the 2 flys off.

[MikeN02]

Originally Posted by porky45

I'm assuming you're talking about your chain tensioners. You should have 2 nuts on either one. You need 2 different wrenches. 1 wrench should hold the front one in place and the back wrench should be used to tighten that back bolt so neither of the 2 flys off.

Saw a couple videos on that... though I guess I need to find another nut to hold the tensioner because the right one flew off!! Anyone know what size? I think it's a 12mm.

[flyingminno]

You might also want to check the wheel alignment while you're at it. Since something like that is best done when you're already working on it. I recommend taking the rear pads off and spraying them with break cleaner too, as well as the rotor. If the fibers had dye or color on them, it could be the culprit to your squeaking.