Fifty Plus (50+) - Clunk - what was that?

The other day - when riding the old Puch home from work I heard a clunk in the spokes of the front wheel. I thought I must have picked up a rock and thrown it into the spokes. I just rode home. Then in the morning I started riding into work. I got about a third of the way - where I have to cross a road (my commute is mostly on a bike path). Now I hit the brakes but the bike was slow to stop. Hmmm - thats strange. I continued on. Had do hit the breaks again but this time harder, the bike hardly seemed to stop and the front brake handle moved quite a bit. I looked down and there was only one shoe on the front brakes :eek:
The shoe must have fallen off the other day. I completed my ride to work and then back home that evening - I just took it slow. I guess it pays to make sure every thing is tight from time to time, but this is the first time anything like this has happened.

Glad you found out about the brake problem in a relatively easy way.

I was riding home up a slight hill on a wooded road and I heard something plastic bang against my bike and on the road. I stopped and looked at my bike but didn't see anything missing. And I did not find anything on the road. I continued riding with no problems.

One time bouncing over some RR tracks my light popped off my handlebars. Another time going over some RR tracks my panniers came off. One time I heard some rattling and a bolt had come off my rear rack.

I do check my spokes and tires every other day.

.........I looked down and there was only one shoe on the front brakes :eek:
The shoe must have fallen off the other day. I completed my ride to work and then back home that evening - I just took it slow. I guess it pays to make sure every thing is tight from time to time, but this is the first time anything like this has happened.

Ooo, tough brake!! :)

Glad you got through this adventure safely.

Whethere you call it maintanence or just checking things over, ya gotta do it....although I have to admit I am not real good at it either.

Several of the trails in my area have undergone "inexpensive" repair this season. In those areas that get wet and muddy, they have carted in truckloads of trap rock to dump on the trail. This is the 1" variety and typically will take about a year to be packed by traffic down into the mud to make a more stable foundation. For the time it is on the surface however it makes for an "interesting" ride. So far this year, I have had a pump come apart, I have shed water bottles and a water bottle bracket. I have even had a front skewer come loose. Some of these rides provide almost as big an upper body workout as the legs. Everything on the bike has to be checked before any rides.

lesson learned. Bike Check BEFORE you ride.

I heard a clink one time shortly after building up a bike. Stopped to check what it was and, seeing nothing, concluded it was just something I ran over on the road. A little while later when trying to shift the front deraileure, it jammed up hard. Turned out that a mis-installed shim on the tube clamp had come out. Probably never would have found it through visual inspection.