Tandem Cycling - Broke the bike!
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professorbob
08-25-09, 09:47 PM
My son (age 10, but very strong for his age) and I were out on a ride today when halfway up the hill, missed a shift and dropped the chain going to the granny gear. As I was putting it back together, I realized there was a problem. The granny ring was severely bent! So after looking it over I found that I should've made sure all my bolts were tight. There were 3 bolts missing from the ring! So what happened was as soon as the chain went over to the granny and we put some force on it, it bent down. I was able to bend it back far enough to keep it from rubbing against the chainstay, but the ring's shot. We were able to finish the ride with no problems, but tomorrow I'll pull the crank and replace the ring. My hope is that the ring is the only thing damaged. BTW, there were two loose bolts on the middle and outer rings as well. A lesson to us all-maintenance is more than just oiling the chain!
regomatic
08-25-09, 10:09 PM
That's another benefit of traveling with your bike, coupled or not.
At least once or twice a year, a bunch of it is going to be taken apart & put together again, twice. This is a very good opportunity to clean every nook and cranny when you pack it for vacation and lubricate as needed & then take extra time to put it back together extra carefully with all of the fastenings cleaned and greased and properly torqued upon your return.
zonatandem
08-25-09, 10:53 PM
We have a habit of checking all nuts/bolts on our tandem about twice a year. Yes, chainring bolts can/do loosen, as you found out.
An ounce of prevention is . . .
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem
johnlyons53
08-27-09, 04:16 PM
Be sure to loctite the new chainring bolts . Use the blue stuff. The ring assembly will still come apart when you need but it will not spontaneously disassemble itself.
professorbob
08-30-09, 09:35 PM
I kick myself for not taking care of this, as I always do it at least once or twice a year on my other bikes. I just didn't get 'round tuit!
bobthib
08-30-09, 09:56 PM
Wow! The advice on this forum is invaluable! I'm glad I don't have to pay for it as I could not afford it!
Thanks to all for the advance warning. Since I'm riding a "cheap department store bike" (our tandem) this advice is even more important.
And please believe me, this is not meant to sound like an post against "elitist" brand name bike owners. I really appreciate the good advice I find in this site. I find that if you be fair, overall the comments you get back are fair.