Gotta add bungees to B. As in, if you thought you had a bungee somewhere just before you put the pannier on, find out where it went before you get on the bike.

It ended up wedged in the cogs with one end hooked on the rack. Fortunately, there doesn't appear to be any damage other than my happy riding mindset for that part of the commute.

I've left a bungee end unfastened by oversight and it ended up snagging a spoke. Cog is far worse, though. I reckon if the bungee was real strong, you could get pulled backwards after it wound up sufficiently.

-Gary

Did this once. Pannier strap/bungie was left unhooked from the chainstay, rode off... bout 15 feet later heard an AWFUL sound from the rear wheel... took about 30 minutes to untangle the mess from my cassette and chain, and I got very lucky it made the noise. Only damage was a cracked dork disc. Watch those bungies!

I've made my bike reliable enough to only check the tire air pressure once a week, the brakes and chain on a monthly basis. Bungees are neatly stowed away in my panniers when not in use, and are carefully installed and checked when they are being used.

Yikes, that would be a real attention grabber Glad to hear you rode it out without injury.

That ain't nothing. I once did a grocery run at night. Threw on one of the Nashbar Townies and took off. Got to the store just as my drive train started acting and sounding wonky. My wife's thong had made the trip as well... It sucks having to extradite undergarments out from the chain/sprockets at night.

LOL! I can think of worse things it could have been! Your own boxers, for instance, or a condom XD

Even my blind eyes would've spotted my own boxers- but that little black mesh thing blended in with the black web strapping and bungee cord...

Luckily I had enough momentum to figure out that the pedals weren't turning and do something about it before anything bad happened. (Other than the chain wedging itself between the small cog and the dropout.) 75 feet further, though, and I'd have been hammering out from a stop sign to make a left onto a 45MPH five-lane.

Y'know, if they actually put some thought into those things, people might not hate them so much. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to make some adjustable nylon spacers to brace them out from the spokes and actually put them close enough to the big cog that the chain can't wedge in between.

I just went and looked at the Huffy's steel disc; it's got a rib around it that puts it about 3/4 of a chain width away from the big cog, while the outer rolled edge sits against the spokes for strength. The Trek has plenty of room for the chain to drop off there, and none of the other bikes have surviving discs to check, but it's disturbing that Huffy got it right 30 years ago and nobody else seems to even try.

Done that on enough occasions to recognise the sound, slam the brakes on and roll backwards to start the unwinding process, while loudly berating myself (once again) for being so unutterably stoopid :/

My ex-wife's underwear would bury the bike. Lucky you.