... you're riding along in the early morning snow and some lady steps out into the street, so you lock it up and skid delightfully along the slick pavement, stopping just in time not to kill her, but in the process, your bullhorns slip down in the clamp from the weight you put on them, so you get out your hex wrench to tighten 'em up a little, and then, as you're tightening, you feel that sudden, dreadful looseness that tells you the thing is stripped, and it's 6:45 in the morning and you're on your way to work, so you have to ride carefully on the flats not only for the duration of the morning commute, but for the entirety of the evening commute also? Yeah, well, I definitely hate that.

I hate it when that happens.

Thankfully, I haven't had that happen.... yet.

You need a new clamp preferably the right size. I've never had that happen except for once when I forgot to tighten them. Needless to say I realized it after about 5 feet of riding. So whats it like riding a unicycle?

Glad to hear it happened without major incident.

ugh, in some circles, that feeling is worse than death. I hate it as well, though I have never stripped out a bike part, but have stripped out other parts(car parts, mainly).

Yeah I guess I do need a new clamp. I'd been using this one without incident for well over a year, so I think this might have something to do with the extreme cold of late (I know I shouldn't store the rig outside, but necessity and the displeasure of my wife at having bikes in the house sometimes trump metallurgical considerations). It might also have to do with the fact that I never ever buy new parts or measure anything, being content instead with trial and (today) error.

As for the unicycle question, it's not that bad. The flats of the bar are perpendicular to the top tube with a slight drop, so it's OK to ride that way. Not that I'm going to make a habit of it, but I feel fairly confident about getting home (famous last words).

'at's what ya get fer stoppin'.