Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Freewheeling => Topic started by: andyoxon on 12 November, 2019, 02:50:24 pm
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I have a bit of a problem. It seems to be 50:50 whether I do up the side pockets on the SuperC Audax bag, or sometimes the main compartment. Most of the time I seem to get away with it, but a few months back it was an anker charger that bit the tarmac - fortunately OK. On Sunday heading up a main road in town, clatter, clatter, looks back 'what's that', my multitool sitting on the road. Bag pocket undone.
A couple of weeks ago it was a front light, that finally met it's end on the road, after I failed to click it in properly... ::-)
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I think you are looking for this thread; https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=95565.1650 (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=95565.1650)
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This is more niche... ;D
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Cycleman's the forum expert on this sort of thing. Loosely-packed banana bags are surprisingly good at containing items with the zips undone - until they aren't (usually because of potholes). Seems to me that a variation on the banana racer design with more separate compartments (perhaps some with velcro flaps for ease of access to things like phones and snacks while seated) would be a useful innovation.
Having forgotten a couple of times, I'm fairly paranoid about whether I've done up the side pockets on my rack bags (which tend to contain important things like keys). Reaching back and groping around to check isn't always practical, so it becomes that dilemma of how sure you are that you closed it vs whether to stop...
Weirdly, I never seem to have this problem with panniers. Possibly just because I tend to use them either for utility rides from A to B without stopping, or for touring, where the one I'm likely to rummage in mid-ride is on the front rack, where I'll notice if it's not closed.
From what I pick up on group rides, it seems that the main offenders for jettisoning items while riding along are overstuffed jersey pockets and bungee cords used to secure small or amorphous items to rear racks. And clip-on rear lights, which clearly hate travelling by bicycle.
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I lost a rain jacket in this way. The saddle bag was full so the jacket was in a bungee on top. I've no idea where it came off as I never noticed and it had the indecency to fail completely to wrap itself round my rear wheel on it's departure. Fortunately was old and not very expensive so became an excuse to buy new kit.
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I lost a 3-year-old Paclite jacket to a snapped bungee cord riding down into San Marino. Searched for half an hour to no end. OTOH I once rode down from around 1300m to 400 with an unzipped Topeak rack bag stuffed with spare clothing and my camera sitting loose on top, and lost nothing.
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[Nostalgic stuff]
First generation Never Ready Night Rider lamps self-ejected on many minimal potholes. The hole in the body and 'tongue' in the bracket helped. Still lousy lights!
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My cycling jacket has silly diagonal top edges of the side pockets on the back, designed to jettison anything not fully inserted. Once heard my wallet this onto the ground on a quiet country lane.
Ortlieb makes saddle bags with a roll top facing backwards (https://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/834960411703083423/), that sits wide open when not done up. I encountered a guy on an audax who’d lost *everything* from it.
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I can do worse... I use the bagman sport with the quick release. Went for a ride with a mate and we pulled in to Aldi to get supplies for the ride. I bunged the grub in the Barley and we continued on. Unbeknownst to me, I hadn't reattached the barley to the bagman. It sat on the back for the next 15 km, but when we got to the off road bit and I looked for the haribo, the bag was gone.
Cue the next 50 minutes of me riding around looking for the bag with food, tools etc in it (thankfully I had my phone and keys in my jersey).
Thankfully some kind soul had spotted it and hung it from a tree. Serious imbecile moment... I think I didn't hear it come off as we were on dry sand, which would have muted the racked of it coming off.
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Continuing the rain jacket theme, I tend to keep it in a bottle cage, secured with a toestrap. This avoids the usual problem of putting a wet jacket in your luggage, and seems more secure than straps alone.
Similarly, when using your panniers/rack as a clothesline during a tour, it makes sense to loop your strap through arm or leg holes to prevent escapes. Probably worth modifying towels to provide a similar looping point. I use a mesh bag for smaller items like underwear.
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Ortlieb makes saddle bags with a roll top facing backwards (https://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/834960411703083423/), that sits wide open when not done up. I encountered a guy on an audax who’d lost *everything* from it.
Doesn't fill with water if you leave it open in the rain, thobut...
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What would Blodwyn Pig do without the rest of us?
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I've occasionally forgotten to do up the straps on a saddlebag but the only item I've ever lost was a lock, which I didn't notice till I got home. I retraced the next day and found it on the road, complete with tyre marks but still functioning. I think the Carradice design as actually pretty good at keeping things in even when the flaps are open. This does not mean I recommend testing it!
What would Blodwyn Pig do without the rest of us?
:D
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Ortlieb makes saddle bags with a roll top facing backwards (https://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/834960411703083423/), that sits wide open when not done up. I encountered a guy on an audax who’d lost *everything* from it.
I have the older version with the snap-in clips at the back. I'm paranoid about it coming undone and losing stuff, so I use a re-usable zip tie as a second line of defence.
I much prefer a bar bag so I can (usually) notice when it is undone, or when, like today, my OS map makes a leap for freedom and lands in a puddle.
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I lost a rain jacket that I'd stuffed into a bottle cage once. I rather liked it, but finally replaced it last year with an identical one (via eBay!).
Worse, I also lost a lovely striped Rapha gilet. It was bungeed to my saddle bag, along with a bag of rubbish. After some horrible off-roading, I realised that the gilet was no longer there (the bag of rubbish, of course, was). :facepalm:
If anyone ever comes across a pink and navy gilet somewhere on Rannoch Moor, do let me know... :'(
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Talk of gilets naturally leads to items stolen by wildlife. I think the closest I've come to that was discovering a squirrel in the early stages of a chocolate heist on my Topeak tri-bag, but I wasn't actually riding the bike at the time.
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I had a rear led fall of my bike during a morning commute a number of winters back. Didn't discover till got to work. Left work at end of day and just as its getting dark what should I see but my LED light flashing away at the side of the country lane. Not even broken. Clipped it in the quick release bracket properly this time and continued on in the dark to home. I have multiple lights fitted for redundancy on the back of my bikes these days.
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Talk of gilets naturally leads to items stolen by wildlife. I think the closest I've come to that was discovering a squirrel in the early stages of a chocolate heist on my Topeak tri-bag, but I wasn't actually riding the bike at the time.
I had a croissant stolen off me by a monkey when I was pausing for a break while riding to the top of Gibraltar. The little fucker had no problem unwrapping the cellophane too.
Bloody primates!
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I once left a bar of chocolate in a pannier, which was on the bike, when I put the bike away in the in-laws' shed (which was originally a cow and pig shed back when they had livestock). A day or two later after a shopping trip, I unpacked the shopping and then found the forgotten chocolate bar. With teeth marks. The work of a greedy toddler (this was many years ago) was my first thought, but no... look at how it hasn't been bitten from the opened end but actually through the packet. Then I found a wonderfully neat ball of woven grass! Unoccupied.
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In general I get the impression that bungeeing or strapping something to the top of a saddlebag is reasonably high risk for losing (if not done up well and tight). At the weekend I had to pedal through floodwater at the Fyfield portal (under the A420), totally soaked my neoprene overshoes, took them off quick, shoes were dry. Toe strapped oveshoes to the top of my carradice, sometime later I found that they were loosely held by one strap with the other unattached strap dangling - about to make it's bit for freedom...
I had a rear led fall of my bike during a morning commute a number of winters back. Didn't discover till got to work. Left work at end of day and just as its getting dark what should I see but my LED light flashing away at the side of the country lane. Not even broken. Clipped it in the quick release bracket properly this time and continued on in the dark to home. I have multiple lights fitted for redundancy on the back of my bikes these days.
:thumbsup: After my light fell off and broke, I decided to look for the missing section (for superglue repair) in amongst the leaf litter on the way back - except that the streetcleaner vacuum had been through... :-\
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A bit OT but I once saw a Kea dismantle a very expensive looking alpine rucksack to get at the food inside. The owner was using it as a pillow at the time. I would have woken him but his pal was obviously very amused by the incident so I didn't bother.
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I lost half an apple Soreen out of my pocket on Sunday's audax. That was pretty gutting because I was enjoying it.
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I have lost a Barley in similar manner to bludger but in that London, at night, in a downpour. Did an extra two commutes there and back looking for it and getting very wet, but no sign at all.
Nearly repeated that last week but the new bagman has a bit more of a hook to it and fortunatley kept the new Barley in place :facepalm:
In more fortunate circumstances, a packlite jacket in its bag fell off while riding to a ferry in Ireland. A car driver spotted it in the middle of the road and returned it at the terminal :D
And on a Flanders sportive I got to the end of one pave sector with no seatpack (Tools tubes etc). Back up and down Haaghoek (an extra 4km of cobbles) and no sign. But at the wee stop at the top of the next berg, someone had left it perched on the top of the pissoir
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On my South Downs Way in a day (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=35044.0) extravaganza my Topeak saddlepack unzipped itself and my tools and tyre levers fell out. I spotted this at half distance, and half a mile later punctured. I did have four tubes !
At three quarter distance I spotted that I hadn't zipped up the side pannier pocket, and my mobile had bounced out.
A kind soul found the phone and rang Mrs hatler.
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I once lost a brand new Agu pannier. Very first time of use, I was a hundred metres from work when a driver shouted out his window, "You've dropped something there!" Right in the middle of a busy junction. :facepalm: Fortunately I was able to retrieve it before it got run over. After that I worked out how to adjust the new-to-me hook style.
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With all this kit going missing why are we not finding items on the roadside verges etc. ? I think I remember a thread a while back on the subject of items found.
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With all this kit going missing why are we not finding items on the roadside verges etc. ? I think I remember a thread a while back on the subject of items found.
https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=53164.0 aka the Blodwyn Pig's swag thread...
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i've lost a flask of energy gel on pbp2015, it jumped out of unzipped tri-bag into a ditch as i was just about to take a sip. i think that's the only thing (apart from an odd water bottle bouncing out) that i managed to lose, i rarely carry the stuff on a bike, so chances of stuff falling off are pretty low.
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My old trice had a major problem with vibration caused metel fatigue on light fittings mainly which been mainly cured by the suspension on the newer machine. I still have the occasional part escape but very rarely :)
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The most common and consistent thing falling off my bike would be me. :-[
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I lost a smart lED rear light on cycle to do Christmas shopping today. Didn't realise till I found a smart LED light in my cycle home from Christmas shopping.
Would suggest I was the only person who had used that route this morning or other people don't share my magpie instinct
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You're lucky you don't live near Blodwyn Pig!
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on my inaugural cycle touring trip i bought alpkit panniers without clips. I then tried to use ordinary velcro to hold them on and of course it did not work for very long.
I rode on for about 2-3 miles before noticing and was just about to turn round and head back up the road when a very nice lady in a small BMW pulled in beside me and gave me my pannier. She had been walking her dog, noticed the pannier on the ground, raced home, got her car and headed off to find me.
Not all BMW drivers are bad.
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Somewhere in Amsterdam there is a Cateye Volt800 light. it either got pinched while I was making a collection, or it fell off while riding.
Oops.
J
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Today. Clatter, clatter. Half my tool kit from open side pocket of 'barley' on to road. Had to retrieve it from the bridge over the Thames - all OK. ::-)
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Discovered earlier that the several of lipsalvs that I'd lost from my jacket pocket on previous rides were in fact rattling around inside the lining. Those familiar with recumbents will guess how I made this discovery...
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Phone and wallet. No strictly off bike but jacket pocket whilst riding recumbent. Zip pocket up and check next time!