check your bikes!

Oh good grief. A couple stand up warm sprints the day before, or even
before the ride would have detected this. If it doesn't than it's really
not dangerous.. A bump or two may have caused the handlebars to turn, but
it certainly wouldn't have been a "Hincapie..."

Torque specs on stems is somewhat laughable... Unless you actually think
or know the diameters are precisely controlled to say plus or minus 5 thou,
and you know the stiffness, etc, of that being clamped, and of the stem,
etc...

YMMV, but I am just going to trust my hand, eye and feel over blind torque
numbers. They can be a guide, but certainly are not giving you a
direct desired pre-load or clamp force. They'll get you in to an order of
magnitude at least ! : )

Also anything plastic (sorry the resin in the carbon falls into this
category) is going to creep under load. (meaning preload / clamp force
will dissappear over time..)

On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 6:28 PM, wrote:

> So let me get this straight. You only check your bike once a year. You are
> very lucky that you haven't hurt yourself or others.
>
> Scott
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Dan H"
> Sender: obra-bounces@list.obra.org
> Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2012 18:26:19
> To: OBRA list
> Subject: [OBRA Chat] check your bikes!
>
> I'm doing my first event of the season tomorrow so I washed and checked my
> bike.
> To my amazement, I found the Thomson X2 stem bolts has loosened to point
> that the bars swiveled on the steer tube very easily. It was torqued to
> spec
> (5.5nm) last year. I checked again and the steer tube bolts were several
> turns loose as though they had been rattling loose for some time. I checked
> the face plate bolts and found they were also loose.
> The loose condition could have easily caused me to crash possible taking
> some of my fellow racers with me. Injuries could have been anywhere from
> bruises to death.
> Please check over your bikes, your pedals and your cleats and lets finish
> wheels down.
> Sorry If I sound like a nanny, but that kind of freaked me out.
> Thanks, Dan
>
> _______________________________________________
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>


Luciano bailey

2012-03-04

Well saidDan



-- Sent from my HP TouchPad

On Mar 3, 2012 6:26 PM, Dan H <dan@bicyclerepairman.us> wrote:
I'm doing my first event of the season tomorrow so I washed and checked my

bike.

To my amazement, I found the Thomson X2 stem bolts has loosened to point

that the bars swiveled on the steer tube very easily. It was torqued to spec

(5.5nm) last year. I checked again and the steer tube bolts were several

turns loose as though they had been rattling loose for some time. I checked

the face plate bolts and found they were also loose.

The loose condition could have easily caused me to crash possible taking

some of my fellow racers with me. Injuries could have been anywhere from

bruises to death.

Please check over your bikes, your pedals and your cleats and lets finish

wheels down.

Sorry If I sound like a nanny, but that kind of freaked me out.

Thanks, Dan



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eric aldinger

2012-03-04

Indeed.

On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 6:26 PM, Dan H wrote:

> I'm doing my first event of the season tomorrow so I washed and checked my
> bike.
> To my amazement, I found the Thomson X2 stem bolts has loosened to point
> that the bars swiveled on the steer tube very easily. It was torqued to
> spec (5.5nm) last year. I checked again and the steer tube bolts were
> several turns loose as though they had been rattling loose for some time. I
> checked the face plate bolts and found they were also loose.
> The loose condition could have easily caused me to crash possible taking
> some of my fellow racers with me. Injuries could have been anywhere from
> bruises to death.
> Please check over your bikes, your pedals and your cleats and lets finish
> wheels down.
> Sorry If I sound like a nanny, but that kind of freaked me out.
> Thanks, Dan
> ______________________________**_________________
> OBRA mailing list
> obra@list.obra.org
> http://list.obra.org/mailman/**listinfo/obra
> Unsubscribe: obra-unsubscribe@list.obra.org
>

--
Eric Aldinger


Craig Ruby

2012-03-04

Couple of things here.. I've run into torq specs that still allowed movement.. Also with carbon goodies that want to slip try grip paste and always on stem bolts, and any other bolts use some blue loc tite..


Rick Johnson

2012-03-04

That's always a good idea to do regularly. When I worked professionally
in motorsports it was referred to the "nut and bolt check". Every
critical fastener was checked daily at a minimum. (Most critical engine
fasteners were safety wired.)

On bicycles I do the same periodically and always before any race.

Rick Johnson
Bend Oregon

* * *

This news has been sanitized for your preconceptions

On 3/3/2012 6:26 PM, Dan H wrote:
> I'm doing my first event of the season tomorrow so I washed and
> checked my bike.
> To my amazement, I found the Thomson X2 stem bolts has loosened to
> point that the bars swiveled on the steer tube very easily. It was
> torqued to spec (5.5nm) last year. I checked again and the steer tube
> bolts were several turns loose as though they had been rattling loose
> for some time. I checked the face plate bolts and found they were also
> loose.
> The loose condition could have easily caused me to crash possible
> taking some of my fellow racers with me. Injuries could have been
> anywhere from bruises to death.
> Please check over your bikes, your pedals and your cleats and lets
> finish wheels down.
> Sorry If I sound like a nanny, but that kind of freaked me out.
> Thanks, Dan
> _______________________________________________
> OBRA mailing list
> obra@list.obra.org
> http://list.obra.org/mailman/listinfo/obra
> Unsubscribe: obra-unsubscribe@list.obra.org


halfwheelhill@yahoo.com

2012-03-04

So let me get this straight. You only check your bike once a year. You are very lucky that you haven't hurt yourself or others.

Scott
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: "Dan H"
Sender: obra-bounces@list.obra.org
Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2012 18:26:19
To: OBRA list
Subject: [OBRA Chat] check your bikes!

I'm doing my first event of the season tomorrow so I washed and checked my
bike.
To my amazement, I found the Thomson X2 stem bolts has loosened to point
that the bars swiveled on the steer tube very easily. It was torqued to spec
(5.5nm) last year. I checked again and the steer tube bolts were several
turns loose as though they had been rattling loose for some time. I checked
the face plate bolts and found they were also loose.
The loose condition could have easily caused me to crash possible taking
some of my fellow racers with me. Injuries could have been anywhere from
bruises to death.
Please check over your bikes, your pedals and your cleats and lets finish
wheels down.
Sorry If I sound like a nanny, but that kind of freaked me out.
Thanks, Dan

_______________________________________________
OBRA mailing list
obra@list.obra.org
http://list.obra.org/mailman/listinfo/obra
Unsubscribe: obra-unsubscribe@list.obra.org


Dan H

2012-03-04

I'm doing my first event of the season tomorrow so I washed and checked my
bike.
To my amazement, I found the Thomson X2 stem bolts has loosened to point
that the bars swiveled on the steer tube very easily. It was torqued to spec
(5.5nm) last year. I checked again and the steer tube bolts were several
turns loose as though they had been rattling loose for some time. I checked
the face plate bolts and found they were also loose.
The loose condition could have easily caused me to crash possible taking
some of my fellow racers with me. Injuries could have been anywhere from
bruises to death.
Please check over your bikes, your pedals and your cleats and lets finish
wheels down.
Sorry If I sound like a nanny, but that kind of freaked me out.
Thanks, Dan