North wrote: "I find it galling that a couple of posters on this thread have mentioned Riv staff grabbing Irish straps as safeguards for customers on the floor but they don't make that knowledge public via the website. Shame on 'em!"
Welcome to RBW Owners Bunch! I'm sure you're a nice guy and the concern you show for the public safety is commendable. But as a new poster, your tone might be overly... what, strident, maybe? Maybe we can channel that Ralph Nader in you a bit and all say hello before ripping into the galling nature of Rivendell's alleged behavior. Especially considering you did not buy the rack from Rivendell--not least because they don't sell that rack. It sounds to me like your gripe is really with Ben's Cycles, who you claim advertised a false load capacity for the rack that you purchased from them, causing you to run it at overcapacity for 1200 miles or so, when it then failed and caused you to crash. Those appear to be the facts. It strikes me as a little boorish to pop in and start ragging on Rivendell based on that. A heads-up regarding your experience, sure, duly noted. Other than posting one of those scrolling, flashing, 90s style messages across the front page of its website, I have to say that Rivendell appears to be rather conscientious about how to install and use the racks that they sell. >From the Riv site, rack section, bottom (the top of the page states: Don't buy a rack from us until you read the warning on the bottom of the page.) **ALWAYS use these rack with a tether btw the tall tongue-loop and the handlebar. They're strong little racks, but people do dumb things, and the tether is a safety measure. Make the tether out of cord or any adjustable strap. Along with lots of other recommendations and warnings. Maybe some of this is fairly recent update, as John claims. But maybe that's because something came to their attention and they addressed it. To me, based on the "people do dumb things" they may have seen something...dumb. In any case, Rivendell doesn't strike me as a company that would go out of its way not to warn people about a safety issue. And I have been a customer for many years now. You sound like a not dumb guy who knows quite a lot, so it's doubtful that your bolts were too loose or too tight, or you bent the tang too many times, or failed to check tightness occasionally. But still, you mention big 2"tires and wilderness trails and something called GDMBR which sounds super gnarly, and tying fenders of coroplast over the rack making inspection difficult, and mud and such. It almost makes me think you need a different, more super gnarly rack to suit your needs. My Surly 8-pack on my Clementine (which, like your rack, Rivendell also doesn't sell) isn't going anywhere off the front any time soon. It's probably overkill for holding my basket. But I'm a low maintenance kind of guy and this makes it so I don't have to fret about it all that much. The proper tool for the job, as they say. BTW, the subject of the thread is tang bolts coming loose. There is also the sad fact that the quality of iron ore available to steel makers is on the decline globally, due in large part to the massive demand created by China in the last decade. On Tuesday, June 21, 2016 at 6:14:15 PM UTC-4, Northof49ncold wrote: > > > > One last thing: I forgot to thank Evan Baird for his post on the Manny > strap. However his second photo -- with the safety info -- should have been > attached instead of the repeat he provided. I've dug that photo out of the > archives for your further enlightenment/entertainment. My hope is that > folks looking for info on Nitto M18 racks, especially failures, might come > across this thread as I did (they are headlined in the title, after all) > and learn something from it. In one of the older Riv Readers, Grant wrote a > piece up on Secof (spelling?) front brake cable catchers that were part of > a safety push after a rider's front cable broke unexpectedly, dropped and > caught onto his tire knobs and stopped him dead in his tracks. Well, not > quite dead -- he ended up as a quadrapalegic and won a resulting lawsuit > (if memory of that article's contents serves me correctly). The bike > industry remade the front brake cable design so the same thing couldn't > happen again. I believe there's a lesson in there somewhere for front rack > makers that use a bendable/breakable tang in a 3-point connection. A strap > should be a mandatory accessory with that kind of rack (with instructions) > as happened here: > https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rbw-owners-bunch/zmJGzKSVOvc . As > far as Grant's "check every other day" for fatigue cracks etc, I might make > the observation that some of these racks are mounted over fat tires (2 > inches and above) and, at the best of times, do not make examination easy > -- especially if you're touring in muddy conditions over great chunks of > land (think GDMBR). Some of us cable tie coroplast fenders/platforms over > these tang-connected racks which make visuals even tougher. Ocean Air -- > dstein offered up one of their solutions in photo form upthread -- > recognized this as a safety issue and I'd like to see more of the industry > addressing it. You sell an M18 -- or a Mark's or a Porteur -- then add a > safety strap with it at a minimum. > > Now, back to your regular programming.... > >> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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