Just when I thought I’d seen all the mechanical f-ups possible after I wrenched my own bike about 1.5 yrs ago (full groupset/cockpit upgrade, had to learn it all from scratch and made literally every mistake known to man and then some), did an Oly race today and a little over halfway through the bike leg, my freaking right bar-end shifter decides to fall completely out of the aerobar. Apparently, the plug-screw that holds it tight somehow came loose, and ended up detaching from the shifter (it slid backwards into the aerobar). Luckily, I was already in a ‘medium’ gear, so it worked out fine, but WTF.
Anyone else have this or any other weirdo mechanicals on race day? Feel free to share!
Is that screw not reverse, i.e. you have to turn it CCW to tighten it? That’s kinda counter intuitive and therefore you may not have applied enough torque.
Weird stuff only happens on race day. I have even gotten a flat tire in my hotel room. It wasn’t a new tire or tube and everything had been fine when I checked everything before leaving, so just sort of freak tube failure where the seam in my latex tube developed a leak.
Is that screw not reverse, i.e. you have to turn it CCW to tighten it? That’s kinda counter intuitive and therefore you may not have applied enough torque.
It was actually tight for the last 1.5 yrs! I do remember watching the youtube videos and coming across that CCW turn, so I doubt that I installed it wrong. It just came loose, and I didn’t tighten it! (Not on my list of bike check things!)
Weird stuff happened to me when I transported the TT bike in the car. With family members and dog, plus spare wheels, the handlebars and aerobars would lie at an awkward angle against something and stuff would loosen , then pop off the first bump I’d hit after the start. Never happened with the roadbike. I learned to be extra careful about how I placed the TT bike inside and then do a basic bolt check on bars, stem and shifters before the start.
Just when I thought I’d seen all the mechanical f-ups possible after I wrenched my own bike about 1.5 yrs ago (full groupset/cockpit upgrade, had to learn it all from scratch and made literally every mistake known to man and then some), did an Oly race today and a little over halfway through the bike leg, my freaking right bar-end shifter decides to fall completely out of the aerobar. Apparently, the plug-screw that holds it tight somehow came loose, and ended up detaching from the shifter (it slid backwards into the aerobar). Luckily, I was already in a ‘medium’ gear, so it worked out fine, but WTF.
Anyone else have this or any other weirdo mechanicals on race day? Feel free to share!
Exactly that at IM Wales.
Luckily it was for the front rings. I just sort of squashed it back in and kept on going.
I made changes to my position, and swapped out aerobar extensions moving from S bends to ski bends. Rode like that for a couple of weeks and then raced a sprint. Aerobar extension came out while I was going down a hill and I so very nearly lost it as I wobbled all over the road for a moment. I was able to push it back in somewhat but had to bend my wrist a little to provide some backwards push on it to keep it in place. Was so pissed at myself I had the best run I’ve probably ever had, so there’s that at least.
2012 Ironman Florida. Somewhere about half way through the bike the road had cracks about every 10 meters. This went on for miles and was very irritating. My bar end shifter came out and I had to hold it in for the rest of the ride. There were saddle mounted bottle cages, bags and bottles all over from where they had dropped off bikes. It was crazy!
Yep, also happened to me at a particularly rough 70.3. Miserable day with non stop wind and rain made the already rough course a nightmare. After around 20 miles the left shifter popped out. I was using di2 so it just hung there and I popped it back in/held on to it. I managed to keep tightening it by hand a bit until it came loose. In fairness everything worked fine, I think it just felt worse than it was because I was already having a turd of a day!
Same thing happened to me in a half ironman in 2011. The rear shifter was getting kinda loose the week prior to the race but I stupidly decided it wasn’t a big deal and didn’t do anything about it. Mile 35 it came out of the extension. In order to shift I had to hold it in the extension with one hand and use the other hand to move the shifter. Not much fun, especially since the last half had a few rolling hills.
The biggest in race shifter thing last year was was a broken wire in my eTap. I’d tossed on a barfly computer mount and essentially pinched off the wire… I hit the shifter and it went all the way to 28 on the rear cassette. After a couple miles of high cadence spinning in 54-28 the other blips started working and I didn’t touch “that one” again.
I also had my blip fall out of its mount on a training ride… still not sure how that even happened and the collar that holds it in was tight. It just popped out and was dangling by the wire. It still worked but bizarre that it popped out.
I made changes to my position, and swapped out aerobar extensions moving from S bends to ski bends. Rode like that for a couple of weeks and then raced a sprint. Aerobar extension came out while I was going down a hill and I so very nearly lost it as I wobbled all over the road for a moment. I was able to push it back in somewhat but had to bend my wrist a little to provide some backwards push on it to keep it in place. Was so pissed at myself I had the best run I’ve probably ever had, so there’s that at least.
This happened to me at IM Chatt this year. My extension would get loose “normally” after about 5-6 hours of riding (still not sure why that bolt won’t stay tight). I tightened it up before the race, but it got loose within 30 minutes this time, and eventually wouldn’t even stay in. Basically did the whole 116 on my left arm, just holding on to the extension with my right. Shifting was a blast, if I let go to get water or eat, it would roll over and point down. Fun fun.
These things don’t happen overnight. It may not have fallen out for 1.5 years, but it most likely wasn’t tight the whole time. That’s why a bike needs a thorough check out about once a year. And yes, I’ve postponed it and had similar stuff happen.
