"HANG LOOSE"

HANGING OUT
by John Del Santo
Hanging out on a Saturday night can be fun, but there are some pretty spooky stories around about parts of peoples bikes that come loose and wander around into someplace they don’t belong…. Here are a few : A friend had a leather lace on his right handgrip with a couple of beads on it. When the wind blew it up and tangled into his handbrake mechanism, he didn’t notice it…But when he tried to stop he could not apply his front brakes. Surprise !
Having a rider who is wearing a long scarf could make the Daily News….”Biker Strangles Girlfriend” ! There is a story around about a guy who had one of those leather “handlebar whips” attached to his handlebars… worked ok until the wind blew the end of the whip into his front brake caliper. And a friend of mine got warm and tied her leather jacket to the back of the bike with one bungee cord….When the bungee cord broke and the jacket slid down into her rear spokes, well, talk about a sudden stop !
First…. Bungee Cords…Don’t trust them. If you don’t use them at all, they won’t hurt you. Some government agencies forbid their drivers from using them on official vehicles for any reason. Some people use them on their bikes, but will use four of them across something on their bike instead of one or two, Just as insurance, or in addition to nylon straps. We can strap something down snugly on our bike, but should stop an hour down the road to check if the weight has shifted or the tie-down has loosened. Things shift around and change shape from the vibrations of a bike, and can change shape and loosen the tie-downs. A parachute cord only takes up a little carrying space, but in an emergency can make a pretty good one-time tie-down strap. My wife made her own tie-down straps, strong black nylon straps, with substantial adjustable buckles…..used for securing her tent, sleeping bag and rain gear. She makes the straps from multi-colored nylon, so she can tell which strap is going where when unloading in the dark. We need to keep our Center of Gravity low and centered so the bike handles properly. The luggage rack on the back of a bike was not designed for heavy stuff, and things tied to the front forks do nothing good for the forks or the steering. And last but certainly not least, once we have unloaded stuff from a bike, a priority is to find all of the straps and cords to make sure none are hiding around waiting to get caught in a wheel tomorrow morning.
If you want to “Hang Loose” you can do it in a club tonight if you wish…but when you get on the road, being “Tight” is the way to go.