Conference noted::bicycle

82.0. "*BANG*, Oh SHIT ! The BIKES !!!" by EUREKA::REG_B () Thu Jun 19 1986 10:43

    
    	Well, we've all seen bikes on top of cars, and a few of us have
    seen a few cars on top of bikes, this is a warning about bikes and
    other things on top of cars.
    
    	At most parking garages that have low overhead clearances there
    is a "bumper board" (my term, I just made it up, right here).  This
    is usually a piece if wood about 6 or 8 inches wide and almost the
    length of a car's width that hangs from a couple of chains and has
    
    		 	WARNING - LOW CLEARANCE	
    
    painted on it in big letters.  The idea is that if the top of your
    van, truck, or bicycle carrying car bumps on this board as you take
    a ticket from the machine, then you probably should either take
    something off, deflate your tires, or find somewhere else to park.
    Usually there is a little margin of safety, i.e. if your vehicle
    only just touches the board then it will probably clear the lowest
    obstruction in the building, but don't count on this.
    
    	At the parking garage in Worcester, I think the entrance is
    on Commercial Street, there is NO bumper board.  It is possible
    to enter the garage and drive to the first end of ramp turn before
    passing under a concrete beam that is low enough to wipe a rack
    (with or without bikes) clean off the top of your car, and the sounds
    are very *LOUD* !    So, if you have a roof rack that stands about
    3ft above the roof of your car either collapse it before you go
    into this place or avoid parking there, in any case watch out for
    parking garage entrances that DON'T have bumper boards.
    
    	Reg

I had a similar experience in a friend's driveway. I was innocently pulling
into their drive when I heard the most gawdaufful noise coming from who
knew where. I slowed a bit, the noise continued...until I realized the noise
was from the roof.....I had a tree limb caught in the brake cables, the
rack was bent way outta shape, and the cables looked more like unwound springs.
Fortunately, the damage was repairable...Another foot or so, and the whole
shebang would have begun to fold over double. 

Moral of the story: Never forget you have something up there, cause if you
do, chances are, it will remind you in a most surprising way.

Another "popular" trick or two with bike racks of the rear-bumper 
variety:

1) backing out of a steep driveway with bikes on back, this frequently 
ends up with both wheels folded in half.

2) allowing the tire to sit in proximity to a tailpipe. The hot exhaust 
can melt the tire, destroying not necessarily just the tire; in one case 
the mess was so bad that we had to build a new wheel for a guy.... rim 
and numerous spokes were ruined.

                                          ken

    
    I know just what everyone in this note has been through.  Two years
    ago I was on my way to a TT in Concord, MA.  On the way, the roof
    rack (which held three bikes) decided to fall off the top.
    Unfortunately for one of the guys with me, an 18 wheeler munched
    his bike.  Fortunately for me, his insurance paid for it.  Oh well,
    another one bites the dust....