I had a 1981 ALAN Super Record with full Zeus 2000 blow off a Prealpina rack. Luckily, damage was limited to the impact points, one Zeus 2000 pedal and the black anodized Cinelli 1A stem. Replaced those parts and never used the rack again.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, TX
worthy2@earthlink.net wrote:
... To my horror, I saw my silver Cinelli dangling near the side window. At 70 mph I made for the minimal shoulder of the freeway. The QR on the La Pre Alpina rack had failed and the bike was just being kept from being bigrig fodder by a decomposing plastic strap which keeps the rear wheel in the wimpy tie tray...
Yow, I had a similar horrifying experience long ago at North Lake Tahoe, involving my La PreAlpina rack and a Gitane TdF. In my nightmare, the bike actually let go and bounced to a rest at the edge of a sheer cliff...a miracle the cars behind me didn't crush it and that it stayed on the road. Greater miracle was that it only suffered minor wheel damage! Thing about these racks: the "quick-release levers" would not stay reliably tight unless you also tightened down a 10mm locknut on that mechanism...something I KNEW before I suffered the fly-away-TdF, but had neglected to do that morning. I blamed it on lightheadedness from the altitude. I always carried a little wrench (I believe it came with the rack) just so I'd always tighten those nuts...one slip-up and I learned how crucial that little detail was. Other than that, it's a fine if somewhat fiddly rack and I still have mine...it's just confined to use on my antique (1968) car that has rain gutters, otherwise I use a
Yakima.
Alan Goldsworthy
SF,CA
USA