Basket wearing paint on head tube

On 10/2/2008 7:31 PM A Muzi wrote:

Mike Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
I recently mounted a Wald Standard Bicycle Lift Off Basket
(http://www.amazon.com/Wald-Standard-.../dp/B000AO3H2Y)
on my town bike.

As can be seen from the photo, the lower portion of the wire mount rests
against the head tube. In only a few days of riding it's worn through
the paint, leaving a horizontal groove. Squeaks, too, when riding and
turning.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to prevent more wear to the tube. I
tried some clear tape on the head tube but the wire wore right through
it. Maybe zip-tie some soda can aluminum around the tube?


I just went to that link and read the first customer comment:

"Installed this basket and went for a ride -- hit a small bump in the
road, and the basket popped off the frame. And again, and again, and
again. Within half a mile was scrounging twist-ties to keep the basket
secured -- which still didn't prevent it from rattling the entire time.
Worse, Niagara Cycle Works, the seller, refused to accept it as a
return. Stay away from this thing."


I don't think I bought the basket from that link, I just found it when I
was looking for a link to post this question. But that aside, I've hit a
number of bumps and potholes and went off a curb and the basket stayed
put. I'm not saying that this is a brilliant basket, just that it's okee
dokee with me so far. Except for that sawing through the head tube thing.

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"

Mike Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
On 10/2/2008 7:31 PM A Muzi wrote:

Mike Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
I recently mounted a Wald Standard Bicycle Lift Off Basket
(http://www.amazon.com/Wald-Standard-.../dp/B000AO3H2Y)
on my town bike.

As can be seen from the photo, the lower portion of the wire mount
rests against the head tube. In only a few days of riding it's worn
through the paint, leaving a horizontal groove. Squeaks, too, when
riding and turning.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to prevent more wear to the tube.
I tried some clear tape on the head tube but the wire wore right
through it. Maybe zip-tie some soda can aluminum around the tube?


I just went to that link and read the first customer comment:

"Installed this basket and went for a ride -- hit a small bump in the
road, and the basket popped off the frame. And again, and again, and
again. Within half a mile was scrounging twist-ties to keep the basket
secured -- which still didn't prevent it from rattling the entire time.
Worse, Niagara Cycle Works, the seller, refused to accept it as a
return. Stay away from this thing."


I don't think I bought the basket from that link, I just found it when I
was looking for a link to post this question. But that aside, I've hit a
number of bumps and potholes and went off a curb and the basket stayed
put. I'm not saying that this is a brilliant basket, just that it's okee
dokee with me so far. Except for that sawing through the head tube thing.


I like Wald products. They are a fine and unusually long-lived American
manufacturer. What's not to like about USA steel and sensible design?
Although I made a few light comments, their front baskets, for what they
are, are good stuff and reasonably priced.

In practice, the curved steel piece may scuff your finish but doesn't
really damage anything beyond that. And for most users with minimal
loads even that seems not to be a problem.

If you do have some road impacts such that the handle unlatches, try a
velcro strip on the side of the handle.

Lastly, despite that over-the-top review from some drama queen with a
keyboard, Wald products have an enviably low return rate for many years
over high volume.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On Oct 3, 10:25 am, A Muzi wrote:
landotter wrote:
Tack weld a roller bearing onto the head tube, then. Easy!
Frank Krygowski wrote:
No, no, no, no, no! The first time he hit a bump, his basket would
brinell! Or maybe the bearing would. But still, it would never work.
landotter wrote:
Does anyone make a forged basket?

Well, somebody does. Apparently Mr Squirrel bought a fake Wald! And you
thought they only forged Prada!

I loosa my mind if I read this with a mob accent, no? Always forged,
never member!

Correction to post I made earlier: replace "top tube" with "head tube".

Tape the sock on and give it a test ride - you can sew it on later. Try
it - it's easy to do and really works well !! No friction, no paint
damage.....

________________________________

I wrapped several thicknesses of a black cotton sock around the lower
portion of the wire mount (the part that rests against the top tube),
and sewed it in place. I then took another piece of the sock (elastic
part) and tied this around the top tube to keep it (the wire mount) from
bouncing forward when hitting bumps.

I hit a pothole and the basket handle flew up, detaching the basket from
the wire mount, and the basket landed in the road. Used a twist tie, the
kind that comes with bread, to hold the basket handle down against the
basket.

This arrangement is very neat and hardly noticeable. I've been using it
for about a year with no problem.

Hope this helps.

Mike

P.S. I washed the sock first!

On 10/3/2008 6:05 AM mike balo wrote:

Correction to post I made earlier: replace "top tube" with "head tube".

Tape the sock on and give it a test ride - you can sew it on later. Try
it - it's easy to do and really works well !! No friction, no paint
damage.....


Following up on landotter's suggestion: a brown sock probably best choice
for dopiness factor.


--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"

A Muzi wrote:

I like Wald products. They are a fine and unusually long-lived American
manufacturer. What's not to like about USA steel and sensible design?
Although I made a few light comments, their front baskets, for what they
are, are good stuff and reasonably priced.

In practice, the curved steel piece may scuff your finish but doesn't
really damage anything beyond that. And for most users with minimal
loads even that seems not to be a problem.

If you do have some road impacts such that the handle unlatches, try a
velcro strip on the side of the handle.

Lastly, despite that over-the-top review from some drama queen with a
keyboard, Wald products have an enviably low return rate for many years
over high volume.

I've probably been buying Wald products for 40 years. The problem with
the basket in question is that they felt that they needed a
quick-release basket but they didn't engineer it well. Forget about the
head tube paint, the whole attachment method sucks. It's probably
possible for the user to engineer some modifications to secure it
properly, as well as to prevent paint damage, but how many people are
going to go through all this? Having to use velcro and cable ties are
okay, but it'd be better if they'd designed it right in the first place.

On 10/2/2008 6:23 PM A Muzi wrote:

-snip basket-
SMS wrote:
(I cut out the
non-relevant part of that photo, since when I did a search for images
of baskets and bicycles, the image that came up was not family-oriented)


huh. My search couldn't turn up any prurient content. No matter how I
tried phrasing it.

Yeah, I was looking, too. Darn.

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"
Bend, Oregon

On Oct 4, 1:37 am, Rocket J Squirrel
wrote:
On 10/2/2008 6:23 PM A Muzi wrote:

-snip basket-
SMS wrote:
(I cut out the
non-relevant part of that photo, since when I did a search for images
of baskets and bicycles, the image that came up was not family-oriented)

huh. My search couldn't turn up any prurient content. No matter how I
tried phrasing it.

Yeah, I was looking, too. Darn.

Here, have some prurient content:

http://i37.tinypic.com/2eq5qpz.jpg

-snip basket-
SMS wrote:
(I cut out the
non-relevant part of that photo, since when I did a search for images
of baskets and bicycles, the image that came up was not family-oriented)

A Muzi wrote:
huh. My search couldn't turn up any prurient content. No matter how I
tried phrasing it.

Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
Yeah, I was looking, too. Darn.

landotter wrote:
Here, have some prurient content:
http://i37.tinypic.com/2eq5qpz.jpg

No basket.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On 10/3/2008 10:55 AM landotter wrote:

On Oct 4, 1:37 am, Rocket J Squirrel
wrote:
On 10/2/2008 6:23 PM A Muzi wrote:

-snip basket-
SMS wrote:
(I cut out the
non-relevant part of that photo, since when I did a search for images
of baskets and bicycles, the image that came up was not family-oriented)
huh. My search couldn't turn up any prurient content. No matter how I
tried phrasing it.
Yeah, I was looking, too. Darn.

Here, have some prurient content:

http://i37.tinypic.com/2eq5qpz.jpg

Since it has bicycle content, it is not gratuitously prurient.

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"