Canvass rots, plastic either gets gooey or brittle, things leak . . . .
This summer while I was in Portland I took my poor bicycle into the shop for some work. The plastic handgrips had gone gooey, the brakes were sticking and everything squeaked. New cables all around and new grips put the bike back in repair. I had a small map bag on the handlebars that I had to toss – the velcro had totally deteriorated. Same with the small under seat bag – the zipper had ripped out and the whole thing was dangling by a thread. The canvass on my pannier, even though I mostly store it in the car between uses was also deteriorating along with all the metal parts rusting out. My red blinky on the back was also only good for the trash.
This got me thinking about how quickly stuff wears out when exposed to the sun and the weather 24/7. It made me appreciate my fiberglass trailers so much – after 10 years, my last trailer (the Greyt Escape) still looked and worked great! En Plein Aire, even after full-timing for 18 months also still works and looks great!
But, I’m aware that I need to keep up on all the maintenance and keep an eye out to notice problems early. Putting my awning out the other day, I notice that the velcro safety straps are just about rotted thru – time to shop for some new ones!
And eventually, on a bike ride, a tire will self destruct . . .
I had been biking around the RV Park with my friend Karen, when she noticed something wrong with my back tire. I couldn't feel anything and, when I checked, it still had air and was tight on the axle. But, about a half hour later as I rode back to my trailer, I could feel a distinct wobble in the back. The whole sidewall was crumbling!
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