Rambo bikes are tough! OMG!
General Topic
Yesterday I was zooming along I-80 at 70 mph enroute to turkey camp. Had the Rambo e-bike on a new rack on the back of my trailer. I get a call asking "Is this Lou? If so, WE PICKED YOUR BIKE UP ON THE INTERSTATE!"
At first I though it was someone screwing with me. Then I got sick. Apparently I didn't get the rack security bar seated properly and it vibrated loose. I keep an ID card in the pouch on all my bikes in case I crash and knock myself out, as has happened before.
We are arranged to meet at my next exit and I sat there waiting to be even sicker. A nice couple pulled up 30 minutes later with my bike in their truck.
Amazingly, the only damage besides a few minor cosmetic scrapes is a slightly bent handlebar and a bent pedal stem, which I'm about to straighten in my farmer friend's shop. Unbelievable. Thankfully I had the battery in the truck, but otherwise it's tough to tell anything happened to it.
Kudos to Rambo for building a supernaturally tough machine!!
BTW, I'm sending a nice gift to the nice couple. What a wonderful gesture.
I’m glad you got it back! I’ve seen a rack with 2 bikes on it in the median before.
Ok Lou, Last year, the car and trailer. This year, the bike. You know that they say about "three strikes and you are out". Be careful my friend.
I believe I would be buying some lotto tickets you are very lucky ?? for an ending like that.Did your friend get her bike ?? yet now go kill a turkey ?? Lewis
It's a good thing that little old couple didn't know what an evil device they had discovered Lou! :) Glad you got your bike back in one piece and happy to know there are still good folks like that left in this world! Good luck with the turkeys!
Paul, between the truck, camper, and losing Gail I think I used up my "three". This was a gift and a lesson learned
Scraped pedal and bent stem. The ends of the hand grips are a little chewed but still usable. The rear rack has a couple battle scars too, but not bent at all.
Not only are lucky those nice folks were decent, but that bike could have done some major damage to a vehicle behind you. I was hit by a square hunk of debris last fall that would have killed me if it was on its side. I imagine a 50 lb bike would penetrate a windshield.
All in all, it was about time some good luck happened to you.
Amoebus, no doubt - it could have bounced up and killed someone. That rack will only be used locally around town now. Bike will always be in the back of my truck on any trip.
Lou, glad it turned out as well as it did for you. I bet those were some tough minutes wondering how bad the damage was and kicking yourself... I know I would have been second guessing everything for a while after that. Maybe you can double down and find some morels while you are out albeit it might be a little early yet.
I thought e-bikes weren’t allowed on the road!!!
Wow Lou. Glad there was no serious damage or injury. One reason I don't like carrying important stuff where it's exposed and I can't see it. Better in the truck whenever possible. Also, this is what our rig often looks like on our trips up north. Not the best place for a bike.
I couldn’t quite swing the fenders...$37 was just too steep so 5 zip ties and some scrap uhmw and I get a lot less mud
That is why I bought and use a cover on mine when in transit.
It add's 2 more tie downs for securing it more safe and for road dirt/grime protection too.
#LovinLife
Robb
Ya now at the trial heads you can show off the bike scars and tell the story of surviving the ride down Dead Mans Gulch!
Damn, that is crazy tough! One of those just may be in my future!
ElkNut/Paul
Is there such a thing as bike insurance. ;) With your luck your deductible would be high.
Glad no one was hurt and neither was the bike! Says a lot for how tough they are! You should write up your story for Rambo and the might at least give you a new set of grips!
"Yesterday I was zooming along I-80 at 70 mph enroute to turkey camp."
Your first sentence and I'm thinking..."That bike is pretty fast but no way is it THAT fast!"
;-)
Good thing the bike didn’t have Sitka Camo on it or nobody would’ve seen it come off.
There is a lot of bouncing that goes on behind a camping trailer or a 5th wheel. We carry ours (2) on a good rack on the back of a 5th wheel and I have lost a seat before, though never a bike. Wish there was a better way but, I don't want them on the front of the truck even though I could keep an eye on them.
Hey Lou, what type of bike carrier do you have? I have the HD 1 up for my QK. Just curious.
At least you got it back, if you were zooming through most other states it would be for sale on Craigslist...
Good thing its tuff ! Your hard on equipment .
I don't know the model of the rack but it's made by Kent International and is heavy duty with wide receivers for fat bike tires. I can lock the security bar with a key so it won't vibrate loose. For short trips on the truck receiver it will be fine. But never again on the back of the trailer.
Glad you got it back and nobody was hurt! That had to take a tumble at 70!
Lou,
This is ad testimonial material. You may qualify for free parts and labor on repairing your bike. Thankful no one was injured in the mishap.
Hey Lou, glad it worked out considering..it could have been a lot worse. But good to know how it survived so well. At least now if a potential customer asks me how tough the Rambo bike is I can tell them you're story.
I'll think about that next time I get behind a rig with a bike on a rack mounted on the back. And pass... :) Glad you got it back relatively undamaged.
This just in from the company president:
I looked at several bike racks before I purchased one recently. There are some good ones out there and I wasn’t about to go cheap given the investment in my bike. Ended up with a Yakima Holdup. It’s not perfect but it’s pretty damn good for what it does. Pleased so far.
I recently teamed up with Hollywood Racks so now I sell racks made specifically for carrying ebikes (given the extra weight a regular bike rack may not be up to the challenge). It looks like a good product
Lucky all the way around on this one.
Don't have a camper right now but when I did I put my mountain bike inside the camper and covered up good with a old thick blanket to the nothing inside the camper, nor the bike got damaged.
Lou glad it survived and that's great of the couple to track you down. Tough bike. It now has character.
For those of you who are interested, I have the 1 up rack and I cannot believe how solid it is. Check them out...pricy, but so is an eBike.
Midwest ... that was my first thought as well ... zooming along at 70 .... holy crap, Lou put a turbo charger on his bike. LOL
Good stuff. Brings up bad memory's.
I bought one of the Creek Company pontoon boats. Paid top dollar for it. Received it, pumped it up and assembled it, threw it in the truck and ratchet strapped it down that night for the next days fishing trip. What I didn't know in my dumbness was the cool night air would deflate the pontoons enough for the ratchet straps to come loose. Next morning at 4:30, I hit the interstate and called my bud. I was rolling. We were pumped to try the new boat. As we were talking on the phone I hear something. I looked in my mirror just in time to see the boat leave my truck bed, in the lights of a car dealership's signs. When it hit the concrete upside down and started skidding down the road, sparks were flying rampant as it was grinding down my basket , oar locks and seats. Busted my pontoons too. What a light show in the dark morning. Broke 2 fishing poles too as I had them laying on the boat. Lost my third and last pole I had brought when a car came by several minutes later and run over my only unbroken rod and reel. I can't blame them as it was dark but, dang it man, to loose my last rod that way standing there watching a car run over it at 70 mph. SMH thinking about it all again.
As rough as that was, it doesn't hold a candle to a loosing your relatively new Polaris 500 HO ATV. Wow it still hurts. It's hard being me.
WV, we should trade misfortune stories sometime!
So back at AndyJ's house day before yesterday, we made a few tweaks and straigtened the pedal stem and we rode it all over. Amazing.
Today I call Rambo to order a new handlebar and pedal stem. Samantha laughs and says this is the 4th one this week that has bounced off a rack, and two of them were rideable after the oops. Two others had minor injuries like a slightly bent fork and wheel. Others came off regular MTB racks. Mine is made for this kind of bike, just had "operator error" on the maiden voyage. I feel very, very lucky.
