Roadside Ingenuity

We didn't have to take everything with us on our trip from Mt Cook as we were returning to Twizel, and only needed a backpack to carry our sustenance. However, for the rest of the trip, Ray would be the packhorse and we had saddlebags. Unfortunately, the bags kept getting caught in the spokes (we discovered this when Ray picked up his bike from Oamaru).

To fix this problem, and armed with an old can opener and a blunt butter knife, Ray set about cutting a piece of ply that he conveniently found at a building site across the road from our accommodation in Twizel. And when I say "found" he snuck out in the middle of the night, dressed in black, to steal it. He also returned the offcut in a similar manner. He would have asked the workers to cut him a bit, but it was the weekend.

He managed to "cut" a piece to the right dimensions, sanding it on the concrete at the bottom of the steps, and "drilling" appropriate holes with the can opener to attach it to the bike. Mission accomplished!

Instead of being about 10 mm away from the tyre and spokes ready to start hitting it at the first sign of movement, the panniers now are clearly out of harms way. It's not good when you are coming down a dirt track at 50kph hoping the panniers don't get caught in the spokes.

We discovered the problem before we left Oamaru so we were able to take it back to the bike shop (which doubled as a wrecking yard) for a fix. After some discussion the mechanic (car mechanic, not bike mechanic) suggested cable ties to help solve the problem. But after he brought a cable tie back, I realised what I could do. I asked for another cable tie and told him that I would sort it. Having seen a lot of new houses being built in all of these snowfield towns in our tour of the area, I knew there would be a good chance of finding some scrap bracing ply. It was a bonus that we found some not more than 100 mts from our room in Twizel. After cutting it with the kitchen knife and some brute force, I marked, then cut the holes (for the cable ties) and slots (for the panniers) with an old can opener before doing a little sanding of the sharp edges on the road and attaching it to the bike. Solid as a rock.