I fold my Tikit a lot and although I try and take care of my bikes they are tools to get me around so I don't baby them. I've had very few problems with my Tikit so far and I suppose I was due for something to wear out or break. The other day as I was folding the Tikit I realized the bars were not staying in position. Upon further inspection I noticed the plastic latch had snapped where it mounts to the frame and was only hanging from one bolt.
I could still fold the Tikit, but rolling it was a bit of a drag - literally! As my right Ergon grip would rub on the sidewall of the tire. I sent Bike Friday an email right away asking for a replacement to install on my Tikit and a spare I could keep as a back up. I was happy to hear back from them that they had come up with a metal replacement part that would be much more durable - excellent! The new latch arrived a few days later with the prototype front 2 pannier rack.
Being the fashion victim that I am I painted the metal latch to match my Tikit's black frame. Installation was a snap as it uses the same hardware as the plastic latch. I did use two washers on each bolt between the latch and the frame to get more clearance for the post to slide into. Without them I had trouble getting the post inserted into the latch. Perhaps I could have just bent the metal latch a bit to achieve the same result, but I had some washers close at hand so I used them.
It's great to have my Tikit back at 100% and the new metal latch won't break under hard use. I'm glad Bike Friday had already solved this problem and had a new improved latch ready for me.
2 comments:
Just got my stem upgrade and metal latches as well. Thanks to your blog I discovered this useful info.
Bike Friday rocks!
My local dealer, College Park Bikes in Maryland pointed out the possible problem with the latches. While I was talking to Bike Friday about something else I asked about the latches, and the sent me a set.
Post a Comment