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Zip tie bodges

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  1. Kenny
    Member

    I'm interested in hearing about other people's bodge repairs on their bikes with zip ties. I did my first today.

    For long enough, I have had a rattling noise on my bike which I suspected was my headset. Yesterday I realised it was the metal bars holding the pannier rack on, as one of the screws has apparently lost some of its thread, preventing me tightening it fully, so that the metal bar was rattling against the side of my frame. Annoying.

    I tried loom bands to resolve the problem, but alas they didn't work. I then decided I'd use zip ties as the next bodge / jury-rig attempt, and my commute home was peaceful and glorious!

    Here's a picture of said bodge. What things have you done with zip ties, either as temporary bodges, or ones that should have been temporary but have become permanent?

    Posted 10 years ago #

  2. gembo
    Member

    All mudguards held together by zip ties.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  3. Kenny
    Member

    All mudguards held together by zip ties.

    Got any pics to see the handiwork?

    Posted 10 years ago #

  4. gembo
    Member

    Alas no but when the pop rivets break, I pop out the pop rivet and then reconnect the metal spokes to the plastic guard using a zip tie. Over the years I have got better at this. Using the right size of tie is important. Do most folk not do this?

    Similar to your rack I also have a water bottle held on by zip tie due to thread on one screw going. I don't know if it would take a bottle but it has stopped a rattle.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  5. Mandopicker101
    Member

    My mudguards are partly zip-tied on. These are 'classic', being salvaged from a 25 year old road bike (my first 'serious' bike). Unfortunately none of the fixings fit with a modern bike...

    Still they suit the black and silver style of my cross bike.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  6. wingpig
    Member

    Only one ziptie on my mudguards at the moment, as the emergency retention device to keep them off the road if they snap at the seat stay bracket us currently a bit of garden twine as zipties kept snapping.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  7. Dave
    Member

    @gembo, I have graduated to pop rivetting the mudguard back together. Very neat job (good as new) and only takes a moment.

    Perhaps I should bring the tool and some spare rivets to the next PY?

    I have ridden for so many years with mudguards that have a figure of 8 zip tie holding them on, eventually I used it as an opportunity to tool up!

    Posted 10 years ago #

  8. gembo
    Member

    @dave, yes, the pop riveter is a great tool. My work colleague brought one in and we tried to fix an EBC pannier. Alas this might also have needed some kind of steam press. Too many layers of different materials.

    It did cross my mind that it would be easier with a mud guard. Maybe on front wheel. Looks better, more secure fastening etc. Only thing was the faff. Where the zip tie can be wriggled in. A demo at PYS or PY dependent on referendum result would be most welcome.

    Was that you riding solo on a tandem past me last night? My very bad cold has returned as splitting headache (this is an excuse for being passed by guy riding solo on a tandem)

    Posted 10 years ago #

  9. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Years of mudguard flapping caused me to purchase a PoP riveter. Never looked back. It's the kind of tool that convinces you you could build a spitfire if you put your mind to it and had a bit more scrap alloy sheet.

    That said, Madame IWRATS' rear mudguards are cable-tied to the seat stays of her frankenbike. The frame is a cross-country MTB with no eyelets and I had no P-clips to hand.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  10. minus six
    Member

    mudguards and zipties... they go together like fish and chips

    Posted 10 years ago #

  11. Bhachgen
    Member

    Like gembo I have both a mudguard and a bottle cage held in place with zip ties. Always have a small selection in the toolbag on all of my bikes.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  12. amir
    Member

    I am embarrassed to admit that I bought a riveter from Lidl some time ago but haven't worked out how to use it (or to get old rivets out of a mudguard).

    Posted 10 years ago #

  13. TractorFactory
    Member

    Yep, done a mudguard zip tie bodge.

    Alternatively, did a very recent wee bit of remedial ziptie work on my seatpost. My seat post reveals one of the few gaps into my frame at the back so I cut up and old inner tube and zip tied it over the hole to hopefully prevent all manners of road gunk getting in there and attacking my bottom bracket which I have to remove periodically and clean.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  14. cc
    Member

    I used zip ties to fasten the fruit crate onto the front of my monsterfiets. Works well.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  15. acsimpson
    Member

    My front mudguard is attached to the fork using zip ties. It's a carbon fork and there isn't an obvious hole for a bolt so I cable tied it. the hard part was keeping them away from the frame.

    I've also got a couple on the stays to stop rattling.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  16. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    I wish I'd had a zip tie to hand this morning. Cable to rear mech snapped. No means of bodging sans cable tie.

    Had to cycle in using clown gear. Turns out 3-8 is not a suitable ratio for any part of my commute.

    EDIT When I say I was using clown gear I don't mean big stripey trousers and a Krusty wig.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  17. condor2378
    Member

    I lost the screw holding my rack to the frame this very morning and it is currently ziptied to the frame to stop it going into the cassette again. I also think the thread has been stripped so this may be a more permanent repair than I'd have hoped. :-(

    Posted 10 years ago #

  18. algo
    Member

    It is possible to helicoil where threads are gone or just go up from M5 to M6. It is also quite common for the bosses to actually be rivnuts - in which case removing the old one and inserting a new one can be the best fix. I may buy another collection of rivnuts at some point.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  19. cb
    Member

    Do people who cable tie their racks on still use the rack to carry stuff?

    Chris Juden in the CTC mag is always tut-tutting when he sees a bike with mere 5mm bolts for the rack. Carrying more than an apple needs 6mm, so how well do cable ties work?

    Posted 10 years ago #

  20. chdot
    Admin

    "so how well do cable ties work?"

    Obviously sub-optimum if you expect to carry much weight, but the rack is (should be...) held tightly in three other places.

    Zip ties that are under a lot of stress will fail.

    Re-tapping 5 to 6 better (and easier - if you have a tap) than helicoils.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  21. algo
    Member

    If it is an M5 rivnut you wouldn't want to try tapping that from 5mm to 6mm - it'd need removing first - they usually appear with apparent bosses on tubes - not dropouts

    Posted 10 years ago #

  22. Dave
    Member

    When I toured Cuba this year, one of the bikes had a bolt sheared in the seat stay so the pannier rack was held on with a zip tie. It had quite a bit of weight on it (no front panniers, 3 week trip) but worked out just fine.

    The terrain wasn't the roughest in the world but it wasn't smooth going either:

    (yes, I am pushing. We did a lot of pushing as there were three big hills where my barometer went above 30% gradient...)

    Posted 10 years ago #

  23. cb
    Member

    Surface looks a bit like Morningside Road.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  24. acsimpson
    Member

    Given a choice I would take a zip tie on the seat stay before the chainstay. The majority of the weight will presumably be going down with the seatstay bolt mainly providing balance.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  25. Kenny
    Member

    The ultimate fix for my bodge is indeed to re-tap, but I have no such tool (yet).

    Posted 10 years ago #

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