Share the Wisdom Wednesdays (on Thursdays): Part Eighteen

This one comes from the "be no other man's burden" department.

It's short, sweet... tolerable.

If you own a bike with anything other than a 9mm quick release front wheel and you travel with friends and friends of friends, you need to buy (or fabricate) one of these:

I don't care what brand you buy.  I have no dog in this race.  Just get one.  There are many to choose from, pretty much all the same... I would go based on color options or price.

That pre-dawn moment in someone's driveway when eight dudes who arrived in six vehicles are standing around three vehicles trying to figure out how to get eight bikes on the three vehicles... some go on this way, bars banging into saddles and other bars and water bottle and frames and pedals or any combination of those things?

It sucks.  You might need ALL the options available.

Your bike costs thousands of dollars.  You would like to bring it with you where you are going.  It's worth the $40 (that you'll spend once) to be able to do that. 

I realize two things:

Some of you drive pickup trucks with very nice Dakine pads over the tailgate (so you don't mess up your sweet airbrushed mural, I guess) and so do all your friends.  You live a blessed life.  Jesus loves you and your truck.

As many bikes convert to 15mm thru (and other standards), regular 9mm quick release racks are also going to become fewer and molar fartherer between.

But it will cost much money to swap all your trays to the new, so someone with $400 in mounts might not be so quick to update everything... especially when it's so cheap to just buy the adapter.

Just don't expect your friend to buy one for everybody. 

I've had mine for a few years.   It's been used something less than twenty times, but figure $2 per use to bring my bike with me as opposed to being left standing in the driveway waving goodbye to my friends as they drive off to make great bike ride and burritos.

Worth it.