Happy Campers!

 

Thanks to all who came to the first installment of Pitching a Tent.  It was a great weekend, we had tons of fun, plenty of food, plenty of drinks, great weather and great vibes throughtout the duration of the trip.

 

I know many of us took pictures.  Please post them here and share.

 

Im looking forward to the next installment!!

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S said:

The keg was obtained from a store by the park, it wasn't brought up from Chicago.


This makes sense, I'm still impressed and my team doesn't need to know the keg wasn't hauled the entire way.
I'm pretty damn sure this was a result of the wearing down of the rim by the brake pads. It was looking pretty concave!

Eric Vann said:
I've seen this happen on my own bikes when I used too wide a tire on too narrow a rim. Also if the rim has been worn down by brake pads over time and the wall thickness is insufficient you can get the same effect.

iggi said:

Ever see a rim blow out?

Nobody talks about rim wear much. You can find a huge number of hits if you Google "bicycle rim wear", but a quick survey of bike manufacturers yields zip. The City of Chicago bicycle safety site and even ActiveTran have nothing on it. Yet, as your photo shows, some impressive and even potentially hazardous consequences may result from unnoticed rim wear.

What happens is the brake pads wear down the sidewalls of the rim after many miles of brake application. When the metal gets thin enough, the tire pressure begins to bend the rim walls out; this is related to tire inflation pressure, not surprisingly. Every time the brakes are applied, the rim is compressed slightly as it passes through the brakes. This repeated flexing of the metal weakens it, and circumferential cracks begin to form on the sidewalls. Aluminum is almost always the metal involved; steel rims are much more resistant to this type of crack formation ("cyclic fatigue"). If the tire pressure is high enough, part of the rim will fracture away and create a wide spot; this may be apparent as a "thumping" feeling, which is the sign that something bad is going on. The rim needs to be replaced pronto!

I noticed the thumping a couple weeks ago on my folding bike. The rear wheel was involved (yes I use my front brake... a lot!). I started looking for a new rim, but it had to be shipped from overseas. I used the rear brake only if really needed. One day the wheel started making a "ticking" noise even without brake application. I saw the rim beginning to separate (image attached) so I disengaged the rear brake and dropped the tire pressure 25%. I got home OK and used another bike until I got the wheel rebuilt. The thing that surprised me most was what the inside of the rim looked like when I took off the rim strip (image attached). This could have really been a problem!

FWIW, the rim that failed was a Kinetix Comp 406-17 with 2,600 miles on it. I replaced it with an identical rim using the original spokes.

So: pay attention if your wheel starts thumping!

Steve

It varies from park to park. Illinois Beach permits alcohol at most, but not all, campsites. Here is the list of Illinois parks with alcohol restrictions: http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/Landmgt/parks/AlcoholBan.htm

It looks like along the I&M trail alcohol is prohibited at Illini, Gebhard Woods, and on the trail itself. I don't see any mention of Channahon but I'm not sure whether that's considered part of the trail.

I vaguely recall signs posted inside Channahon prohibiting alcohol, but it was dark, raining, and freezing the only time I was there, so couldn't say for sure.

Yellow sites at ISBP don't allow alcohol, the rest are fun sites.

If anyone is interested, there are a few upcoming camping dates this month, and will probably be one or two next month as well. More details can be found here:

Bicycle Camping 2015

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