The club where people drive their cars into their garages with their bikes still on the roof .

It happened last night after my team mountain bike ride - which turned bad when the gash in my sidewall finally gave out and depleted my air pressure. I drove up just like I always do and wait for the door to finish opening and then in I went.
Crash - bang - boom!
The noise was so loud my wife came out to see what happened. What we both saw was not pretty. The Grizzly was hanging off the side of the MINI, still clutching the front load bar, Qtowers and all.
Luckily I had the giant yellow Onzas! I think they hit the house and took most of the impact, rather than the frame. The impact pulled the Grizz "back and to the right", where he managed to grab the antennae and break that on the way down. Also in a last ditch effort to stay up, he cracked my spoiler.
I haven't looked too closely yet for final damage, but things look unusually good. The Grizzly seems to be fairly straight. The MINI could have been worse. The raingutter on my side is mangled from where the Qtower tried to resist the Grizzly, the antennae and spoiler seem to be the only damage. The radio still works with the antennae gone! Luckily none of the glass on the roof seems to be damaged. No big scrapes or dents (that I've found yet).
Now I'm just bummed out. I knew this was going to happen. I've alway heard stories of this happening and seen some pretty bad wrecks because of it. I just wish I could have gone a little longer than a couple months of having the rack before this happened. At least the racing season is over. At least winter is almost here. At least the Quality show is coming!

So if anyone knows how to rearrange plastic raingutters, I'm all about learning!

Hopefully when I look things over tonight I don't find any big problems....

 

adame,

I think you're in need of this smilie

These accidents aren't pretty are they. Could have been worse though. When I was in college, I worked in a bike shop and saw mangled frames/forks and cars that had roof damage from trying to put the hurt on the garage. Actually about five years ago I went over a speed bump slowly at an angle and had my road bike come out of my Thule fork mount. The bike flopped over against the side of my 3 month old car and put a nice dent into the rear door.

The dreaded bike/car/garage accident is one of the reasons I'll probably always spec a sunroof on any car that's going to be used for a roof mounted bike rack.

I hope tonight's closer inspection goes well.

Dave

 

As the day goes on, I'm getting over it. I think the more I tell the story and replay it in my mind, the easier it makes it.

That's a great smiley btw! Perfect.

Of course, come spring, it'll be back on the roof, braving the elements and the heckling from the victorious garage door.

 

Brain fade can happen to all of us. I once parked a car on an incline and left it in neutral with only the "parking" brake set. Needless to say, it didn't live up to its name. One front bumper and fender later, I'd learned my lesson.

 

What happened to you in medical terms is called a "Brain Fart". Happens to all of us at one time or another. If you do it again please get help
Larry

 

This happened to a co-worker....she went to say goodby to some friends and was run over by her own car.

She was pretty banged up, but okay. We still had to laugh at that one, though.

 

Geeez, I sympathize with you. I've done it twice. Yes, read that TWICE!!

The last time I did it, I had my sunroof open just in case (not a MINI) and had a note on the visor, not to go into my garage. Somehow, I ignored all these warnings, and drove right into my garage and KABAAAAAAAAAAM! CLUNK CLUNK Crash.

ARGGGGGGGGGGGG, had $1,500 in body damage to the roof of my Acura Integra. And of course, I trashed my Yakima roof rack as well. =( I no longer use bike racks. Heh heh I think for a person like me, the MINI FINI rack in the back is safer!

 

My wife has already thought up several "warning devices" to help me remember not to do it again.


I'm just glad that I didn't have the factory rack - I'd be scared to see what could have happened then!
I only wish I would have gotten some pics after the fact. Oh well - NOT next time.

 

Bummer guys, but that seems like it might be too expensive of a club to join. I’m even sorry to see how fast the club is growing.

 

Why does my radio still work with the broken antennae? Is this easily replaced? There's a tiny base thing that is exposed on the roof currently, looks like just below where the threads are. If were to get an aftermarket "shorty", would I run into problems due to the lack of threads?