Accident Report May 11th 2020:
Dear friends,
It is with the greatest sadness that I have to report an accident that has occurred to the Python Delta.
The intrepid "Python-Pilot" (yours truly) was enjoying a (hitherto) uneventful and indeed enjoyable "pootle" around the local car-park that adjoins our local recreation park and bowls club.
The car park was empty of all vehicles and is currently closed to the public because of the current lockdown.
I was thoroughly enjoying myself learning Python landings and take-offs and doing "hands-free" laps of the car park in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions and figures of eight. All perfectly happily when the Python Delta was
suddenly and
viciously attacked.
The attackers (
a wind-fallen tree branch and a concrete bollard) conspired to spoil my fun.
The tree-branch jolted me slightly off course, and before I could unfold my hands from my lap and apply a course correction or drop anchors the bollard jumped forwards and struck me a vicious blow in the left wheel.
So hard was the blow (6mph or above) that the rim is taco'd beyond repair and the wheel's 12mm QR pin as well as the 16mm threaded sleeve of the backplate that it passes through are both bent and must be replaced.
It took a hammer and a drift just to remove the QR pin for inspection.
This sudden unanticipated stop meant that the rider was asked to vacate the seat forthwith and was ejected onto the car-park's unkind surface.
No cuts or grazes, no bruises (except for my pride) and the rest of the bike lives to fight another day. Parts will be ordered forthwith so that the fun may continue.
Here is the taco'd wheel rim.
And here is the bent QR pin sticking out (will no longer pass through the hub assembly).
But wait.... It gets worse...... The 16mm threaded sleeve that the QR pin passes through is NOT listed as a separate part. It may mean buying a whole new backplate assembly (which is a bit daft).