Hi there. Oh yes, I know exactly which part you meant by 'top hat'. cos I lost that one sometime ago! :)

It was really difficult to find the replacement for that one, and infact, I couldn't find it at all. However, A-bike.co.uk does supply those spare parts to the A-bike users. We just need to contact them. :D

While I was waiting for them to send me the parts, I had to use couple of metal washers and plastic screw head cover as temporary replacement. The riding experience with the DIY part wasn't too bad, but somewhat wobbly. (so I took my girlfriend's A-bike parts and let hers have the wobbly bit!)

Once you got a proper replacement and put it into position, make sure you put some (not too much though) thread lock liquid. The point is one of the most stressed part in entire A-bike structure, so without thread lock, the screw can be easily get loosen and lost.

You can find a relating article on the A-bike blog entries below. :wink:

http://www.abikecentral.com/blog/?p=65
http://www.abikecentral.com/blog/?p=66

Hello everyone,

I have had a few more problems with my A-bike, and thus am in need of more maintenance, however, I do not know how to go about getting new parts?

First of all, I have a more minor problem. Some how, with all the cracks and bumps in Chicago, one of the special screws and 'top hat' washers (at least that is what they look like) that joins the bottom brace to the back tube, jostled lose and is forever lost. I was able to get a new screw at a hardware store, but could not find any sort of 'top hat' washer. I thus have jimmy-rigged up something out of washers and little spacers, but I want to replace it with the proper part. There are a number of these 'top hat' washers on the bike, so I think I would like to get a hold of several in case I lose more.

Secondly (and more importantly) my bike is starting to show the nasty little cracks on the back tube. So, I am going to need to get a new one of those as well. :cry: I thought I was doing something wrong, or riding the bike too hard until I found the old back posts here that mention most people have this problem.

Are these things that are at all covered by the warrenty? If not, how do you go about ordering the pieces, since they are not on the A-bike website (or at least, I can not find them)?

I was going to put a hose clamp over the cracks for now and keep riding the bike till I get a new tube. Is this a bad idea to keep riding? Will I do any damage to other parts of the bike if I keep riding it with the cracks?