Originally Posted by
andrewclaus
Riding with my wife yesterday, her front shifter cable housing failed dramatically--the cable pulled out of a 4" section of housing. The low limit screw on the FD was long enough to keep her in the middle chain ring, where she does 99% of her riding, so we finished the ride fine. We just happened to have a strong tailwind and she shifted into the big ring for the first time in years. Gonna replace all the cables and housings today.
I had the same thing happen to me on an '08 Adventure 4 while commuting through town, but it was to my rear gear line housing. Immediately headed to the LBS and had all the gear housing replaced, it being a 24speed set-up I was able to set it to ~6th for going uphill and then loosen the screw for 8th to go flat and downhill.
On the same bike I had 2 flats, once on basic thorns, after which I walked to the LBS that I was heading to and got Michelin tires. Year or so after that I hit a chunk of glass that tore a ~1cm hole in the rear Michelin tire, got another of the same tire as at that point it was mostly due to being worn down.
I also wiped out once on that bike by grazing the asphalt with a pedal in a sharp turn. Turned the bar 90° and flew over, with nothing but scratched wrists.
On my current bike, a converted Bazooka Navigator, I broke 7 spokes by dropping my 10speed chain over 1st gear while coming to a red light. All at once. Despite having built the wheel myself to match the front wheel, I decided to replace it instead of repair it. I've had a couple flats with my marathons on this bike, but I carry spare tubes and a spare tire, so I'm always able to recover rapidly.