Your "I should have known this" story
12-10-18, 10:13 AM
#26
Senior Member
I've done so much dumb crap with bikes through the years Two particular low lights::
- didn't properly tighten a square-taper crank arm because I didn't want to "deform the socket" on the crank arm. Result: it came loose in a race and... destroyed the socket. Needed a new crankarm, race over. WTF was I thinking?
- discovered that Dremels are a bad way to clear corrosion in a BB shell. Frame ruined in less than three seconds. It turns out aluminum threads are very easy to destroy.
- didn't properly tighten a square-taper crank arm because I didn't want to "deform the socket" on the crank arm. Result: it came loose in a race and... destroyed the socket. Needed a new crankarm, race over. WTF was I thinking?
- discovered that Dremels are a bad way to clear corrosion in a BB shell. Frame ruined in less than three seconds. It turns out aluminum threads are very easy to destroy.
12-10-18, 11:54 AM
#27
Duke Ulysses
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Southern California
Posts: 800
Bikes: An old orange one for dirt, and for the other stuff: a white one, a kinda mint green one, and a black one.
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When I was 12, I had a Schwinn Predator with a VERY noisy rear brake. I had no idea how to adjust, so I sprayed the whole thing down with wd40. I took the bike out for a ride, and I swear it accelerated when I applied that brake. I forget how I cleaned the rim, but I'm pretty sure I just replaced the pads.
I was a bad, bad mechanic as a child
I was a bad, bad mechanic as a child
12-10-18, 03:56 PM
#28
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Boston Roads
Posts: 975
Bikes: 2012 Canondale Synapse 105, 2017 REI Co-Op ADV 3.1
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I installed a new chain and cassette on my Roubaix, and just couldn't get the chain chatter to quiet down. Lube, barrell adjust, nothing worked. I even loaned the bike to an out of town visitor, hoping he would want to buy it. I began to hate that bike. Following a 50 mile ride in pouring rain, I was checking things over, cleaning and re-lubing everything. I saw that I had routed the chain on the outside of some kind of guard tab on the cage next to the jockey wheel. It was intermittent, depending on cage rotation. The really dumb part of this is that it was my second time to make this mistake... on another bike. All quiet now, and the bike is a pleasure to ride again.
When I was 12, I had a Schwinn Predator with a VERY noisy rear brake. I had no idea how to adjust, so I sprayed the whole thing down with wd40. I took the bike out for a ride, and I swear it accelerated when I applied that brake. I forget how I cleaned the rim, but I'm pretty sure I just replaced the pads.
I was a bad, bad mechanic as a child
I was a bad, bad mechanic as a child
12-10-18, 05:43 PM
#29
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Soviet of Oregon or Pensacola FL
Posts: 5,342
Bikes: Still have a few left!
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More than once, I've had problems with derailleur adjustment on one of my newer bikes until I remember that cables running under the BB are dragging on my craptastic, X frame, Minoura repair stand. Perhaps Santa will help me out this year. Don
12-10-18, 06:12 PM
#30
bocobiking
Trying to remove a square taper crank with the washer still on the end of the BB spindle (it didn't come out with the crank bolt). I'm lucky I didn't pull the threads out of the crank.
Breaking a drive side pedal loose without having the chain up on the largest ring because I was "in a hurry". Note to self, it takes less time to put the chain on the big ring than it does to clean and dress a gash from the teeth.
Breaking a drive side pedal loose without having the chain up on the largest ring because I was "in a hurry". Note to self, it takes less time to put the chain on the big ring than it does to clean and dress a gash from the teeth.
12-13-18, 01:08 PM
#31
Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 12
Bikes: Velo-Orange Campeur, Dahon Helios P8
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Before I knew what the top cap on a threadless stem was for, I tried over-tightening it to prevent the handlebars from turning relative to the fork. The stem kept slipping while riding, and I kept making tighter and tighter until the bolt pulled through the cap! I never thought to check if the stem bolts were loose!
I took it to the local non-profit bike shop, they showed me how to fix it, and I started volunteering there within the week. 5 years later, here we are!
I took it to the local non-profit bike shop, they showed me how to fix it, and I started volunteering there within the week. 5 years later, here we are!
to me!
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