Dumbest mistake you have made with bike maintainance
#76
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: 25 miles northwest of Boston
Posts: 29,552
Bikes: Bottecchia Sprint, GT Timberline 29r, Marin Muirwoods 29er, Trek FX Alpha 7.0
Mentioned: 112 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 5224 Post(s)
Liked 3,585 Times
in
2,344 Posts
#77
Senior Member
Being sloppy and not fully checking to see if the bead of my "open tubular" tire had seated all the way around after I installed a latex tube. Pumped it up to 60 lbs and watched in horror as $15 bucks started to blow out of the tire like a bubblegum bubble and burst. I violated my own rule of not checking the bead at three pressure intervals first and got burned. It was all in slow motion of course.....I was yelling NO!!!! frantically trying to let the air out in time. Nope.
#78
Calamari Marionette Ph.D
#79
Disco Infiltrator
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Folsom CA
Posts: 13,446
Bikes: Stormchaser, Paramount, Tilt, Samba tandem
Mentioned: 72 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3126 Post(s)
Liked 2,105 Times
in
1,369 Posts
Installing Campy NR brake pad holders backward
__________________
Genesis 49:16-17
Genesis 49:16-17
#82
C*pt*i* Obvious
In terms of maintenance, using this.
Sure it will get the outside of your chain clean, but it also does a great job of pushing all of the grit into the pins and rollers, wearing out almost any chain in short order.
Since then I've given up using solvent, I just wipe (thoroughly, one link at a time) relube, and wipe again.
A bit tedious, but unless I have a professional grade parts washer, I won't use solvent.
Sure it will get the outside of your chain clean, but it also does a great job of pushing all of the grit into the pins and rollers, wearing out almost any chain in short order.
Since then I've given up using solvent, I just wipe (thoroughly, one link at a time) relube, and wipe again.
A bit tedious, but unless I have a professional grade parts washer, I won't use solvent.
#84
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: USA
Posts: 1,824
Bikes: 1996 Trek 970 ZX Single Track 2x11
Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 614 Post(s)
Liked 566 Times
in
430 Posts
Had a small bike shop do some cabling work on my bike, where they installed the trigger shifters backwards. Truth be told, I didn't realize it right away, instead just adjusting to make the shifts how it needed to get done in order to shift effectively. Didn't occur to me for some days that "Gee, these dang things are backwards!" Too much sunshine, or not enough coffee. Hard to say.
#85
Grumpy Old Bugga
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Adelaide, AUSTRALIA
Posts: 4,229
Bikes: Hillbrick, Malvern Star Oppy S2, Europa (R.I.P.)
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 370 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 8 Times
in
6 Posts
I've also done the chain over the tab on the derailleur thing. Funny how 'well' it works, well enough to have you looking for other reasons for the noise. Considering the ways to screw up rear derailleurs and the problems they can cause, I'm sure the devil has a patent on the things.
#86
Senior member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Oakville Ontario
Posts: 8,119
Mentioned: 25 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 943 Post(s)
Liked 659 Times
in
372 Posts
Had a small bike shop do some cabling work on my bike, where they installed the trigger shifters backwards. Truth be told, I didn't realize it right away, instead just adjusting to make the shifts how it needed to get done in order to shift effectively. Didn't occur to me for some days that "Gee, these dang things are backwards!" Too much sunshine, or not enough coffee. Hard to say.
Last week, a bike that we had recently worked on, (not me, another tech), came back with reversed bar end shifters (Sram Red)on tri bars.
It actually worked, friction shifting on rear derailleur and the indexing on the 10 speed shifter worked for the front as well, but my first task of the day was to put them straight.
It was the head tech who had messed up the install, and he's usually pretty meticulous, so anyone can have a "doh" moment.
#90
For The Fun of It
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Louisissippi Coast
Posts: 5,852
Bikes: Lynskey GR300, Lynskey Backroad, Litespeed T6, Lynskey MT29, Burley Duet
Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2135 Post(s)
Liked 1,647 Times
in
829 Posts
I bought a nice new fork. I installed the headset, inserted the fork, placed the amount of stack spacers in place, marked the fork and cut it.
#91
vespertine member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Land of Angora, Turkey
Posts: 2,476
Bikes: Yes
Mentioned: 22 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 687 Post(s)
Liked 220 Times
in
163 Posts
'Twas the night of bike maintenance, and all through the flat
Not a creature was stirring, not even a cat
The husband was nestled all snug in his room
When suddenly, the tire bead unseats and goes BOOM!
#92
Super Modest
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Central Illinois
Posts: 23,467
Bikes: Trek Emonda, Giant Propel, Colnago V3, Co-Motion Supremo, ICE VTX WC
Mentioned: 107 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 10963 Post(s)
Liked 4,621 Times
in
2,124 Posts
Pro tip: Don't remove the wrong hex head screw on a set of SRAM R2C TT shifters unless you want to spend an hour looking at youtube videos trying to figure out how to put all of the gears, pawls, and washers back in the pod.
__________________
Keep the chain tight!
#94
Senior Member
Speaking of giving blood, once I gave blood at the Red Cross and then tried to do the spinning workout at the club meeting that evening. That's the closest I ever came to exercise-induced barfing. Luckily (for everyone!) I quit before crossing that bridge!
#95
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Berea, KY
Posts: 1,135
Mentioned: 19 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 360 Post(s)
Liked 328 Times
in
186 Posts
Way back in the day when I first bought my Morningstar Freehub Buddy (I still have it!) I thoroughly rinsed my freehub body and injected it with grease. Needless to say, the pawls could not move, much less catch and I had some more fun thoroughly rinsing my freehub body again.
I like to think that if everyone had smart phones back then, there would be video of me pedaling furiously and going nowhere on youtube somewhere.
I like to think that if everyone had smart phones back then, there would be video of me pedaling furiously and going nowhere on youtube somewhere.
#97
Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 24
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Took apart my rear hub, and put in the cone (cup?) backwards, and cranked it down. It stopped moving and I had to take to to the shop to fix and replace the bearing. Took them awhile to get the cone out.
#98
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 62
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 34 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Countless. On my current project alone I snapped the front wheel spindle in two trying to remove the handlebars...
Then a few weeks later when converting it to a Fixie I forgot to tighten the chain properly by moving the rear wheel back. First ride, the chain drops off back wheel locks up, and I NEARLY go flying. Luckily, I was anticipating a steep learning curve on a Fixie so was riding slowly on a footpath, but still fun!
Then a few weeks later when converting it to a Fixie I forgot to tighten the chain properly by moving the rear wheel back. First ride, the chain drops off back wheel locks up, and I NEARLY go flying. Luckily, I was anticipating a steep learning curve on a Fixie so was riding slowly on a footpath, but still fun!
#99
Senior Member
I couldn't get the nose of my new Champion Flyer angled low enough on the seat. Not for nothing.
So I asked on Bike Forums, rotated the seat post 18o degrees and all was. Thanks to John Thompson, and he didn't even make me feel as dumb as I felt.
So I asked on Bike Forums, rotated the seat post 18o degrees and all was. Thanks to John Thompson, and he didn't even make me feel as dumb as I felt.
__________________
Some people are like a Slinky ... not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.
Some people are like a Slinky ... not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.
#100
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Mid Atlantic / USA
Posts: 2,115
Bikes: 2017 Specialized Crosstrail / 2013 Trek Crossrip Elite
Mentioned: 43 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1002 Post(s)
Liked 237 Times
in
155 Posts
I wanted to keep my daughter's handlebar grips from tearing when they got pushed into the sharp end of the bar. A nickel is roughly the same diameter as a 22mm bar so I thought I'd put a nickel in the grips to keep them from tearing. But she also wanted streamers that stick into the end of the grips, so I need the nickel to have a hole in it to so the streamers could fit through.
So I'm sitting there trying to hold a nickel with pliers while I drill a hole through it.....until my wife walks in and says "Why don't you just use a washer that already has a hole in it"
I desperately searched for a reason that wasn't a much smarter way to go about this. I didn't come up with anything.
So I'm sitting there trying to hold a nickel with pliers while I drill a hole through it.....until my wife walks in and says "Why don't you just use a washer that already has a hole in it"
I desperately searched for a reason that wasn't a much smarter way to go about this. I didn't come up with anything.