Stupidest Mechanical Mistake?
 

Ok - we've all done stupid things while working on our bikes... Let's hear some horror stories!

I think the dumbest thing that I've done was threading my pedal on wrong when I went clipless. Stripped the threads right out as I was taking off from a stoplight and left me with the pedal stuck to the bottom of my shoe but not the crank arm... I had to ride with mismatched cranks (165 & 170mm) for a few weeks and now I'm probably going to be in the market for a new bottom bracket because of it...

Anyone else?

forgot to put the clip for my masterlink back on once. i got pretty far without it, but wound up walking pretty far to get home.

Riding with loose crank bolts

WOW- that's real f'n stupid-j/k, Reminds me of way back when my pedal striped the threads off the crankarm of my brand new bike. I used a small visegrip as a pedal for about 3 months till I had a mechanic weld a pedal to the crank arm (back when Penn Cycle could be considered a bike shop).

Where is that gosh darn creak coming from that I hear whenever I hit the pedals harder. Oh, yeah, bottombracket, sure, just tightened the chainring bolts. So, take off crankarms, undo bracket, regrease threads, put it back in, crank it down, put cranks back on, go ride AND IT IS STILL CREAKING. Sh@t, I might need new cranks and a new bottom bracket, oh wait, it might be the pedals. remove pedals, regrease threads, put them back on, go ride AND IT IS STILL CREAKING. Ok fine, relube the chain - you never know, go ride AND IT IS STILL CREAKING. Frustrated I get off the bike and kind of lean on my saddle and there is that creak. I press on the saddle some more and YES this is the creak I keep hearing. Looks like it was just the leather creaking a bit. I can't tell you how relieved I was. I kept riding with the cread and after about 3 weeks it dissappeard.

you're lucky, my creak is a bit different. the left crankarm moves about 5-10 degrees independent of the spindle. time for new cranks, but i can't even figure out how to get the old ones off. i think im just gonna get a new frame and crankset, since mine is too small as it is

+1 then the crank fell off in the middle of an intersection

There is a tool for removing cranks. It works very well.

Most bike shops will sell it to you.

I had just snugged my stem in place after some maint. was done - went out to skip around and -SLAM- I almost licked my front tire. Never again...

When I built my first bike, I had the rear wheel on at a huge angle and couldn't put together why the ride wasn't smooth.

hmmm...

forgetting to set and tighten the binder bolt on the front brake after replacing the cable and housing when i changed to wider bars.

good thing i know how to skid.

I basically did the same thing.

I bought a pair of these Nashbar combination clipped/clipless pedals. Stupid me didn't read the instructions. I immediately assumed that the clipless side was opposite the clipped side, and put on the clips on the non-clipless side. A couple days later when I actually got around to putting the pedals on, I once again didn't read the instructions. I already had the clips on, and therefore knew which pedal was 'left' and which was 'right'. It turns out the stupid things are meant to have the clips on the same side as the clipless, and I put the pedals on backwards. Stripped my cranks. Luckily they were a cheap pair of cranks, and I replaced them with an equally cheap pair (in case I decide not to read the instructions again).

Also, once I figured out the correct orientation of the pedals, the only way I could figure out to put clips on them was to actually remove the clipless assembly. That seems like poor engineering to me.

Either:

- popping an wheelie and watching the front wheel roll away becasue I didn't have the QR tight enough

or

- trying to ride my mountain bike off road after a crash that broke the bond between the steerer and the crown

Removing a freewheel I ran the QR through the freewheel tool to keep it from slipping as I got the freewheel loose. I know to be careful about stripping hubs, so I was chagrined as the freewheel kept binding as I unscrewed it. I backed it off and tried again, over & over.

Finally, I realized that I had to reomove the QR from the freewheel tool to allow the freewheel to screw off the hub. I shredded about 1/2 or more of the hub threads... Dohh.

not mechanical really, but i just bought a 16t cog for the other side of my flip flop without realizing i already had a 16t cog on it... here i thought i was running 48/18 all this time.

Yeah I have a big list.

1. Loose front QR resulting in 20mph downhill sidewalk faceplant.
2. Loose crank bolts resulting in riding one-legged the 3 miles remaining home.
3. Improper lockring installation, stripped threads, wasted wheel (luckily a sovos).
4. Loose cleat installation on first set of clipless shoes, resulting in a turtle like moment where I couldn't pick myself up. Luckily I did it in front of my @hole of a friend who is still giving me crap about it.
5. Not checking the bolts thoroughly on a new fork install while helping the same friend upgrade his mountain bike, resulting in a giant bruise on his shin (I don't feel so bad about this one).

Phil

(yeah there are probably more)

Well, there was the time I managed to puncture 5 innertubes in the process of replacing a blown tire. Yeah....ooops.

Then there was the time I was working on my MTB and then decided to take it out for a ride. Got about a mile before I realized that I hadn't re-engaged the brake cable on the v-brakes. Brick streets really hurt.

I decided to try my bike out as fixe and didn't really like the wheel base length so I shortened the chain then after realizing that the axle was on the edge of the dropouts lengthen it again. So I decided to ride down to tower downtown (to get a Turo Takemitsu cd). Well I got there and as I riding back uptown at about 8th street I hear clink............clink...........clink.............SNAP! Yada yada yada I wound up taking the F train back to house with the chain in my hand.

Installed a new saddle on my bike, then adjusted the seatpost and took it for a ride. Kept hearing this creaking sound, so I thought the seat tube nut wasn't tight enough so I tightened it some more. The creaking sound seemed to lessen, so, bingo, I need to tighten it a little more. Well, the damn creaking sound didn't go away, so I thought that the nut is just sliping. I really tightened it for the last time. When I got home, I went to put the bike in the stand to examine the seatpost. As I grabbed the saddle to pick up the bike, I noticed that it made the creaking sound that I was hearing during my ride. SOB, it was the damn saddle that was creaking. I tightened up the saddle rails and all was good.

After a few months of riding, I went to adjust the seatpost and discover it wouldn't budge. Took to the LBS to have them help me pull it off. Took them an hour, but they finally pulled it off. Took a look inside my seat tube and noticed that I had managed a hairline crack on the inside seat tube from overtightening the seat tube. Yep, I managed to collapse (ovalized) me seat tube into my seatpost. The damn thing collapsed enough that I couldn't put the seatpost back into it. This was my Specialized S-Works frame that I converted to a fixie. Huge f'ing dumb, expensive, mistake! Ruined my frame. Still kicking myself in the ass about it and it happenned a year ago.

I had the same thing, but not to the lengths you went. Creak, creak, creak... What is it? The seattube-downtube weld? God no, let it not be that! Crank arms? Chainring bolts? All tight. Seatpost? Tight. Ah yes, the seams on the saddle coming free. It doesn't cost as much, but it is still damn annoying!!!

Damn, all I had to do to boost my confidence was read about all you f'in idiots and your stupid mechanical mistakes!!!!

What a bunch of goons!

I mean, have any of you knuckleheads ever read a mechanic's reference book, or practiced any type of common sense, or said to yourself..."Gee..Im not the sharpest knife in the block..maybe I need some professional help?"

BTW...Did I ever tell you all about the time I was removing my pedals, with my bike upside down, with my chain off? Luckily the chainring didn't fracture my middle finger's knuckle, but it did hit the bone and required four stitches to close.

I was regreasing my cup and cone BB and in the process of putting it back in, I managed to strip the threads on the fixed cup side. Didn't realize this until I was riding and noticed my fixed cup was unthreading, causing a slight wobble in my cranks. JB Welded the damn fixed cup to the BB shell and all is good. Hopefully this BB will last a while until I can afford a new frame.

Great thread!

I have no major confributions (yet, it's only a matter of time :) ), but I do have a helluva lot of tales regarding brake and gear cables. Like fitting cables that go to the wrong brake, or taping the bars then realising it's impossible to thread the inner through an STI lever. Then realising it's impossible to bolt up an STI lver when you've already taped up the clamp. Then realising it's impossible to remove cork bar tape without destroying it (foam tape is ok though. Took me how long to realise that such stuff existed?). Or fitting a higher stem, and then not being able to work out why my front brake housing is too short to reach the brake.

I had a nice little fendered 3 speed beater I purchased from the land of second hand. One day I decided that a little lubrication for the Sturmey Archer hub was in order. I read in an old bicycle maintenence book to pour a teaspoon of 30wt motor oil into the hub's oil hole. Motor oil? Ha! That's for grandpa! I've got this here TEFLON fortified spray can lube. I sprayed maybe half the freakin can into the hub. Got on the bike, started off and CRUNCH, SCREEEEEEE, WHACK, WHACK! I forgot that the wonderlube, being in a spraycan, will also contain at the very least a carrier (solvent) and a propellant both of which flushed away all of the factory-installed grease on the bearings and internal gear guts. My gruff but lovable steed sat idle until I could find another 3 speed equipped wheel to replace the one I reduced to a write-off.

I was making a set of short crank arms up for a customer with special needs, just try to buy a set of 150mm cranks. I tapped the left crank arm with the right side tap and the right with the left tap.

Then the time I got my finger stuck in the timming chain on a customers tandem.... Oh that hurt!