roadcrankr

My saddle began shifting around on me, out of the blue about four weeks back.
I tightened the bolt roughly a couple foot pounds of torque, which worked for a number of rides.
Then it suddenly did it again, midride, and - out of pure laziness - got me doing my same fixit.
The final time made me disassemble the Campagnolo CF Record clamp area.
My inspection showed tiny dust particles on the corrugated clamping interface.
Ran a wire brush throughout and even cleaned the Fizik's saddle rails for good measure.
Applied a small bit of grease on the bolt threads and reinstalled. Everything held firmly now!
Evidently, over the years, it resulted by moving/tilting my seat each time my brother borrowed my bike.
Never thought it possible!



After brushing the dust away...

Andrew R Stewart 

Saddles, posts, stems and bars should be checked annually and loosened then retightened periodically to prevent this (and worse results from neglect like frozen stems and posts). Andy

Steve B.

Had a failure of a Di2 battery. Would charge ok, then lose charge overnight. Replaced the battery, it was 6 years old, same issue. Took to a LBS they said shifter (1x system) was bad. It would shift but showed an issue in the shop test software. I sourced a replacement XT Di2 shifter from Jenson for $90. I was still able to ride while I awaited the new shifter as I simply unplugged the shifter cable after use, saved the battery,

Chuck M 

Just riding along minding my own business and I thought someone shot a 22 near me. The bead on this Pasela just went to hell. I called my wife, she picked me up and I took out another bike to finish my miles.

zacster

I went on a ride the other week and was noticing the shifting was off with my Chorus 10 setup, which had always been perfect and reliable in the past. Then it occurred to me that I found a little piece on my trainer mat that I'd just set aside thinking it came off the trainer. It turns out it came off the dropout of the frame and provided a solid place where the wheel met the frame. Without it the derailleur was no longer in the proper place and made the shifting really sloppy. I tried super gluing it back on, and the next ride was good as once I'd clamped the wheel on again it was held by the QR. But when I put the bike back on the trainer the piece fell off again. I did the trainer ride with it off and it too had sloppy shifting. After a second ride though I used epoxy to glue it back on and it has held. The next trainer ride was perfect too. At no time did I try to adjust the cable tension because once I realized the piece was the problem I knew I'd only have to adjust it again. It wasn't unrideable but just sloppy and annoying.

andrewclaus

I was riding the other day with an old friend on his vintage bike with rotten 27" tires, 60 psi. One blew out in the tread, about a 1" tear, also sounded like a shot. I showed him the dollar bill booting trick and that got us home with 30 psi. Even his spare tube looked rotten, probably 30 years old.

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.

curbtender

Had a pawl in my wheel break a tab and turn it into a fixed gear. No fun when you are in the middle of rolling hills.

ivangobike

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.

SJX426 

Usually for me it is rider malfunction! Not tightening the stem or handlebar or brake levers or pillar enough after servicing and before a ride.

There was a malfunction of a 7200 FD while on a ride where it would not shift into the large ring. I don't remember the details as it was too long ago. I think it had to do with the little fiber part that the limit screws go through. Some how I fixed it and I haven't had a problem with it since, especially with it being in a box as a result of converting to Campagnolo drive train.

Flats don't count in my book, except when a valve fails.

Then there are car driver malfunctions resulting in bodily harm to me.

roadcrankr

Definitely. I enjoy performing bike maintenance, down to hubs, headsets, chains, bottom bracketts, etc.
Never dreamed of any sort of issue arising on the saddle rail clamps. Bizarre problem for me! lol

roadcrankr

Hopefully he returned your dollar bill! I "loaned" a friend a ten-spot, once, and pestered him to pay me back!

andrewclaus

LIke any good friend, I used his dollar bill!

I told him if he can bring both serial numbers into a bank, they'll replace the bill. Or at least they did that twenty years ago. That was the last time I used a bill boot, and I only had a 20 with me.

cyccommute 

Just last week I somehow had the right clipless pedal come off the spindle when the left hand threaded nut loosened. I have no idea how that could have happened. The pedal was spinning freely and the left hand nut shouldn’t have come loose. Luckily I was near home and it was an easy fix.

slow rollin

One time as a teen I busted a low flange campy record hub going off a curb....
Not my proudest moment

I remember that one time I used an air compressor and blew out the sidewall and tube.

More recently I put on some ancient tires on my dirt jump bike. On the 2nd day I noticed the tire had a good slit on the sidewall. Decided to head home. Only a mile or so away I heard a "phwack, phwack" sound and it was a lovely tube hitting the front fork. sigh.

SoSmellyAir

I ride an 11-speed Prestacycle cassette which comes with a lock ring that does not have a crush spacer. About a year ago, during a long and fast (for me) descent, my crank locked up and I could neither pedal nor backpedal. I thought I was going to crash, but luckily the rear wheel could still spin relative to the freehub, and I managed to unclip and stop. Turns out the lock ring had worked itself loose and got wedged against a bolt securing the RD hanger to frame, locking up the freehub against that bolt. Replaced that lock ring with a Shimano Ultegra one and problem has never come back.

Sierra_rider

At mile 45 of a 70 mile gravel race last year, hitting one of the descents with some speed, my rear wheel suddenly locks up while trying to pedal. I come to a stop, to find that the rear derailleur hanger bolt had backed out and wedged itself between the cassette lock ring and the spacer. I admit that it was the 1 bolt that I didn't do a pre-race check on.

Anyway, I tighten that back up and make it about 1/2 mile before my shifting goes to crap. My first thought is that the hanger is bent...but it's not, come to find out that the cassette lockring must have been loosened by the hanger bolt and then backed completely off in the ensuing half mile. Since a lock ring tool isn't something I'm going to carry in my seat bag, I "fixed" it with a slotted screwdriver and the application of a rock. It worked and I continued on to the finish.