What is the worst mechanical issue you have ever experienced?
07-07-12, 11:40 AM
#26
Senior Member
Worst mechanical problem I've had on the road happened when a small stick got stuck in my chain, sucking my rear derailleur into the cassette and destroying them both along with the chain and severely bending my derailleur hanger (which is part of my steel frame, not a separate piece). Fortunately, it didn't destroy my rear wheel and I was not hurt. However, it was a brand new frame (maiden voyage), new ultegra RD, new ultegra cassette, and ultegra chain. 
It's the only time I had to call for a rescue ride home.
It's the only time I had to call for a rescue ride home.
07-07-12, 12:54 PM
#27
Junior Member
Crank arm bolt has fallen out.
pedal seized and it unscrewed itself.
dropped a chain after bending a plate.
broke 3 spokes on front wheel making a corner
snapped off the end of the crankarm holding the pedal( kmart bike)
and the best one, I think, the allen bolt holding a derailleur pully on came out and wasn't found. Start walking
pedal seized and it unscrewed itself.
dropped a chain after bending a plate.
broke 3 spokes on front wheel making a corner
snapped off the end of the crankarm holding the pedal( kmart bike)
and the best one, I think, the allen bolt holding a derailleur pully on came out and wasn't found. Start walking
07-08-12, 06:40 AM
#28
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Years ago before the era of "Nader Hooks"/wheel retention tabs on forks I had my front wheel depart from my fork at speed on a downhill. Still remember thinking "oh crap this is going to hurt"... It did.
Semper Fi
Semper Fi
07-08-12, 11:29 AM
#29
cycles per second
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Broke a rear axle sometime during the first 1/2 of a 200km brevet. Noticed it at the turn-around checkpoint when I took the rear wheel out to fix a flat. Since the QR skewer had held everything together til that point I figured it would hold to get me back and it did.
Dropped the chain and it wrapped around the cassette somehow and pulled the rear derailer inward and bent the derailer hanger and broke the derailer cage pivot post. This was during an 11 day tour and I was ~25 miles from any city with a bike shop. I happened to have packed a 10" adjustable wrench which I used to bend the hanger back (steel frame) and I limped into town and got a new rear derailer.
Dropped the chain and it wrapped around the cassette somehow and pulled the rear derailer inward and bent the derailer hanger and broke the derailer cage pivot post. This was during an 11 day tour and I was ~25 miles from any city with a bike shop. I happened to have packed a 10" adjustable wrench which I used to bend the hanger back (steel frame) and I limped into town and got a new rear derailer.
07-09-12, 04:42 PM
#30
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Destroyed my front wheel in someone's quick release (my fault). Half of the 28 spokes were gone. Rebuilt the wheel with the remaining 14 on the side of the road & continued the remaining 25 miles of a century.
Rear derailleur pulley came loose on a ride recently. Fortunately the bolt & pulley were still there just loose from the cage. Repaired on the side of the road & used locktite as soon as I got home
Rear derailleur pulley came loose on a ride recently. Fortunately the bolt & pulley were still there just loose from the cage. Repaired on the side of the road & used locktite as soon as I got home
Last edited by daveF; 07-09-12 at 04:55 PM.
07-09-12, 10:07 PM
#31
Senior Member
I am seeing a pattern here with rear derailleur issues often causing damages to the frame itself (i.e., der. hanger) and pretty much the entire rear wheel. Has anyone used a breakaway bolt for your rear derailleur on your steel or titanium frame? A friend told me about it just last week. It allows the derailleur to pop off in case it gets bumped hard sparing your bike from very expensive damages. The trick is to always carry an extra breakaway bolt. You can buy it from EBay in the U.K. or through their U.S. distributor: MTBTandems.com
Last edited by Chris Pringle; 07-09-12 at 10:26 PM.
07-09-12, 10:39 PM
#32
Geck, wo ist mein Fahrrad
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a seat rail bolt snapped and had me riding a wheelie while sitting on the bike rack. unfortunately I couldn't reach the handle bars and dumped the bike, breaking my wrist. had to ride with no seat and an owie. fortunately the break repaired the carpel tunnel issues I had started to develop. gotta love serendipity.
07-18-12, 07:27 PM
#33
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Pedal sheared off mid sprint on a down stroke. Almost saved it but ended up skidding along the pavement. Will find out how much damage I did to it tomorrow.
EDIT: Pedal manufacturer agreed to fix everything.
EDIT: Pedal manufacturer agreed to fix everything.
Last edited by mwchandler21; 07-20-12 at 06:46 AM.
07-18-12, 10:28 PM
#34
Senior Member
I broke a rear axle on a grate years ago. The skewer held it together to get me home.
07-19-12, 10:57 PM
#36
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Up until last month the worst was a broken spoke. Then the spline gave on the fork of a 20+ year old bike @ 30 kph. Front wheel turned 90 degrees, bike disappeared underneath me. Collected road rash & replaced the bike.
07-29-12, 03:31 PM
#37
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Close to home:
BB asploded -> Bus ride 10 miles home.
Rear freehub mechs shattered -> Walk (This one could have caused serious damage but something seemed off and I slowed way down.)
Middle of nowhere:
My 3x7 became a 3x3 (Rear Derailleur ick) I found out a 28-38-48 married to a 21-24-28 worked just dandy for 300 miles.
Two chains fixed on the side of the road.
Edit: I spend stupid money on my long distance hubs and BB's now.
BB asploded -> Bus ride 10 miles home.
Rear freehub mechs shattered -> Walk (This one could have caused serious damage but something seemed off and I slowed way down.)
Middle of nowhere:
My 3x7 became a 3x3 (Rear Derailleur ick) I found out a 28-38-48 married to a 21-24-28 worked just dandy for 300 miles.
Two chains fixed on the side of the road.
Edit: I spend stupid money on my long distance hubs and BB's now.
Last edited by escii_35; 07-29-12 at 03:36 PM.
07-29-12, 11:24 PM
#38
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Came to do a wheelie, chain broke. Walked back the 4 miles pushing my bike.
07-30-12, 10:22 AM
#39
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The cable for the rear derailleur broke. The derailleur defaulted to the 11t cog on the cassette. Rode 20 miles using a 39t chainring and the 11t cog. Not much of a problem.
__________________
When I ride my bike I feel free and happy and strong. I'm liberated from the usual nonsense of day to day life. Solid, dependable, silent, my bike is my horse, my fighter jet, my island, my friend. Together we will conquer that hill and thereafter the world.
When I ride my bike I feel free and happy and strong. I'm liberated from the usual nonsense of day to day life. Solid, dependable, silent, my bike is my horse, my fighter jet, my island, my friend. Together we will conquer that hill and thereafter the world.
08-21-12, 05:23 PM
#41
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I have to add a new one. My Bottom Bracket failed at mile 50 of a 200k event. The only drivetrain part not made by Shimano.
Shimano has not ever failed... never.
Shimano has not ever failed... never.
__________________
When I ride my bike I feel free and happy and strong. I'm liberated from the usual nonsense of day to day life. Solid, dependable, silent, my bike is my horse, my fighter jet, my island, my friend. Together we will conquer that hill and thereafter the world.
When I ride my bike I feel free and happy and strong. I'm liberated from the usual nonsense of day to day life. Solid, dependable, silent, my bike is my horse, my fighter jet, my island, my friend. Together we will conquer that hill and thereafter the world.
Last edited by Barrettscv; 08-21-12 at 06:31 PM.
08-22-12, 02:05 PM
#42
Senior Member
The centre pivot bolt in my Tiagra triple front derailleur (circa 2000) fell out about 60km from anywhere in World Heritage Wilderness country. Fortunately, my ride partner was behind me for a change, and luckily, had a bolt of the right diameter and length to go with the spare nut I had. The repair lasted another 30,000 odd kilometres.
During bike inspection the night before a 400, a gust of wind blew the bike over while it was resting against a car. Later on the ride, the rear shifting was all wonky, which was odd because there was a new chain and cassette on there. I continued on what was quite a hilly ride, not really able to engage the big cog on the rear without it dropping into the spokes. After the ride, I went to take the rear wheel off to see what was really up and to replace the damaged spokes, and the right rear drop-out literally did that -- drop out. It had broken across the face, but the rear rack and QR kept it in place, but not enough to stop it from squirming around a bit under load -- hence the wonky gear shifting. I tracked the cause to the acorn nut on the QR hitting the ground and the impact was enough to break the drop-out.
I suppose this is sort of related (and it did happen some considerable time beforehand), but...
On the day before the start of the Great Southern 1200, my rear wheel started to slip so the tyre ended up rubbing against the rear chainstay. No matter how tightly I tried to engage the QR, the problem persisted. I ended up buying a Ti MTB skewer from a local bike shop, and that sort of remedied the problem (because of the extra bit from slightly sharper teeth, I suspect). But about a year later, the issue emerged again. I eventually traced it to the acorn nut deeply scoring the surface of the drop-out (the same one that broke later), and I did a cursory job with a file to flatten out the surface. All was well until the drop-out broke as detailed above.
The worst problem I had when out alone, was doing a century on my fixed gear. I had a Velocity, single-sided rear hub, but I had chosen (erroneously as I found out later) to fit a cheap, pressed steel cog. About 100km into the ride, I felt the cog sort of slip as I stood up to pedal. I thought I had better go easy, and I was on the way home on the section anyway. But going easy was to no avail as with around 25km to go, the cog entirely stripped the thread on the hub. I was left with a walk and scoot home that left me quite sore and sorry for myself (plus I had a load of groceries on board).
I've had the rear spokes on my touring bike appear to all undo at once on an epic 800km ride I did in five days back in 2002 from Canberra to Melbourne with a friend who introduced me to randonneuring. The issue wasn't as epic as the ride, however, as I did have a spoke key to basically rebuild the wheel one evening. It was enough to swear me off Alex rims, however.
My very first major, and I mean MAJOR, mechanical was on my crossing from Perth to Adelaide, Australia, in 1997 when the cone lock nut on my rear axle loosened, and the cone slowly but surely wound its way into the bearings with such force that it broke the race in the hub. It was a cheap hub, for sure. I was able to gemmy a repair with a pair of sealed car alternator bearings sort of pressed into the hub, and that lasted quite a few hundred kilometres until a kiiler gravel road. It was after that the bearings and axle decided they didn't like each other that much, and the resulting wobble in the rear wheel was enough to catch the derailleur. About 15 broken spokes, a badly bent rear derailleur, and a 5km walk into town was the result. I refashioned the rear derailleur while waiting for a new wheel to be sent from a bike shop in another town nearby and got back on the road again a couple of days later.
Sometimes mechanicals can be a revelation. On a century last year on the tandem, the front wheel kicked up some road debris that I wasn't able to identify because it was dark. The result was that it caught in the timing chain and very neatly removed it from the front chainring. My heart sank because I thought the chain had broken, but it was fine... it was just matter of putting it back on. Which I did, in the dark, slightly out of phase -- possibly by two or three links. Then I started to think out pedalling together was improving. I didn't notice until quite some weeks later that the pedals weren't lined up properly.
Sometimes it can be an adventure being out on a bike, and having to think through what could be an insurmountable problem. Having some spares and the right tools along can help!
During bike inspection the night before a 400, a gust of wind blew the bike over while it was resting against a car. Later on the ride, the rear shifting was all wonky, which was odd because there was a new chain and cassette on there. I continued on what was quite a hilly ride, not really able to engage the big cog on the rear without it dropping into the spokes. After the ride, I went to take the rear wheel off to see what was really up and to replace the damaged spokes, and the right rear drop-out literally did that -- drop out. It had broken across the face, but the rear rack and QR kept it in place, but not enough to stop it from squirming around a bit under load -- hence the wonky gear shifting. I tracked the cause to the acorn nut on the QR hitting the ground and the impact was enough to break the drop-out.
I suppose this is sort of related (and it did happen some considerable time beforehand), but...
On the day before the start of the Great Southern 1200, my rear wheel started to slip so the tyre ended up rubbing against the rear chainstay. No matter how tightly I tried to engage the QR, the problem persisted. I ended up buying a Ti MTB skewer from a local bike shop, and that sort of remedied the problem (because of the extra bit from slightly sharper teeth, I suspect). But about a year later, the issue emerged again. I eventually traced it to the acorn nut deeply scoring the surface of the drop-out (the same one that broke later), and I did a cursory job with a file to flatten out the surface. All was well until the drop-out broke as detailed above.
The worst problem I had when out alone, was doing a century on my fixed gear. I had a Velocity, single-sided rear hub, but I had chosen (erroneously as I found out later) to fit a cheap, pressed steel cog. About 100km into the ride, I felt the cog sort of slip as I stood up to pedal. I thought I had better go easy, and I was on the way home on the section anyway. But going easy was to no avail as with around 25km to go, the cog entirely stripped the thread on the hub. I was left with a walk and scoot home that left me quite sore and sorry for myself (plus I had a load of groceries on board).
I've had the rear spokes on my touring bike appear to all undo at once on an epic 800km ride I did in five days back in 2002 from Canberra to Melbourne with a friend who introduced me to randonneuring. The issue wasn't as epic as the ride, however, as I did have a spoke key to basically rebuild the wheel one evening. It was enough to swear me off Alex rims, however.
My very first major, and I mean MAJOR, mechanical was on my crossing from Perth to Adelaide, Australia, in 1997 when the cone lock nut on my rear axle loosened, and the cone slowly but surely wound its way into the bearings with such force that it broke the race in the hub. It was a cheap hub, for sure. I was able to gemmy a repair with a pair of sealed car alternator bearings sort of pressed into the hub, and that lasted quite a few hundred kilometres until a kiiler gravel road. It was after that the bearings and axle decided they didn't like each other that much, and the resulting wobble in the rear wheel was enough to catch the derailleur. About 15 broken spokes, a badly bent rear derailleur, and a 5km walk into town was the result. I refashioned the rear derailleur while waiting for a new wheel to be sent from a bike shop in another town nearby and got back on the road again a couple of days later.
Sometimes mechanicals can be a revelation. On a century last year on the tandem, the front wheel kicked up some road debris that I wasn't able to identify because it was dark. The result was that it caught in the timing chain and very neatly removed it from the front chainring. My heart sank because I thought the chain had broken, but it was fine... it was just matter of putting it back on. Which I did, in the dark, slightly out of phase -- possibly by two or three links. Then I started to think out pedalling together was improving. I didn't notice until quite some weeks later that the pedals weren't lined up properly.
Sometimes it can be an adventure being out on a bike, and having to think through what could be an insurmountable problem. Having some spares and the right tools along can help!
08-28-12, 02:10 PM
#43
Dharma Dog
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If nothing else, cycling teaches you to be resourceful. I've had to scour roadside debris in order to find suitable tire boot material for holes worn thru the tire cord. I've used the electrical tape I use to finish off the handlebar tape to wrap around a punctured inner tube when I've run out of spare tubes (I now carry three spare tubes, two of them with the longer 60mm valve stems). On the fixie, I use a spacer to push out the cog on a threaded hub in order to get a perfect chainline (normally you'd use a threaded adaptor). I've stripped the threads on the hub, so have merely removed the spacer and threaded the cog back onto the remaining threads to get home (with a slightly misaligned chainline).
But I've had to take the bus home for broken chains (when I didn't carry a spare master link) and recently, for exploded rims (braking surface worn down enough that tire pressure blows the rim wall outward). This last one was spectacular - it was on the front wheel and it took the left front brake pad with it! Close to one-fourth of the rim circumference was blown off! But the bike was still (somewhat) rideable. Fortunately, it was on a commute home from work, and all the buses in Greater Vancouver have bike racks mounted in front. And I happened to be very near a bus stop on the line that runs past my townhouse. And I always carry a book of transit tickets in my rucksack just in case. So why was I even riding a suspect rim? Because it was a Deep V with less than 8,000 km on it, and most rims will go at least 10,000 km before you have to start watching the braking surface start to bow outward. (This is if you live in a rainy area like the Pac Northwest; if you live in California, you don't have to worry about stuff like this.)
Oh, and my last fixie, a 1989 Benotto track bike with a retrofitted carbon road fork, decided one day to self-destruct on an after-work training ride. The top head lug broke gong up a short, gentle grade. I could still ride, but very slowly with the bike wobbling. I had to really pull the handlebars into the frame to try to hold the bike together. Finally made it to a bus stop.
Luis
But I've had to take the bus home for broken chains (when I didn't carry a spare master link) and recently, for exploded rims (braking surface worn down enough that tire pressure blows the rim wall outward). This last one was spectacular - it was on the front wheel and it took the left front brake pad with it! Close to one-fourth of the rim circumference was blown off! But the bike was still (somewhat) rideable. Fortunately, it was on a commute home from work, and all the buses in Greater Vancouver have bike racks mounted in front. And I happened to be very near a bus stop on the line that runs past my townhouse. And I always carry a book of transit tickets in my rucksack just in case. So why was I even riding a suspect rim? Because it was a Deep V with less than 8,000 km on it, and most rims will go at least 10,000 km before you have to start watching the braking surface start to bow outward. (This is if you live in a rainy area like the Pac Northwest; if you live in California, you don't have to worry about stuff like this.)
Oh, and my last fixie, a 1989 Benotto track bike with a retrofitted carbon road fork, decided one day to self-destruct on an after-work training ride. The top head lug broke gong up a short, gentle grade. I could still ride, but very slowly with the bike wobbling. I had to really pull the handlebars into the frame to try to hold the bike together. Finally made it to a bus stop.
Luis
08-29-12, 02:02 PM
#44
Riding the bike I love.
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Someone told me about a guy who was racing a crit, and as launched his attack, he put so much power onto his bike that his steel frame started to bend and then his bottom bracket broke off.
09-03-12, 07:33 PM
#46
Senior Member
RD jockey wheel falling off (and being unfindable). Hitchhiked to an LBS that was amazingly open on Easter Sunday.
Snapped derailleur hanger (hit a branch). Rode back downhill all the way to the start.
Spokes, chains
Pedal falling off and stripping out the crank thread in the process (brand new bike badly set up by LBS)
Cranks loosening (hired tandem)
Snapped cantilever brake cable hanger (too much fiddling)
Front wheel fell off (someone stole my front skewer without me noticing)
Snapped derailleur hanger (hit a branch). Rode back downhill all the way to the start.
Spokes, chains
Pedal falling off and stripping out the crank thread in the process (brand new bike badly set up by LBS)
Cranks loosening (hired tandem)
Snapped cantilever brake cable hanger (too much fiddling)
Front wheel fell off (someone stole my front skewer without me noticing)
09-06-12, 02:02 AM
#47
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Freewheel cone backed off, bearings lost, pawls didn't catch anymore -- found a long stick and "poled" my way back 10 miles or so.
Six or more flats one day on one wheel of my son's bike. Finally figured out that rimstrip was weak and letting the tube chafe on the drilling in the rim for one spoke. Folded up paper got us through.
Intermittent skip on indexed shifter; switched to friction and carried on. Found out that (for Shimano at least) it is important to have the "floating" pulley up top.
Jockey wheel fell off about a mile (downhill) from home. Walked the bike back, found jockey, washers, and eventually the bolt. Used loctite when I reassembled.
Six or more flats one day on one wheel of my son's bike. Finally figured out that rimstrip was weak and letting the tube chafe on the drilling in the rim for one spoke. Folded up paper got us through.
Intermittent skip on indexed shifter; switched to friction and carried on. Found out that (for Shimano at least) it is important to have the "floating" pulley up top.
Jockey wheel fell off about a mile (downhill) from home. Walked the bike back, found jockey, washers, and eventually the bolt. Used loctite when I reassembled.
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