Viewing 24 posts - 1 through 24 (of 24 total)
  • Best mechanical doh moments?
  • angryratio
    Free Member

    Today i have spent 2 hrs swearing at an e13 only to suddenly notice the converter for a bb mount was on back to front.

    Yer.. i won't do that twice.

    thomthumb
    Free Member

    mate took his brake adapter off on the trail to adjust the calliper!

    paulrockliffe
    Free Member

    My housemate spent a fair while wondering why bleeding his front brake wasn't working. It was because he was squeezing the rear brake lever and pissing fluid all over the carpet!

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    Have wondered why a headset felt rough – I'd put the bearing cage in upside-down.

    Also fitted a thumbshifter inside a brake lever and wondered why it looked a bit odd.

    Many more I'm sure!

    Houns
    Full Member

    Had a new bottle of sh1t shifter where the trigger spray broke. I remembered i still had the old empty bottle. I proceeded to unscrew the sprays off both of them and started pouring the contents of the new bottle into the old one. Only managed to fill it a third of the way before i burst out laughing at my stupidity

    Pook
    Full Member

    square taper bb. Cranks fitted at 90 degrees – good fun to ride, mind.

    nickc
    Full Member

    Crown race on upside down.

    scud
    Free Member

    I've ridden over a mile before realising i hadn't replaced the front maxle skewer back in.

    witty.name
    Free Member

    Swapping my pedals i once managed to cross thread an xtr crank arm.An expensive episode that was!

    wwaswas
    Full Member

    Lowers replaced on Fox Stanchions back to front.

    I didn't actually mange to get them back on the bike like that but there was a few moments or wondering why it didn't look quite right…

    oldgit
    Free Member

    Turned the back wheel with the pedals and put a stick against the rims to clear the mud (Common practice in the days of V brakes) and accidently tore the valve clean off.
    Then discovered that that was the day I'd forget to bring a single spare.

    coffeeking
    Free Member

    Dropped my engine out of the car, replaced the gearbox, re-fitted and reconditioned everything on the engine, new clutch, did a cam-belt change, changed all the tensioners, everything felt and appeared fine. Didn't bother with the water pump as it felt fine and hadn't been leaking and didn't want to disturb the pipework seals (its fairly complex as water pumps go). 12 hours work, hire of an engine hoist for the weekend, nearly £500 in parts. Fired it up, water pump leak. Water pump 1" from engine rails, another 2 hour job to wangle it round and undo half the work I'd done to get to it, at 2am so I could use the hoist without more charges. THAT is a doh moment.

    stevomcd
    Free Member

    Half-way down World Champs DH course at Pila, stop to take photos in the same spot I stopped on previous run. Spot something lying in the grass – "Bonus, someone's lost a maxle skewer here, that'll be a handy spare!".

    Ride on down, report find to mates. Someone suggests I look at my back wheel…

    Steelsreal
    Full Member

    Couple of hours into a SDW ride and the newly fitted front brake pads fall out ! Bit odd, the Shimano split pin must have worked loose. MAnage to cobble a new pad retainer out of spare gear cable and cable ties, complete SDW and think nothing more of it.

    Return home to fix brake bike in stand, look at work bench and see shimano split pin sat there in all it glory just waiting to be fitted ….

    d'oh

    duntmatter
    Free Member

    Fitted a Hope headset by knocking it in with a hammer and a piece of wood. Fitted the bottom cup fine, turned the frame over and fitted the top cup fine too. Then realised that as I was bashing the top one in I'd been battering the bottom one into the floor. It was mangled by the concrete floor, and I'd made loads of semi-circular cuts in the carpet. 😳

    Swiftacular
    Free Member

    Thankfully not me, but a mate (who actually owns a bike shop!!!!), took an angle grinder to a pair of tora's on his mtb so he could fit some 700c's on it for commuting. Next time at dalby with proper wheels back on, loud crack on a downhill section, and forks resembled upside down shiver sc's lol. He was adamant that there was enough metal left to be structurally sound. Guess they machine them pretty tight.

    _tom_
    Free Member

    Spent about 2 hours whacking away at a stuck crank arm with a hammer, trying to saw through the axle etc with no change. Then I had the idea of warming it up to expand it using boiling water. Slipped right off with 2 taps of a rubber mallet!

    alexpalacefan
    Full Member

    Assembling an old style 456, way after I should have put my feet up for the evening.

    Cut the rear brake hose to length, fitted the olive, insert and nut. Screwed it all together and bled through the new fluid.

    Only at that point did I realise I'd forgotten to run the hose through the frame guides. D'Oh!

    APF

    Surf-Mat
    Free Member

    Got angry with a Juicy 5 piston, used violence, crumbled it and spewed DOT 5.1 everywhere – very very doh!

    Also slipped twice taking pedals off – onto the out chainring. Much blood and swearing.

    coffeeking
    Free Member

    He was adamant that there was enough metal left to be structurally sound. Guess they machine them pretty tight.

    Second guess the engineer who designed it, big mistake 😀

    leftyboy
    Free Member

    Had a mate change a tube and then started riding off towards a fast downhill, that ends in a 90 degree corner, before we reminded him to reconnect his v-brake cable.

    Same mate is trying to find the hole in his tube but every time he added a patch it was still hissing – in fact one of the other guys was stood behind him making a highly convincing hissing sound!

    Zoolander
    Free Member

    Whilst taking the track pump off the valve on the rear wheel on Monday it occured to me that as I was having to use so much force that it would send my hand into the rear cassette if I wasn't careful. I was right.

    I also recall using the lumphammer headset instalation tool earlier this year not considering the alan key that was hiding between the top tube and the carpet resulting in a nice chip out of the paint on a brand new frame. Bugger.

    RealMan
    Free Member

    Same mate is trying to find the hole in his tube but every time he added a patch it was still hissing – in fact one of the other guys was stood behind him making a highly convincing hissing sound!

    Love that, will have to try it.

    leftyboy
    Free Member

    Mind you anyone who knows me knows that I'm mechanically useless (and that's being generous) so it's a bit of a case of the kettle and a black pot or something… 😆

Viewing 24 posts - 1 through 24 (of 24 total)

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