What is the worst **** up you've done to you bike?

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What is the worst **** up you've done to you bike?

65 posts & 56 voices | Started 1 year ago by Captain Pugwash | Latest reply from coatesy

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Captain Pugwash - Member

Mine was a few years back when I had just finished building a Nicolai up. First ride went to my local spot drove into the car park went for the ride. Smiles all around, put the bike back onto the bike rack on the roof went to drive out of the car park and the council had decided to close the bar to stop trucks getting into the car park... Bike managed to stay on the rack but the bar dented the steerer and top tube where the bar came to rest.... it also damaged the stanchions of the forks.

Journey home was full of mutterings of "f**king idiot.

Posted 1 year ago #
Coyote - Member

This is one of the reasons I will never have a rooftop bike rack.

Posted 1 year ago #
ZaskarCarbon - Member

I had a few week old Specialized Supercross a few years back (the white one, before the Enduros came out). Laid it flat in the back of the car, with another bike on top. Had sheets/towels etc in between to protect the frames. Or so I thought.

The other bike had a rather natty set of DMR V12s on it, which proceed to eat their way through the layers of towels and sheets, and into my downtube. To make matters worse, we had to drive over a couple of cattlegrids on the way to the trails - as the car bounced over them, the cranks moved, causing the pedals to eat various parts of my shiny SX frame!

Words could not express how annoyed I was, but I had nobody to blame but myself for being too damn lazy to take the pedals off and pack the bikes better! D'oh!

Posted 1 year ago #
buzz-lightyear - Member

Threaded the crank a bit on my GF's bike but got the pedal on OK with some care, or so I thought. Half way around our next ride, the pedal fell off - tantrum ensued.

Damaged my reputation far worse than the damage to her bike.

Posted 1 year ago #
Seb_C - Member

Back in the late 90s I fitted a pair of Bullet Brothers ZZYZX downhill forks (huge burly 6" travel things) to an original Mount Vision frame (skinny 4" XC thing) and raced it downhill. The head tube didn't stay attached for long.

Posted 1 year ago #
DT78 - Member

Rounding my talas axle with the wheel still in it.

Sounds like it wouldn't be a major problem, however it was the day before we had to return from morzine and no way would the bike would fit into the bike bag for the flight home.

A fraught half a day wandering round bike shops trying to find someone who could understand me (can't speak french other than to order food) and actually was able to drill it out.

Posted 1 year ago #
scaredypants - Member

I nearly put white bars on a bike once

Posted 1 year ago #
lookmanohands - Member

managed to cut an 1" steerer too short on a pair of white bros forks in a shop i used to work in. was chatting, marked the steerer but didnt put the stem on when i marked it. oooops

Posted 1 year ago #
Surf-Mat - Member

Got angry with my sticking Juicy pistons so walloped them with a screwdriver and hammer - piston crumbled, DOT 5.1 sprayed out. Not ideal.

Slipped taking off a pedal - hand + crank + high speed impact = much blood and messy cuts

Attempted to clean out a hub for the first time - I think the bearings covered most of Bristol after flying all over the place.

I also have a habit of fitting tyres the wrong way round but not realising until they are fitted and inflated...

Posted 1 year ago #
MrCrushrider - Member

managed to get a bearing wedged in my pro2 freehub body and proper fcked the body getting the bearing out. nightmare.....

Posted 1 year ago #
Practical Matt - Member

I believed an online tip on a bike maintainance website that muc-off was just watered down white spirit (I think they missunderstood the concept of de-greaser). So I made one parts white spirit to twenty parts water and sprayed it all over my muddy bike.

Three years on I am still paying the price slowly replacing the parts, bearings, stickers....sob

Posted 1 year ago #
BigJohn - Member

I bought a Cannondale.

Posted 1 year ago #
ZaskarCarbon - Member

I also have a habit of fitting tyres the wrong way round but not realising until they are fitted and inflated...

Surely one of THE most infuriating things that could ever happen! Especially when you're in a bit of a rush (and let's face it, if you don't check that they're on the right way before fitting/inflating them, then you usually are!)...

Posted 1 year ago #
ZaskarCarbon - Member

I bought a Cannondale.

I almost did... Until I took one for a test ride at Mountain Mayhem and busted the rear seatstay. So I guess that's the biggest **** up I've done to someone else's bike..!

Posted 1 year ago #
stumpy01 - Member

Not done anything too bad. Worst thing was replacing the outer on my old FSR & cutting the bit between the front & rear a bit too long.
It moved and was rubbing against the linkage for a while and gouged a slot in the side of it. Not affected performance, but annoying. It also moved further inboard & rubbed some of the can of the shock, right near the piston. Again no damage, but looks a mess.

Oh and I dropped my saddle right down at Chicksands and failed to take into account the fact that the shock was in the way. By the time I realised, I'd put a nice groove into the air can.....

I don't mind my bikes getting scratched/dinted from riding, but it's the stupid things like things rubbing while in the car/cable rub/dropping the bike in a car park & scratching it that wind me up.

Posted 1 year ago #
lookmanohands - Member

ZaskarCarbon - Member
I also have a habit of fitting tyres the wrong way round but not realising until they are fitted and inflated...
Surely one of THE most infuriating things that could ever happen! Especially when you're in a bit of a rush (and let's face it, if you don't check that they're on the right way before fitting/inflating them, then you usually are!)...

...and youve just spent an hour trying to seat them to run tubeless...

Posted 1 year ago #
joolsburger - Member

Bike just came back from a fresh respray, first ride out put it on my roof rack and forgot to put a bit of rubber round the downtube before clamping, big area of fresh paint ruined.

Posted 1 year ago #
coogan - Member

Biggest f*ck up is usually when I get on it.

Posted 1 year ago #
cynic-al - Member

You actually ride yours coogan?

Posted 1 year ago #
alexpalacefan - Member

Re-attached brake hose to MC, filled and bled system, then realised it was an old-style Inbred with the closed hose guides. D'Oh!

Cut gear cable to length with the inner running through it!

De-greased my rotors, with Fork Juice!!

APF

Posted 1 year ago #
yossarian - Member

forgot to properly tighten up the axle nuts on my alfine'd up singular swift. Heading up a steep back and pop, out comes the back wheel, gouging plenty of metal from the drop outs, tearing the cable out of the shifer unit and putting a nice ding into the rear disc rotor.

the other was trashing my commuter bike on the first ride after I'd shelled out some good money on getting it sorted out. Was pinging along through the woods, looking at the trees and what have you and managed to ride slap bang into a wooden bollard at about 20 mph. Brand new bars bent to bollocks, new crank arm bent to bollocks, new rear mech in spokes etc etc. How I laughed!

Posted 1 year ago #
thisisnotaspoon - Member

Cut brake cables too short quite regulalry, especialy the outer on road bike with full length cables.

Pulled a cheep seatclamp bolt appart whilst doing it up on a cheep saracen

Posted 1 year ago #
Pippalarge - Member

Had bike on towbar mounted rack and reversed into van on the way to Mountain Mayhem - bent rear wheel about 2 inches out of line - cue a lot of swearing.

Told by all the shops at MM that "100% need new rim" and "no way is that fixable" - then someone suggested i have a chat with one of the onza trials demo team as "those guys are always knackering wheels" - sure enough one of them took on the challenge and managed to straighten it out - not perfect but it's still running fine 2 years later and just completed 500km offroad trip round Scotland... i owe that man a beer!

Posted 1 year ago #
Leku - Member

Tried taking off an XTR pedal the wrong way.

Got it really wedged on. LBS tried and failed to remove it so new chainset (£90 for SLX) and replacement axel (£35).

Not going to make that mistake again.

Posted 1 year ago #
Pippalarge - Member

PS - That excludes all the other amatuerish workshop mishaps - misaligned headsets, stuck bearing races, leaking brakes etc - why does it always happen just before a riding weekend or race??? Luckily i have a good mate who's a bike mechanic - i'm pretty sure he dreads picking up the phone to me these days...

Posted 1 year ago #
tron - Member

I'm fettling a bike for a mate. He dismantled it to save me a job.

Unfortunately, he removed every clamp bolt from everything on the bike, and chucked them all in a carrier bag...

Posted 1 year ago #
Amos - Member

Not so much bike but accesories, I left my Oakley radars on the roof of my car leaving swinley, got out on the road and someone coming the opposite way pointed them out, the glasses then fell off so I swung the car round to retrieve them and ended up running over my own glasses!!

Prize prick!

Posted 1 year ago #
firestarter - Member

i wanted an old ss hub built on a new rim. So to save time i cut all the spokes. I forgot to remove the bmx freewheel tho couldnt thread the spokes in or remove the cog . Doh. Sorted in the end with the help of a vice but caused plenty of damage. Bugger

Posted 1 year ago #
Surf-Mat - Member

As well as tyre errors, I seem to forget which way to undo pedals EVERY time and end up hurting myself.

Bikes are too damn spikey!

Also taken a rather embarrassingly long time to change tyres/tubes too many times - sometimes simply cannot get the bu66ers off the rim! I blame the harder beads of new tyres... used to be able to "thumb" them off - recently I've needed three tyre levers - doh!

Posted 1 year ago #
Keva - Member

could hear a noise coming from the front wheel so decided to whip the bike upside down to take closer look. Spun the wheel round and listened... heard the noise was comming from the brake and for some reason decided to point at it... sticking my finger straight through the disc rotor. Looked like something from the Kenny Everet DIY sketch.

Kev

Posted 1 year ago #
coogan - Member

cynic-al - Member
You actually ride yours coogan?

I could ask you the same question

Posted 1 year ago #
Diane - Member

Surf-Mat pedals tighten the way you pedal - remember by thinking if they didnt they could fall off

Posted 1 year ago #
Surf-Mat - Member

Diane - thanks but even though I know (when I think about it) I still get it wrong - doh!

Posted 1 year ago #
Pik n Mix - Member

I rode my bike with slightly (I emphasise slightly) bent forks thinking I would get away with it if I wasn't too heavy handed as it had survived a beating the day before.

They snapped whilst landing a very small stair jump and I ended up plastered all over the university of Leicester library pavement!!!

I was young (and stupid)

Posted 1 year ago #
Denis99 - Member

Serviced a very new pair of Reba forks in my garage, and managed to scratch the stanchions when re assembling.

Fishers were very good about it , they replaced at cost - 'cos I'm a numpty.

Posted 1 year ago #

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