had a look on the net and found a few sites, but i'm sure there are more stories out there.
broken mechs, snapped cables, buckled wheels etc etc.....
I tried the old 'stuffing your tyre full of grass trick' which has been dragged out by numerous mags in the past as a trailside bodge when nothing else will work. Needless to say it's a load of bollocks and results in a green-brown mush covered flat tyre.
Once fixed a broken chain with a rock off a dry stone wall, and managed a 12 mile ride home with it...
i've done the grass in the tyre thing when caught out without a tube. it did work but you need LOTS and LOTS of grass. so much so that it's a bugger getting the tyre back on. oh, and you need to eliminate the flat spots. not pretty, but it does work.
mildly better than walking, though.
'spose it depends on the grass. Mine was quite fresh, I suppose dreid grass would be better.
Done a singlespeed conversion for a bust mech. That got me a few miles back.
Replaced a driveside spoke by getting an overlength one and cutting the end off and bending a hook ito it so It could be replaced without removing the cassette.
Broken pannier racks held together with magic cable ties and duct tape
Used a broken gear cable tied around the top tube to enable me to change gear ( ish)
Sounds like a waste of good grass to me 😀
A good one to get the person with the knackered bike home is to use a spare innertube as a tow rope. Looped round the bars of the tow-ee and the seatpost of the tow-er - we've got a few people home that way.