I never have to retune the rear mech as I always run a full (independent) outer gear cable

Thank heavens for the rigorously adhered-to international standard for derailleur hanger thickness then. 😉

Two of mine…

New talas forks, old hose. Built bike up and drove Edinburgh to Glen Clova to do Loch Muick. Set off and unwound the forks. All good with weight on them but pulled a wheelie, forks extend and rip hose out of the master cylinder….

Re assembling bike after a flight. Cutting the cable ties to release the discs I always remove and stash inside the wheel spokes, yep, cut through the cable ties and three spokes…

Northwind… top job… !

A member of staff once managed to completely retap the bottom bracket threads the other way round in a frame as he was trying to fit a bb. Rather than stopping and thinking he might be trying to install it the wrong way round he just reached for the tool and recut the threads. Never let him in the workshop again.

Personal most common fail is when using gear inner sets that are precut into short and long lengths I always seem to manage to use the longer one for the front, cut it to length and then try the rear.

xtr pedal + big spanner + jumping up and down + wrong way = new axle + cranks.

Shop mechanic asked to cut bars down, cuts an inch off one side, has a brew, cuts another inch off the same side again….

Shop mechanic fitting new forks, measures head tube of frame and cuts steerer…. without allowing for headset/stem/spacers.

Shop mechanic drills out Santa Cruz Bullit swingarm pinch bolt using too big a drill, removes bolt and the machined recess the bolt sits against so that it will actually pinch together…

mccett – Member

Shop mechanic asked to cut bars down, cuts an inch off one side, has a brew, cuts another inch off the same side again….

Shop mechanic fitting new forks, measures head tube of frame and cuts steerer…. without allowing for headset/stem/spacers.

Shop mechanic drills out Santa Cruz Bullit swingarm pinch bolt using too big a drill, removes bolt and the machined recess the bolt sits against so that it will actually pinch together…

I see a pattern…! I trust that:

a) This wasn’t all at the same shop.
b) In each case, the shop replaced your FUBAR’d kit FOC.

Does repeatedly replacing inner tubes during a ride without checking tyre for that monster thorn sitting in it count?

Northwind wins handsomely. Picture evidence as well – good effort, sir!

Put down the tools after an evening fitting my new drivetrain. Woke up in the morning, noticed it’s a nice day, I thought I may as well ride to work. Then I notice the gear inners cross under the downtube, I’d fitted the shifters the wrong way round! Rush to undo all the bolts, feeling glad that I hadn’t cut the inners down. Swap the cables over, check the underside, problem solved. Cut the inner to size.

I get on the bike to double check the indexing on the rear, notice not much is happening. Check the front, gear change but it doesn’t feel right…
Yup, I’d got the shifters the right way round the first time, I’d just routed it wrong… Ride to work with “Low, Med, High” instead of 10 speed, with 10 degrees of not-quite-right at the front…

First sealed bearing hub I serviced I carefully pressed both bearings into the hub then picked up the axle and thought hmmmmmm.

Also serviced some bombers (again first time) rebuilt them then found an internal part still on the work bench. Oops.

Northwind wins handsomely. Picture evidence as well – good effort, sir!

how did you manage it with a tapered headtube (or was it a straight HT proto?) at first I assumed some shoppery.

Cutting the cable ties to…//…cut through the cable ties and three spokes

Were you using bolt croppers?

Mccett same mechanic for all 3?

First sealed bearing hub I serviced I carefully pressed both bearings into the hub then picked up the axle and thought hmmmmmm.

It’s a bit like a game of “I have never”, I have never rebuilt a QR hub correctly in one go!

Other than that just plenty of chains not passing through the front mech and tyres on the wrong way arround.

A mate, fitted some nice Carbon bottle cages before his first road race a couple of years ago. The seat tube one was finem but the downtube one, had a little problem of retaining the bottle as he’d put the open end facing down 🙂

I’ve had loads of chain routing lols – especially with the newer Shimano rear mechs where you assume that there is a guide plate in between the jockey wheels. There isn’t.

I’ve incorrectly routed the cable to a top swing front mech which resulted in gouging a farrow into the back of a swingarm, plus I’ve cross threaded the expensive end of a SRAM X9 shifter when trying to bolt it to my bars.

I suspect that I may have ronnied the installation of my new chainguide as the chain rattled against the backplate in the granny ring, despite me following the instructions…must there really be a spacer between the backplate and the frame before you screw the BB back into place?

alpin – Member
i had one guy on tour come to me and ask why his forks were knocking. he wanted to lower his bars so he removed the stem and the spacers and just replaced the stem, without the spacers.

another good one…. i caught one guy rubbing gel into his leg. i asked if it was a pain relief gel. turns out it was energy gel. his legs felt tired.
Exactly, well almost, what I did 🙂 I had a feeling the spacers were good for something, so I left one one and removed one (as it didn’t fit, or so I thought).

I almost did the Northwind one (frame in workstand upside down, focused on the headtube).. luckily he’d posted that pic a few days before, so I thought “Ah..” and checked before proceeding 🙂

D0NK – Member
First sealed bearing hub I serviced I carefully pressed both bearings into the hub then picked up the axle and thought hmmmmmm.

Also serviced some bombers (again first time) rebuilt them then found an internal part still on the work bench. Oops.
That’s when you ask yourself if that bit is really that important. Might just be able to go without it…

Most annoying I’ve had is wrestling on a dual ply high roller then pumping it up only to realise I’d put it on backwards.

A friend who shall remain nameless (cos I was with him at he time) was strugglng to fit a Hope crown race onto his forks. It was just too tight. We ended up heating it up over a gas hob to try and expand it, but it wouldn’t go on.

Eventually, after lots of hitting hith heavy objects, we realised it wasn’t the crown race, it was the top cone insert. Swapped them round it all slipped together.

oops…

PJM1974 – Member

I’ve had loads of chain routing lols…

You’ve had loads of what? All of a sudden, I feel rather old!

Half way round Whites @ Afan realised why my brakin and general speed control was soo rubbish…….brakes wrong way round after recent bar change…..rest of the way home guessing wether left hand was front or rear and same on the right……needless to say ended up in a big stock and much ribbing from mates!

I once went round to a fellow STW’s place to help him index his gears on his Alps bike he was building

He was also about halfway through his 2nd bottle of wine when i got there

All the cables were routed and tightened up

The rear shifter didn’t feel right from the start – the feeling was just all wrong.

It turned out that the ‘pissed bike builder’ had routed the wrong shifters to each of the mechs 😀

My usual favorite is to set up my snowbord bindings the opposite way round.

A friend gave us some of the bulk load of innertubes he’s bought from CRC and we greatfully stashed them in out camelbaks for about 3 months without checking that they weren’t actually 24″

I was the fellow STW’er in Bolton Jon’s story above ^^^^^ and it was only a bottle and a quarter, do you think i’m some kind of drunkkk….hic!

Laced a rear wheel up with a different hub that I’d just serviced. For the life of me couldn’t get the dish correct, much head scratching, umming and ahhing…eventually, and it did take a while, I realised I’d put the axle into the hub with the spacers all on the non-drive side! 😳 😯 🙄

I was shown photos of someone’s mate who took some brand new Lyriks to an Engineering shop (non bikers) and asked for them to lop an inch off the top of the steerer.

They came back with an inch long steerer…

Not quite a ‘set up’ issue – First ride back after a broken collarbone, went with mates to Pirbright, back when the place was littered with massive gaps and high skinnies. Didn’t like the look of a steep roll in so held on to a tree and lowered my Kona down by the saddle. Let go of it for the last bit and the bike did what all bikes do when freefalling, span the fron wheel through 360deg, ripping both hoses out of my HS33’s!
Rode on for the rest of the day with no brakes and got my confidence back ASAP

scud – Member
I was the fellow STW’er in Bolton Jon’s story above ^^^^^ and it was only a bottle and a quarter, do you think i’m some kind of drunkkk….hic!

Scud – I tried so hard to keep your identity a secret!!

I had a mate install an inner tube with the presta valve nut, INSIDE the rim!! only to be discovered when he got a puncture and i changed his tube. thorn caused the puncture not the nut!!

Not really a setup issue, but went out on the bike a few weeks back and thought the ride was very harsh. Every 10 mins or so stopped and let more air out of the tyres but nothing made it better.

Not until I nearly got home did I realise that I had been riding for 1 1/2 hours with my suspension locked out front and rear. 🙄

My mate, the night before a big race: “I’d better fit the timing chip now, rather than just before the start when I’m stressed.” Result:

alanw2007 – Member

My mate, the night before a big race: “I’d better fit the timing chip now, rather than just before the start when I’m stressed.” Result:

Your mate lives in Tokyo?

You get timing chips in races these days?

I think you meant “Sportive”?

Your mate lives in Tokyo?

Yes and so do I.

You get timing chips in races these days?

For hillclimbs, yes you do. I know what I mean, thanks.