Bike Maintenance mishaps.

[Corblimeyguv]

Many years ago I was massively into building bikes and selling them to friends/family.

I bought and sold loads.

This, inevitibly led to the odd mishap.
I used to test-ride everything and the worst crash I had involved me riding down to the local park, which had a ramped access with the old style rocking horse at the bottom.
As I steamed down the ramp the horse was full of kids, they saw me hurtling towards them but were not concerned. This changed when I steered to go to the left, the handlebars moved but the front wheel kept it's straight-ahead trajectory.
A look of terror on their faces matched my panicked actions and I smashed straight into the horse, with terrified kids fleeing for their lives.
I double-checked every nut and bolt on each build after that...once my injuries had healed :facepalm:

Please share your tales

 

[godders]

Re:

Very similar, had just finished putting a single speed together and took it for a rest ride on the South Downs, had only covered a couple of miles when.....well dont actually remember anything about it apart from waking up on the ground about 40mins later with a bloody face and dislodged clavicle stem I think had come loose and twisted, wrecked a pristine 717 rim as well
Mick

 

[mattr]

seen similar a couple of times in the early days of ahead stems. Forgetting to tighten the pinch bolt.

Once it came to light when i oiked the bike up onto its back wheel to roll it through the shop, front wheel, slowly and sadly dropped to one side, with a squeal of metal on metal.....

Second time was at the bottom of Woodhead pass, after 20+ miles of mixed on and off road, from Hudds over the tops, ending up at the top of Holme moss, then the ~50mph descent of Woodhead. Noticed the bars were crooked (slightly) while waiting for traffic on the main road, gave them a wiggle. Apparently the pinch bolt was only finger tight......


And more serious mishaps, i've taken bikes to bike shops (as a customer) before, rarely ends well.

 

[Corblimeyguv]

Re:

Had one today :facepalm:

Went out for a ride on my 90 Palisades. 'Clicking' noise from the rear mech area, as if the gears were out if sync.

Fiddled with the appropriate adjuster and carried on. Still there.

So, I stopped in a quiet spot, got off to have a look. Nothing obviously awry so adjusted the tension a bit more, got back on, went to move off...chain decides to split in a gentle fashion, unwound itself off the bike and promptly deposited itself onto the floor in a neat pile.

Thankfully no-one was about so I picked the chain up and took the walk of shame home