Saved from Mechanical Incompetence!

[Tootyred]

Every day is a skool day...and there is nothing wrong with that. I try to learn something everyday....even if its just reading a book.......apparently helps keep the brain in good health.

But to some, mechanical Incompetence seems to be the norm.....

So im just wondering what's your best mechanical Incompetence save?

You know, chucked out for being "broken" when its actually fine or just put together "so wrong" it unbelievable, disguarded as scrap or working but not sure how....

Ive just been presented with a classic example of just this......which im kinda pissed and amused about in equal measure......pissed as it just about sums up my issues with the modern world, training, apathy and a throw away culture.....and funny....well its just so stupid it has to be.

Mate turns up with a pair of wheels....." rear....its knackered, hubs gone, do you want it for parts"....." ok" i say whats wrong with it?".

Transpires absolutely nothing, apparently the non drive cones keep coming loose and had been "Adjusted" by a well know retailer.......then kept coming loose every 30 or so miles.

" Its just done it again, shop says the hubs knackered and i need a new wheels., but they havent got anything good as its 26"

FFS! Had they not noticed the 2mm of spindle on the drive side and the now 8mm on the non.....? No....apparently not. Had they not noticed the drive side cones hidden in the freehub were only finger tight at best! No.....is the short answer.

So having taken the spindle out, respaced it, tightend the DRIVE SIDE CONES first and then the non dive.....its all fixed.

Well thats saved a perfect set of xt m750 hubs and a pair of 221 mavics from the bin!

What's you best save?

 

[davecara]

I manged to intervene and stop this going to a bunch of young cadets for mtb skills training. The 'professional' from a well known retailer said it was ready to go. I'm rerouting the front brake cable after work today

 

[novocaine]

wheels related

" these wheels are garbage, they get full of muck on the drive side and seize up, I've had them in the shop 5 times for new bearings, it's costing me a fortune"

take the 2 seals out the non drive side and put one in the drive side and they have never had a problem again.

I've had brake pads in backwards (disc), QR's turned to tighten, the typical forks on backwards and I'm sure many others in the world of bikes over the years.

 

[Dr Dremel]

Last facepalms on a bike I bought:
7spd freewheel combined with 6spd shifters (obviously terrible shifts) and an added nut to the driveside spindle stub to compensate for the wider freewheel. Hubspacing therefore 137mm in a 130mm frame. Spindle now too narrow for axle nuts, heyho just remove the washers so the nuts can eat into the dropouts. I WONDER WHY THE HANDLEBARS MOVE EVERYTIME I BRAKE HARD? SOD IT LET´S CLAMP IT DOWN EVEN HARDER. (Stem had swarf trapped from thread cutting 36 years ago, never removed.)

BECAUSE I´M A PROBLEM SOLVER

 

[Carge]

Echo the the gear "issue" above - I recently got a high end mid-nineties hardtail that had a a 9 speed cassette and 8 speed shifter.

It also had a "professional headtube repair" - a jubilee clip
It is currently being properly repaired by a proper expert

 

[Bcxbcx]

I regularly buy modern forks and hydraulic brakes, service them and sell them on for a tidy profit. It's not hard to do, but a faf for most people and the part will be considered "spares or repair".

 

[Splatter Paint]

I bought a lawnmower advertised as ‘for parts only / broken’. I got it home, put petrol in it… it started first pull!

 

[novocaine]

I bought a lawnmower advertised as ‘for parts only / broken’. I got it home, put petrol in it… it started first pull!

Ohhhhh I got one like thar.

I bought a Honda c50 (granny bathroom blue) for 50 quid because it wouldn't run.
Nope, because it isnt 2 stroke and you need to occasionally put oil in the sump.

Say what you want about wd40 but it freed it up nicely. Bung in fresh oil and it ran for 15 years before i let my sister use it after her crazy expensive scooter got nicked. She crashed it more times than it deserved and I wound up selling it on to a guy who wanted to rat it. Wish I hadn't now, but times were different then.

 

[legrandefromage]

When I was in the bike trade many moons ago, the worst was a brand new set of XTR pedals forced onto the equally brand new XTR cranks by the customer because he was angry - backwards - crossthreaded all the way to the nubbin

 

[Siish]

My 1985 gsx 550 had had the street fighter approach done to it, the person who I bought it off kept complaining the chain always come off,. Didn't seem to sink in that by raising the swing arm the distance between sprockets reduced