Home Mechanics – Dumbest thing you have done

[KWL]

@consularrider 138496 wrote:

… (now to go test out their overhaul of my disc brakes).

What?! Surely (Surly) not the new Pugsley’s disc brakes?

[KLizotte]

I overtightened the shifter cable so much that it snapped while I was riding. I don’t recall the exact location it snapped, I think up inside the hood, but I do know the LBS guy was not happy having to spend an hour fishing the pieces out with needle nosed pliers. He kept saying, “I’ve never seen this happen before! How did it happen?!” I finally had to tell him it was my fault and not a defective cable. Hangs head in shame.

[jrenaut]

@KLizotte 138608 wrote:

I overtightened the shifter cable so much that it snapped while I was riding. I don’t recall the exact location it snapped, I think up inside the hood, but I do know the LBS guy was not happy having to spend an hour fishing the pieces out with needle nosed pliers. He kept saying, “I’ve never seen this happen before! How did it happen?!” I finally had to tell him it was my fault and not a defective cable. Hangs head in shame.

This is not the dumbest thing you’ve ever done. I mean, I don’t want to comment on what dumb things you may or may not have done, but this is not dumb at all. When you make a mechanic say “I’ve never seen this happen before”, that means you win. In my computer science 101 class, my goal EVERY SINGLE DAY was to get an error message that made my professor say, “Huh, I’ve never seen that before”.

If the mechanic had looked at the bike for three seconds and said, “You over-tightened the shifter cable, huh?”, then this would be something dumb. But this. This! This was a mistake he’d never seen before. This deserves the ELITE tag.

[vvill]

I’ve also seen that photo on Sheldon Brown’s site. Yikes.

Stupidest is probably put in a wheel with a disc rotor that was too small and wonder why the brake wasn’t working probably, and squeezing it harder to see if it fixed the problem…

I still have a scar on my thumb from working (coincidentally) on my fixed gear – it was actually just from slipping on removing a threaded square taper BB. The tool slipped and sliced open my thumb at the nail bed. My nail has almost finally grown enough for the dent in my nail itself to be almost gone.

I’ve done lots of stupid stuff though most of it is just stuff like routing the chain back into the RD wrong, installing something while forgetting to do something else then having to un-install to do the something else and re-install, under tightening a crank arm so it falls off during a gravel ride, etc.

[Steve O]

@kcb203 138594 wrote:

Isn’t that how you clean your chain? Legendary bicycle guru Sheldon Brown recommended this method.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html

For best results, repeat weekly.

[consularrider]

@KWL 138603 wrote:

What?! Surely (Surly) not the new Pugsley’s disc brakes?

Nope the (only slightly) older Kona Rove with mechanical discs. It’s been having issues ever since getting shipped to Kyiv.

[huskerdont]

@baiskeli 138599 wrote:

Damn, I was gonna talk about the time I overpumped a tire at a gas station and it exploded, but you guys have got bloody puncture wounds. You win.

Well, if we’re talking tires, I think I must have exploded half a dozen tubes several years ago before I finally learned that you really do need to check to make sure the clincher has clinched all the way around on both sides. Funny thing to wake up in the middle of the night wondering what the explosion was, or to come down after work ready to go the eff home and find you had a blowout while you were working (and thankfully not while you were riding).

I really don’t know how I survived learning to work on my own bikes.

[Dickie]

@Vicegrip 138498 wrote:

Does it have to be about working on a bike? If not I got lots with gory pictures too. If so….

Perhaps we can have a non-bike-work-related-injury stand off…. Not sure who would win but it would be entertaining regardless. In terms of stupid bike mechanic maneuvers…. yep, that time I used a very large pipe over a crank removing tool…. just as I put my entire weight into it the tool snapped and I face planted onto the concrete floor….. funny now but not at the time.

[ShawnoftheDread]

I measured out a new chain, cut it, and then connected it without running it through the RD. Luckily it was sram and not shimano.

Another time I tried pulling off a square taper crank arm but didn’t notice that I’d left a washer in after removing the crank bolt. The crank puller stripped out the threads of the crank arm.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Harry Meatmotor]

yeeesh! too many stories of “punching chainrings” here so far!!!

So, as a public service announcement, here’s a tip:

When working on anything crank-related, e.g., tightening/loosening chainring bolts, pedals, crankarm bolts, etc., take a trusty toe-strap and wrap it twice around a single crank arm and the chainstay. It also helps to shift the bike into the big chainring to keep those tetanus-teeth from poking holes in soft skin.

To add to the yeeeeesh-inducing wince fest, tho: quite a while back, I was working on a customers bike, removing the non-drive side pedal. I was leaning in between the bike and the repair stand, pulling upward on the pedal wrench when it slipped. The back of my head caught the square, pointy part of the clamp that allows the jaws to rotate. I thought I had just whacked my head pretty good, but continued to remove the pedal. Only after walking away from the customer after completing our transaction did he say, “uh, buddy, you’re bleeding everywhere…”

[dkel]

I think I read somewhere that you’re not supposed to use your bodyweight to operate a tool, for the reason that @Dickie demonstrated. Then again, maybe you’re not supposed to pull up on a tool either, for the reason @Harry demonstrated. I guess when something goes wrong with the bike, you just have to buy a new one.

[consularrider]

@dkel 138642 wrote:

I think I read somewhere that you’re not supposed to use your bodyweight to operate a tool, for the reason that @Dickie demonstrated. Then again, maybe you’re not supposed to pull up on a tool either, for the reason @Harry demonstrated. I guess when something goes wrong with the bike, you just have to buy a new one.

Even if something doesn’t go wrong with the bike you have to by a new one. Rule #12 :rolleyes:

[jabberwocky]

Really, all you have to do is think for a second about whats gonna happen/where your hand/body/etc is gonna go if the tool slips when really cranking on something. Most of the time its possible to orient a tool in a way that if it suddenly breaks free your hand just shoots off into space and doesn’t slam into anything pointy.

Its something you learn very quickly woodworking, at least if you want to keep all your fingers.

[Steve O]

@jabberwocky 138648 wrote:

Really, all you have to do is think for a second …

And that’s where it all starts to go wrong.

[vern]

@ShawnoftheDread 138632 wrote:

I measured out a new chain, cut it, and then connected it without running it through the RD. Luckily it was sram and not shimano.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sadly, I have completed that chain maneuver more than once.

[Author]

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