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Worst Home Bike Maintenance Screw Up?


HarryBradbury

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Was speaking to a friend the other day about his new cranks he had ordered for his BMX. He'd been waiting for around a week and was so excited to get them on, so when they finally arrived he took them out of the box, put them on the spindle and found his bolts weren't long enough to pull them on. In this situation all you would do is find the long bold which is included in the package to pull the crank arm onto the spindle, but apparently there wasn't one in there, so after two hours of searching around town for a bolt to pull this crank arm on we gave up and he went home. Next day he rang me up and said he'd tried to hit them on with a hammer and now they wouldn't come off and he needed to borrow my crank extractor tool, so I took them off for him. After having a look at them we decided to take them to the local bike shop to get them to do the job, but unsurprisingly they told us the cranks were f****ed. So feeling rather annoyed we both went home again. That afternoon he rang me up again and said he'd found the bolt which we had needed all along to pull the crank arms on at the bottom of the box in a discreetly hidden black bag, and that he'd put the crank arms onto the spindle, put the bolt in, started tightening the bolt until it eventually got too tight and rounded off the bolt. So, now he had the drive side crank stuck on unbelievably tight with the bolt rounded off with no easy way to remove it. In the end it had to be angle-grinded off, leaving the crank un-returnable and half ground off, £80 out of pocket.

If anyone can beat that I'll be surprised!

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A friend of mine was cutting some bars down. He cut an inch off one side, then span his bars round so he could cut the other side. Before he could cut away on that side he got distracted and had to go sort something out. He came back, cut away and was about to put his grips back on when he realised he'd cut the same side, twice.

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In fairness gruff it was summer and you was desperate...

Blew up a spanking new BB7 on the second day of owning it because I didn't bother reading the instructions.

Yeeaah, BB7's are different, and the rotor has to be set up to the left of central in the caliper. I set it up dead center 'cos I knew what i'm doing', the bit the cable arm moves between it and the pad pooped out during a pedalup to front wheel, locked the front wheel solid & chucked me OTB off a stack of pallets onto me head. Then for insult I had to walk home :angry:

Had to send out a distress signal to fix that one. Gaz ^ used his skills with a 4lb hammer and bashed it back in :D

5 years later it still works perfectly and is sat on my inspired. BB7's are such good brakes.

Edited by CC12345678910
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Mate of mine pissed in a bottle on a ride to bleed his brake as he could be arsed to go to a shop to buy one

I know North Yorkshire has a reputation for being a bit grim to those down south, but I'd no idea you could actually buy bottled piss up there!

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cleaning my muddy xc bike with a dry sponge to make sure I do not damage any bearings

f**ks up my rear brake for no actual reason

try to fix the rear brake

unscrew the wrong bolt

oil everywere...

Nice one. Not quite as bad as washing your xc bike with a powerwasher for two months (oblivious to the damage it would cause) to then find out both hubs, bottom bracket and headset need new bearings!

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When I got my first bike (Onza rip) I crossed threaded both of the pedals onto the cranks rendering it useless for several months until I could get new cranks.

I understand one side but two?! I never understand how people manage this.

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I know of two people that have put left in right and vice versa, one was pedals even though V8s are marked L and R :w00t: and the other did it with a BB into a brand new frame (oh dearry me) and had to get it tapped to save the frame.

If it dont go, dont force it... :-

Doesn't work for anal.

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