Bicycle Mechanics - What Was Their Excuse??

I lent my ROAD BIKE to my brother for an hour, who is an avid DOWNHILL MOUNTAIN BIKE rider. When i get it back i notice the right shift lever wont shift properly, there is a huge buckle in the rear wheel, one spoke was broken and a bunch were loose.

His excuse was " he didnt notice, the only time he thought something happened was when he was climbing the stairs with the bike to get to our third floor apartment and he hit the back wheel off the wall as he turned to go up the next flight of stairs"


oh my god, does he think I'm a total idiot? , i reckon he was bunny hoppin up curbs and packed the hell out of the rear wheel, as for the RD , i think he was stupid ,careless and smacked it off a wall or something.

Im just curious as to who in the forum has heard other LAME ASS EXCUSES.
I would love to hear them , so i know im not alone.

Best one I've heard:

"I didn't think my brother, the DH MTBer, would abuse my road bike."

Sorry man, just poking fun. Having never lent a bike to anyone since I was about 5 (many, many moons ago) I can't share the experience.

Manufacturer's frequently see what they call "JRA Failures". The customer tells them, "I was 'just riding along' when the (fill in the blank) broke."

Live and learn.

Bigger brother or smaller brother?

When someone wants to borrow a very personal item (bike, golf clubs, etc), I like the reply, "Sure. And can I borrow your wallet." When I was an avid golfer I used to keep a loaner set for people who asked. It routinely returned with things missing or broken.

Space aliens, yea, thats it. Space aliens came down and starting trashing the bike.

If you bend it, you mend it.

Even if he was bunnyhopping and riding curbs, he shouldn't have trashed the rear wheel. I bunnyhop and take curbs with my roadbike all the time and haven't trashed my wheels. He either did something worst or doesn't have much finesse on the bike.

khuon are you using wheels of steel? I hit of potholes once at a bit of speed (my fault, traffic caught up, no where to go) and it buckled, broke a drive side spoke on my rear wheel.

Sorry, nah i dont lend my bike/cds/music instruments to anyone. I already break enough stuff without another jerk breaking it

khuon are you using wheels of steel?

Hardly. But knowing how to properly hop a bike will help to reduce the impact and prevent rim failures. Bunnyhopping will actually prevent damage as opposed to hitting a pothole squarely.

Am I to understand that he thinks he can just toss yer bike back in the apartment and call it a day? No sorry, let me know what the bill comes to? Nuthin'? Has he even asked how much damage he did? As an avid downhiller he simply cannot be ingnorant about the cost of a stunt like this. I'd bet the farm that if you trashed his bike he'd be looking for you to pay up. And even more disturbing is the fact that he's willing to look you in the face and lie about how it happened. Like that should make any difference.

DanO

This just reinforces my descision long ago to never lend my bikes out.

Yep. Don't lend out your bike unless you can completely trust the person you're lending it to, or you have them in your sight the entire time. I have no problem with lending my bicycles to my roommate. But I loaned my brother my bicycle once so he could get down the hill from our house to a painting job. When I got it back, the levers were all twisted around on the bars, and it was in some strange, cross-over gear combination, between gears (friction shifters). He had loaned it to his boss so he could ride back to his house quickly and get something :rolleyes:. I learned two things: one, make it perfectly clear that my brother is never to loan my things to someone else without permission, no matter who's asking, and two, don't let my brother borrow my bike.

That holds true for anyone else, too. You wouldn't loan your car out on a whim. Don't do it with a bike, either.

The only people I will lend any bike to are my son and son-in-law. They are experienced and expert riders so i know they can be trusted. No one else unless I'm looking for an excuse to replace the bike.

Even if he was bunnyhopping and riding curbs, he shouldn't have trashed the rear wheel. I bunnyhop and take curbs with my roadbike all the time and haven't trashed my wheels. He either did something worst or doesn't have much finesse on the bike.


Yeah, but it looks like you bent the seat tube on your Aegis...

;)

Yeah, but it looks like you bent the seat tube on your Aegis...

;)

It's like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It's meant to be that way. :D

I don't know what kind of space you have toomyus, but we keep an old Trek 800 that we loan to relatives, freinds etc. If they break it, who cares. As for our other bikes, they can watch us ride them.

It's like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It's meant to be that way. :D

Good one!

:lol:

This just reinforces my descision long ago to never lend my bikes out.

+1. Bikes are like wives.