SJX426 

Forgive me if this has already been started. I didn't bother to do a search!
On the most recent Tubular thread discussion, there was a story about gluing tubulars and how the glue went everywhere. I am sure there are other great stories about challenges you have faced that are distributed throughout the forum. Think about your and share!

I expect stuck seat posts and stems along with gluing tubulars, what other challenges have you faced?

I am contemplating how to address a broken at both ends axle location screw in a Pinarello after many attempts to use all kinds of penetrating oils and heat. It still broke off. Since the frame is being painted, I am procrastinating in resolving the challenge.

If you share your challenge, tell us how you addressed it!

sloar 

I had to cut out a beautiful cinelli stem out of a beautiful De Rosa once. The bike was in great condition and just sat untouched for to long. I tried everything prior to cutting with no luck. I was shaking the whole time I was cutting. End result was fine and the seller actually sent another stem with the bike. He told me it was stuck when I bought it, but I was thinking, no problem I can can get it plus I'll have an extra Cinelli stem.

oddjob2

Hands down, it has to be seatposts. A Santana tandem and Peugeot PKN10 are giving me fits.

Cotter pins on cranks have to be a close #2 .

jimmuller 

What, pray tell, is an axle location screw? My axles are usually held in place by bearing cones and I can locate them just by looking at the hubs. Never missed one yet, never lost one either once the hub was assembled.

My most frustrating experience in the sense of it taking one iteration after another to make things work would be assembling the drive train of the tandem, especially the BB spindles. Come to think of it, a few other BB's have required more than one iteration too.

SJX426 

Drop out screw that locates the axle in the DO slot. The screw with the Knob on the end of it protruding out of the DO.
[IMG]P9201306 by superissimo_83, on Flickr[/IMG]

icepick_trotsky 

Finding a 23mm crank puller for a TA crank was a real pain. Everyone seems to be hoarding theirs for the apocalypse since no one seems to manufacture them anymore. Ebay prices are outrageous. When I found one in a pile of old junk at a swap meet for $5, it was one of the happiest bike-related days of my life.

Pars 

Rebuilding a friend's MTB/sorta cross-bike for him, I could not get the drive side crank arm off. Threads stripped the first time I tried. The BB was a Shimano cartridge cheapie (OEM) that used a plastic cup on the driveside , so I couldn't effectively pry it, even with some large washers that I cut out to fit over the spindle put it. I also tried chuck wedges to no avail.

Since the BB felt OK, I just left it. If the BB goes bad, I guess it is cutting time. I have a pair of newer crank arms for it.

Guerc 

Too tight rear triangle. A 25mm tire rubs the seat tube, and a 23mm tire rubbed against the derailleur clamp. I also found that many of my wheels have 1mm hops, imperceptible on the road, but enough to cause the tire to hang up in a particular spot.

I had just sent the bike for frame work and paint, and it would have been easy to add a braze on hanger if I had realized it. Instead I spent months testing and modifying different tire and clamp combos until I found a paper thin carbon fiber hanger ($$$) and 22mm tire that worked.

turns out that 19mm tires don't exist anymore except as high dollar race tubies. With my weight those would have been pinch flat city.

mrv 

stripped threads in a Shimano 600 tri-colour crank arm. i couldn't pull the crank arm off the spindle. it was a long time ago, so i can't recall if i was just determined to change the BB, or if it was really bad.
i ended up taking a hack saw to the crank arm to remove it.

ppg677

I was just finishing up a new bike build. You know how you often hop on it to get a feel before fine-tuning? Well I guess I do. And I let a friend hop on it too. But he rode off down the street and then threw the derailleur/chain into the rear wheel spokes and broke half of them. Yes, my fault but I guess I wasn't expecting him to yank on the shift levers.

That and stuck seatposts. Last winter I fought with a stuck seatpost for a long time. I eventually got it out but I think the frame is out of alignment now from all the twisting/torquing.

SJX426 

Well with tubies, high or low cost, you won't experience pinch flats unless you are way underinflated.

YouthxCrew

Recabling a Raleigh. I went through 4 cables doing the rear brake, nothing I did could keep the cable from fraying into all it's individual strands the very second it was cut to length. I finally got the cable in and then the holder for the straddle wire (CLB center pulls) wouldn't hold the cable. It would tighten down, but the minute you pulled the lever the cable would slip out. Moving it up and down the cable was no help, it only would hold at one spot that was too loose to actually brake effectively.

I still don't have a functioning rear brake on that bike.

Last year I dealt with a Schwinn with a Schwinn-sized steerer tube that I could'nt get the stem into. A 22.2 was far too large, the 833 stem I had was too large as well. After sanding the locknut and searching for answers, out of frustration I put the locknut from a pitted Tange headset on and the stem went in fine. Apparently I needed to NOT use the original locknut, even though it was ostensibly made for that particular stem and headset.

DMC707

Something i am dealing with on a old MArin "Team Edition" mountain bike ----- bike is a 1995 model and i have owned it since new , --- but while installing a new cartridge bottom bracket , i got it more than 3/4 of the way into the bottom bracket housing when it came to a full stop ----- (threads boogered up inside i think )

I believe im going to pull the B/B and pray 1/2 the threads dont come out with it

Frame is Tange PRestige and the bike was a 23 pound full rigid masterpiece when new --- (in the pre carbon era, that was sinfully light for a steel bike) --- So i am trying to save this thing for use as a "buddy bike" ,


The victim

calamarichris

Had an annoying creak in my Dura Ace 7800 outboard bottom bracket, so I removed it and reinstalled it with teflon tape. Still creaked, so I ordered a new bottom bracket and just put up with the creak while waiting for it to arrive. Installed that, and it still creaked.
So I asked my friend to use my mechanic's stethoscope and listen to which side it was coming from while I rode my rollers. He was listening all over the frame down there, and concluded it was coming from my rear axle. MY REAR QUICK RELEASE WAS LOOSE. I tightened that, and the creak went away.

Ah well, live and learn. At least I have a spare bottom bracket now. We had a good laugh, and I went out for a ride.
And just as I was bombing down a 40+mph hill, veering to the left hand turn-lane with a pack of cars coming up behind me fast, I start to hear the damn creak again! I make it through the intersection without inconveniencing anyone, and when I pull over to tighten the quick release again I notice something seemed a little off on my alu-carbon Felt:

DMC707

Thats a pretty goud Ouchy there ---- i hope Felt will help you out a little on that

squirtdad

On personal bike......stuck seat post as documented here https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...c-victory.html


on non personal bike...trying to get a neighbor's/relatives/friends big box BSO working right...... the quality of everything is low

noglider 

I started wrenching on my own bike in 1975. I got my first bike shop job in 1978. Having worked on thousands of customers' bikes, I can't remember most of the jobs. I can't even remember the most frustrating jobs, but I agree with @oddjob2 that cotter pins and seatposts rank up there.

Sixty Fiver

JA Stein Crank Puller for classic Stronglight or TA Cranks

ldmataya 

Internally routed cables, before they got better at building internally routed cable guides. When the little guide flange that would be spot welded in a top tube would get loose or come off, you had to really work to get your guide cable to fish through and even then you sometimes couldn't pull the housing through because it would keep hanging up on something invisible. Then early carbon TT bikes started to run internal cables by actually manufacturing with the housing already strung internally, then leaving a bit sticking out at each end. If you lost one of those ends....

SJX426 

I can't remember when I started wrenching but it must have been around 1957 on my first bike. Use to take everything off and then load it up. I think it was a Murray with the "Tank" that housed lights and horn. It was stolen when it was fully loaded. I guess that is better than having parts left to be reminded! In the early years the frustration was related to learning to wrench. Way too many stripped threads on soft shafts and nuts.

calamarichris

They replaced it free of charge, and the replacement frame has much beefier chainstays. But these modern bikes are pretty cheesey (as is evident in the above photos.) There is a stray scrap of aluminium or something inside the new/replacement frame and it tinkles around inside the downtube on bumpy roads and whenever I flip the bike over. The bottom bracket shell and front tubes don't have access holes to that tube, so I can't fish it out. This Felt is pretty much the reason I'm a C&V aficionado. Doubtful I'll ever buy one of these disposabikes ever again.

And then my gf (with her shoe) put an ugly crease in the top tube of her modern steel Colnago Superlight (one of these steel frames that's similar in weight to modern carbon bikes) and Colnago doesn't even offer the same no-questions-asked replacement policy that carbon mfrs offer! The steel on that top tube is only .3mm thick--pretty much a heavy-duty tinfoil.

fietsbob

Read through some of the Many stuck quill stem and seatpost Threads In this Forum?.

basqueonacaad

Bikes have never really caused me any problems...for me it is finding the damn tool that I am looking for......I'm not the best at remembering where I put it last....jobs which might take ten minutes take me a half hour with the added 20 minutes of "where did I place that damn ___________!

SJX426 

I have excellent memory, its just very short. It is getting shorter with years, can't figure out the mathematical relationship of memory length to years.

Flying Merkel

I found a Nishiki hybrid in the alley. Decided to fix it up for quick sale. Everything was worn. Ball bearings were cracked, the stem was cracked, the brakes crumbled when I pulled them off. The rims were trashed. Should have just stripped it and tossed the broken bits. Lost money on that roach.

[IMG][/IMG]

Paid $15 for a KHS low end MTB. Nothing worked. Spent too much time and money to make about $10. Awful bike, sold it to a jerk who deserved it. I've finally learned about polishing turds.

[IMG][/IMG]

Got a stuck L/H cotter on a Peugeot mixte in progress. Worked around it.