Drillium Dude 

Yikes! Although I don't know how well one side only would work. Either way, the potential for disaster...

I blame getting older and forgetful. Glad I caught it so I could become more of both

DD

gearbasher

My testicles just receded into my stomach reading that.

clubman 

Yeah that happens. But I got back on the bike and just kept going. Bought better bikes, got faster and like most of you, it became a life long passion. Good to get that one out of the way when I was younger and stoopider. Never jumped a curb on a road bike again and learned to do safety checks before my rides. Tough lesson.

mountaindave 

Fortunately I was able to continue getting older. I may have been saved by the Dura-style pad holders that use a retaining screw for the pads.

bobwysiwyg

Mine too, yipes!

Glennfordx4 

My latest, working on a F300 C-Dale MTB installing a set of Tektro CC canti brakes, I wanted to use the cable routing of a thru stem cable set up that the stem I installed had, but the cable stop on the U stay for the fork was in the way, so I proceeded to remove the U and cut off the factory cable stop. Now it didn't dawn on me what I had done and finished setting up the front brake and put the bike aside ( still not ridden yet ), the following week as I was wheeling the bike out of my shop I grabbed the front brake hard & instead of stopping the forks collapsed & the first thing I thought was wow these are some powerful brakes, then it hit me, you idiot I said aloud & started laughing. Now I need to figure out what model Rock Shox fork I have so I can at least try & find the correct U brace for it, or leave it & put a sticker on the front brake lever saying Pull to Eject.


Glenn
edit looks like it's a Rock Shox Quadra 5 lol

mountaindave 

Measure. I may have something for you.

Steve Whitlatch 

My biggest bone head move, buying a set of Mavic Cosmic Carbone wheels in mint condition with mint tires and HG cassette, in the wheel bags for a $100, finding out I could get $600 to $800 for them on eBay, then telling my riding buddy about them. Still made a small profit but I was crying all the way to the bank.

Edit: I was thinking about keeping them but I suffer from Carbonfiberphobia.

Drillium Dude 

I'd laugh/commiserate/whatever is appropriate but I just don't understand what happened here. Got a pic that might help?

Sorry, I don't know much about various MTB fork/brake setups, so that's affecting my comprehension in this scenario

DD

Roypercy

A few years ago my wife, admiring my vintage Motobecane, said she wanted a vintage mixte to replace her clunky Schwinn hybrid. I found a white Peugeot Carbolite 103 mixte that needed work but was cheap; told her I'd fix it up for her for a mother's day present.

So, the weekend before Mother's Day I get to work. The bike had seen some lousy revisions over the years. I added a "new" vintage set of Belleri bars and stem, period-correct Lyotard pedals, a nice lightweight alloy seatpost, near-mint Speedic leather saddle, new bar tape, new cables, and new chain (the old one was rusted and worn). I lubed, cleaned and polished everything and the bike, I have to say, looked great. Everything seemed to work fine on the stand. It was a Saturday and my wife was taking a nap, so I decided to take it for a short spin in our (sloping) driveway before I wake her up and present her with her new bike. Halfway down the driveway I reach for the brakes, and realize I forgot to tighten the handlebar clamp as the bars and brake levers take a dive toward the front wheel. Before I can figure out what to do I slam into a fence next to our garage. I break my impact with my right hand and my face. Dazed, I look down at my wife's shiny "new" vintage bike. My blood is covering the nice new white handlebar tape, and the frame has accordioned to the tune of about 30 degrees (surprisingly, the fork and front wheel are fine).

Fortunately, I was able to find her a much nicer Motobecane mixte a week later, and she had a good sense of humor about the whole misadventure.

Glennfordx4 

Thanks Dave, after I posted I went & found out what model the fork was and remembered picking one up years ago with a very short steerer tube, and sure enough I found it hiding behind my glass bead blasting cabinet, so I had the part the whole time. I could have had this bike finished a long time ago if I only remembered where I put that fork in the first place lol.

Glenn

mountaindave 

That is the only appropriate way to end a "bonehead" story.

Glennfordx4 

I will try with bad drawings,
With Cable stop, The cable housing goes from the lever to the stop on the U brace then when the lever is pulled the energy is transferred thru the housing to the stop which is bolted to the lower legs along with the brake arms and the energy now transfers from the yoke to the arms and brakes as normal.

Without Cable stop, so without the stop being on the U Brace and moved to the stem it changes the transfer point so as you pull the brake lever now it will pull the stem and fork tubes down towards the legs and the energy is lost to the brake arms, the harder you pull the lower the tubes now sink into the lower legs causing a endo if you were riding. I hope this helps, I can't draw with a pen let alone using my mouse in paint lol.

Drillium Dude 

Ah, now I see! I guess that means I'd have done the same "bonehead" move since I wasn't quite comprehending what had happened

Glad you got it all sorted - and thanks for the visual aids; they really did help!

DD

gearbasher

This really isn't that big of a bonehead move, but it was enough for me to give myself a slap on the forehead.

I replaced the chain and cleaned the cassette and chain rings on my Masi. On my second ride, I look down and see this:

noglider 

I made that mistake a couple of weeks ago. It's not that bad, but it makes me roll my eyes. I better fix it before I deploy that crank onto the next project.

himespau 

Clue me in. Is the peg supposed to go behind the arm?

squirtdad

Righty tighty, lefty loosey, except for the left pedal. Easy enough, especially if you take the pedals of with the crank on the bike.

But if you take the crank off and are having some spatial problems you get: damn the pedal is tight, let me add a cheater bar, huh what are those metal threads doing ********** oh *&*%(* left pedal.

crank wasn't ruined...but very close

gearbasher

Correct.

eschlwc

... and a standard or swiss bb fixed cup.

and what else? some square taper crankset threads?

exmechanic89

Wow, that would've seriously annoyed and depressed me, lol. What a mess! Sometimes lady luck just isnt there.

gearbasher

Self-extractor threads in C-Record crank arms.

Drillium Dude 

I made sure I will never, ever do this again by writing it down inside the lid of my toolbox

DD

echo victor 

Oh, this is fun. I have a feeling if put my mind to it, I could get the award for most contributions to this thread...

Yup, I built up a bike just recently, and I'd done the same. Bolts for the stem clamp were tight enough to test fit and ride around, but I forgot to go back and torque them properly. Had the same handlebar rotation issue at the foot of a hill. Thankfully, everything worked out fine... but I spent the rest of the ride pulling up on my bars whenever I wasn't braking.

Similar but different story here: was having a heck of a time removing a driveside crank arm, and stopped just short of stripping threads. Removed the puller and realized I'd grabbed a Nashbar crank puller that only has a 16.3mm tip instead of the 11.3mm tip needed for square taper cranks. Thankfully, all it did was leave a slight, round imprint in the inner wall of the crank arm centered around the square hole - the washer still seats just fine, so it's still good to go. Good thing that I'm apparently not strong enough to rip out the threads - this is a pretty decent Shimano 105 crank.

echo victor 

Oh, and a little while back I went to remove a rear rack from the bike that it came on, and I succeeded in completely rounding out the eyelet screw on the left side. I think someone else had tried with an incorrect Allen wrench previously, because I think it was already wearing out when I got to it, but I finished the job. I've come to believe based on the right side screw that it was a metric/Standard issue (combined with a lack of thread grease causing it to require more torque). Still trying to find a screw extractor strong enough to get this thing out. Pretty soon I might be asking a friend to see about welding a little bar to the end of the screw...