Pops1959

When I was about 12 years old I decided that my Schwinn Stingray would be cooler if it had a drag chute on it. So I borrowed one of my mothers sheets, tied kite string to corners, tied the strings to my bike, and off I went. I rolled and folded it up and sat on it with the idea that when I wanted to deploy it I would just lean forward. It worked like a charm! No stopping ability, of course, but it sure looked cool! I did maybe 8 deployments before that got old. When I removed the sheet and took a good hard look at it... Oh man... I knew my name was about to be legally changed to mud. But wait! I could put it in trash and play dumb! Okay, how was I to know my dad would look in the trash can? There were three things I did not do for some time after that; Ride my bike, sit down comfortably, and get an allowance.

RoadRider4321

I'd like to thank all of you who responded my to my "dumb things" thread. Some of your postings are VERY interesting while some are rather humorous! Please keep them coming! lol

GSJon

This happened when I was in 4th or 5th grade in the mid 70's.

There were a number of houses on the corners in our neighborhood that had chains or the like running down the yard to stop people from taking a shortcut across their yard ... do you know where this is going? So one day my friends and I were out on our Schwinn's riding around and I decided to go and jump over one of those nice chains. Well, the front wheel made it over nice and clean but the back wheel did not and clipped that free flowing chain across the yard and send me tumbling heels over head. Then wham right down into the ground. Some how or another I ended up jarring my head/chin enough to see blood everywhere on my face when I stood up.

Going back home my mother cleaned me up and took me to the ER. Some how or another I either bit my chin just below my lips or it hit the bike or whatever. I ended up with several stitches and still have the scar there to show for my bravado.

And no, nobody every tried doing that again. Until my little brother did about five years later with a BMX bike and successfully made it over he claims!

Jon

BigWil

My older brother tied a 30' rope to his bike, and towed me around on my bike. I was in 1st Grade at the time, and he could go a lot faster than I could. I got scared, and asked him to stop. He stopped his bike, and I didn't have brakes on my bike...I was scared to put my feet down to use my feet to slow down. I hit the end of the rope, and the bike got jerked out from under me. Landed hard on the gravel, skinned my right ankle, right knee, both elbows (right took the most damage) and my face. Being 6 years old and having gravel picked out of the scrapes isn't fun at all.


To this day I wish we had video, because it would have been an epic fail video.

rubiconazoid

After watching a few jumps of Evel Knievel back in the 70's I just knew that I could do something similar on a smaller scale.There was a ditch about 3 feet wide and about 3 feet deep in my side yard with an open pasture on the other side. I knew I could clear that ditch no problem. All I needed were 2 key things - speed and lift. The speed was going to come from pedaling fast, and the lift was going to come from me somehow jerking myself into the air. I had no ramp whatsoever, the ground was flat on both side of the ditch.

I guess I was probably going about 15mph when I approached the ditch and somehow I did not get the lift I was counting on. The front tire dropped down into the ditch and I slid between and over the handlebars into a trajectory that landed me chest first with a mouthful of grass and dirt. That grass and dirt really got in the way as I was trying to catch any breath I could get in the next 3 minutes.

I busted my lip bad and until I fell off some scaffolding several years back, it was the worst I had ever knocked the breath out of myself in memory.

justtrying

About 17 years ago I was 47 and not cycling whatsoever at that time. My 2 boys who wre7&4 at the time wanted to know how to use the Fisher-Pricebike ramp that they used for their scooters they wanted to use their bikes.So this middle- aged dummy gets his Mongoose Threshold out the garage goes on the sidewalk and starts to try to use the ramp. I hit the ramp,weight too far forward and launch my self over the bars then onto the sidewalk. Nine hrs later I am home from the ER with 2 broken ribs,road rash galore and I am out of work for 2 weeks. I just started seeing a Dr. who happened to be a personal friend,,he was trying to be professional about the whole situation and I finally said I say what your thinking. First words out of his mouth was what a dumbass move. We both laughed because it was true.

AlexCyclistRoch

THIS has to be the dumbest thing anybody has ever done to a bike:

kickstart

I'll exclude the dumb things I did as a kid as they're expected.
The dumbest thing I did as an adult was deciding to do a quick test ride, just in front of the house, on a bike I was building before I installed the brakes....those small inclines on the driveway and road add up quick....I was out of control and in the ditch just like that.

justtrying

That's not a dumb story that's a great story of kids being kids. You. Guys were resourceful and were typical kids

SPiN 360

Back around 1999, I was a teenager and my parents bought me this $100 hardware store MTB for me to ride around on. It served its purpose of getting me around the neighbourhood and to/from piano lessons. But neither I nor my family knew anything about bikes, and this thing got exactly zero maintenance, as is typical with most cheap bicycles purchased. I rode it for some years and it was eventually stashed away in my parents' garage.

Fast forward to 2009, I was an adult and somehow felt that cycling itch again. I got the old bike from my parents. I called some mobile mechanic and paid him about $80 for a tuneup and new tires/tubes. Immediately thereafter, I went riding. I felt free, amazing, that old feeling was back again! And the chain broke within 5 minutes.

I e-mailed the mechanic again and he didn't want anything to do with me, claiming it could cost over $100 for another chain depending on the speed. In retrospect, he knew about how old chains will irreversibly wear out the cassette's gears, so a new chain will never fit. And I was ignorant about that.

So I went to some other LBS and they charged $45 for a new chain install. Well the new chain install went fine, and I rode that bike all Summer. That bike was in really poor repair, wouldn't stay in gear, and even at one point, the handlebar came off while I was riding!

In retrospect, it was pretty stupid to try to put any money into an old $100 MTB that had never been maintained. I should have saved the money and either bought another cheap Costco bike or a used bike from CraigsList, etc. Today, that's all behind me, as you can see what bike is shown there under my name on the left-hand side.

yadder

Tale my frien Ivan. When Ivan have 12y.o he ride on bike from mount very fast. And he think what happen if he fast rotate bar on 180 degree. He doing that....... well he lived after that because drop in small shrubs. This is story

Ilbiker

Originally growing up in the New Orleans, mosquitoes were a way of life and so were the fogging trucks. Every kid in the neighborhood knew the sound of that truck. It was a ritual to ride behind it for as long as you could, basically until you could not breathe any more. God only knows how many times I did this. It's a wonder I have any brain cells left.

hueyhoolihan

ummm... bought a '94 Cannondale hybrid with twist grips?

Solidjake

When I was 14 I was standing up on my bmx bike passing by my friends, I slipped off the pedal and bashed my nuts into the top tube.

Currmudge

In the 70's, while I still had my stingray, I was riding home from a local ice cream drive-in, riding no-hands and RELISHING one of the best coneys made...

Cars don't move when a bike hits them in the rear.....but coney sauce does! I WAS lucky enough to not take a nad shot that day.

In '09, I stupidly chose not to turn around and detour past a section of road that was glare ice. It's not nice to feel AND HEAR your ankle snap while trying to catch a slide out.

Phil_gretz

I sold a 1977 Centurion Semi Professional in 2016 for ~$430 (can't recall) and I really didn't need the money.

bikeboy100

When I was a boy I was riding my mom's 1966 Western Flyer boy's bike (don't know why she had a boy's bike) and I decided to see what happens if you close your eyes while riding said bike. I found out that you end up in a ditch with a 50# bike nearly not missing you! I did not do that again! I now own that bike, have restored it and it sparked my interest in this hobby.

Semipedersen

Not sure that it really fits in here but I felt so stupid afterwards that I will post it. I was cycling with my courier style bag and suddenly had a huge pain in my heart area. I thought I am having a heart attack. Sat down removed the courier bag and realized that a wasp was caught under the strap and stung me right above my heart.

Tape2012

I was changing a flat a few years ago while carrying on a conversation with a couple friends who stopped to keep me company. Forgot to bleed the remaining CO2 from the canister before I unthreaded it from the inflator. The sensation is very similar to a firecracker going off in your hands. Also destroyed the inflator, sending parts flying. Once everyone picked themselves up off the ground, it was pretty funny.

garciawork

Been reading through, trying to come up with one from my youth, and finally did. I had a Redline BMX bike, but never did BMX or tricks or anything. My older cousin did, however, and told me I needed to lower my seat all the way down, because it makes you faster... (kid logic). Anywho, we ride a couple miles to a grocery store for candy or something, I am still getting used to the new seat position. We are leaving, hop on our bikes, I stand up to pedal, get going, and go to sit down and... forget my seat is lower. Ass goes straight past where my seat used to be and continues to the ground, in a parking lot, full of people. Ouch...

My best example of modern day stupidity was getting back on the bike and riding another run at a local ski (bike in the summer) resort after a pretty good fall. Ended up... kinda drifting off some singletrack and going down again, on the same shoulder I had already messed up. Learned to things, if you hurt yourself, just stop, and I am not a fan of taking al ift up and riding down. I prefer climbing, less to go wrong.

gsa103

I've done the related fail. Forgetting to close the valve on the inflator before threading on the cartridge. Entire cartridge empties in about 2 sec, while freezing so cold that you can't close it. And then you get to hope the back-up works...

DomaneS5

I feel your pain.

I sometimes forget my gloves when I ride my road bike. My bar tape is thick enough to absorb a lot of road noise, but I get really annoyed at myself for remembering everything but gloves.

locolobo13 

When I was 19 some of us kids were trying to do jumps in a quarry pit. We were on 10 spds. The pit was about 20ft deep at this end. With a nice 5 ft mound near the down chute to jump from.

I was doing better than the other kids but I kept landing on my front tire. We all agreed I needed more speed. So I pedaled hard down the slope. I also decided to lean forward so I could pull harder on the handlebars. It never occurred to me to lean back.

Everything was going fine. Until things weren't. My bike started spinning forward. Instead of leaning back I leaned forward to get a better grip on the handlebars.

Next thing I know I'm laying flat on my back thinking I'm in bed waking up. The sun sure was bright, my bed sure was dirty.. Then I realized. As I sat up the others came riding up. They didn't even realize I was out.

The damage wasn't too bad considering. Patch of skin the size of a silver dollar on my right shoulder was missing. My right ear was abraded. But my shoulder and arm took the brunt of it. My whole body was stiff and sore for a week. I gave up jumping my bike after that.

loxx0050

I've enjoyed reading these stories.

There are a few stupid things from my childhood but the one that jumps out at me is the time when I was 4 (or was it 5) years old and decided to go down a steep hill on my big wheel. Yes, that 3 wheeled, plastic wheeled set of awesomeness where the brakes are to stop the front pedals connected to that big front wheel. Well my legs couldn't keep up with the pedals going that fast downhill and so I took them off and somehow I made it without crashing or getting run over by a car. It was super fun at first then scary.

I do recall a time where I was a couple of miles from home with a bloody ass (literally), a broken seat tube and the chain/pedals really hard to turn all by lonesome self (coming home after hanging out with buddies). Not sure what happened as I can't recall what led up to that moment just only the aftermath. Can't even remember when/how I got home even. My guess now that I think about it is my seat tube broke, it impaled my ass and I crashed (bending something making it hard to pedal). Probably hit my head considering I can't recall it exactly (there wasn't an other signs of bruising so I don't think I got hit by a car....wheels weren't bent). I can only remember having to pedal home standing up the whole time going really slowly due to the damage to the bike in pain. I was in 2nd grade at the time back in the day where you could go off and do whatever as long as you returned in time for dinner or before it was dark.

endcapz

When adjusting my Giant TCR Advanced SL road bike fit, you have to cut the seat mast to the proper saddle height. It was running Shimano Di2 with the internal battery mounted in the seat mast of the frame. I was smart enough to remove the battery before sawing the frame down. I did, however, forget to tuck the wire away and I cut right through it. Had to pull the crank and bottom bracket, purchase a new wire, and reinstall to get my seat height dialed in.