My bike is cursed...

[alasdairgf]

I don't believe it.

Inflated tyre to correct pressure (at garage) today. Cycled out of garage, got about 30m before BANG! Tube bursts dramatically, tyre comes off rim, bike swerves left, pedal slips, spins round & catches me in calf (now I'm bleeding real blood), and everyone within earshot (busy high street) ducks as there have been a couple of gang killings in this area over the past few years and it genuinely sounded like a gunshot... and me mortified of course.

Fortunately, I'm right by the LBS, so go in - becoming quite friendly with them now, feel I should be sending them Xmas cards and the like I've been in so many times in the past couple of months since I accepted this free "bike" as some call it.

LBS fella listens to my tale of woe - 5 punctures and one blow-out in a month - and asks if I want a reinforced ("puncture-resistant"? Hah, we'll see) tyre? So for £28 (free bike my arse - and £4 tube) I'm pushing my BSO home with a Swalbe Marathon Plus 700x32 (replacing my 38mm el cheapo full-o-holes) over my shoulder. Some time later I get the damned thing on, and inflate as much as I could with my wee frame pump. On reflection, take it back to LBS to have a check - they approve my fitting and top up the pressure to 90psi (I'd managed a respectable 70 on my own!).

And off I go to the meeting in the city centre that I'd had to postpone by an hour. New tyre rocks, tbh, harder, seems easier to ride, v impressed. Wish I could afford one for the front. Hell, wish I could afford a real bike!

Meeting over, cycling back, cruising through a park, slight clicking noise. Stop, investigate, can't see anything wrong. Get back on, ride 5m, chain breaks. (2nd break on this chain). 2mi walk back to LBS, they reckon it's time for a new chain if this is the second breakage in 2 months and I'm inclined to agree. They're openly laughing at my misfortune by this stage. Owner calls mechanic through to share the hilarity with him. All having a jolly good laugh, though perhaps there's a slightly manic edge to my chortles that belies a barely repressed fury at what the God of Cycling seems fit to have bestowed on me, the bastard.

Free bike now costs me another £16.50 for new chain, fitted.

On the way back home, screw attaching rear mudguard comes out, too, just to mess with my head. Fortunately the loud clanging immediately gives this away so I'm able to stop, locate said screw, pocket it and clang & rattle my way home.

I hate this bike.

 

[Ticktockmy]

AAARGH!

So I was given a bike over the winter, didn't really get it out until two months ago, but really pleased I did. Am loving cycling - I'm using the bike to get to work in most weathers, and doing 10-15 miles most days whether I'm working or not.

But - since I was given my bike (originally a freebie given out by Liverpool Council last year, passed on to me after a period of neglect):

• Puncture in front wheel - fixed
• Front valve leaking - tube replaced
• Whole bike generally wobbly & loose - serviced at LBS (who said it was a wonder it hadn't fallen apart)
• Puncture in rear wheel - fixed
• Chain broke - fixed by LBS
• Rear bearings disintegrated taking hub with them & twisting wheel at same time - rear wheel replaced by LBS ("You know this is a piece of shoot, right?" he said kindly.)
• Another puncture in rear wheel - fixed
• Seat post won't stay at the height I want, keep slipping - adjust every other day (and about to ruin seatpost bolt entirely!)
• Irritating rattle developed from loose screws holding mudguard to hub - tighten daily
• Another puncture in the rear wheel - not fixed yet, don't have the heart

Two months, all that has happened in. Two months. I remember having bikes as a kid, and perhaps twice in 10 years I had a puncture.

I think the only explanation is that my bike is cursed... trouble is, I'm utterly utterly skint (not even getting benefits right now as being pushed from pillar to post) so replacing bike is out of the question. I simply can't replace it. So I just make sure that I've got a PRK, pump and change for the phone everywhere I go.

Edit: Just needed to vent...!

Its SODS LAW at work mate, I think most of us go through a phase of what seems like one disaster after another, I had the same last year, would go out somedays nothing untoward would happen next time get punture after another for no reason other than someone somewhere up high decided that it should happen indeed I ripped the valves out of the tubes 3 times in a row, which Pissed we off big time..SODS LAW.
But looking at your list of events: Punture and valve leaking would sugest to me that you are not pumping your tyres up hard enough.. 40 psi would stop that. Having wobbley bits normally is because, the bike has not been maintained regulary, and or the milage is of such that the parts are worn.
Seat post will not stay in place, maybe just gently rub a little sand paper around the seat post where you want the seat post clamp to grip it, or make sure you dont have greasy hands when you handle it.

Well that my two penny worth

As a matter of form, I always quickly go over all the screws on the bike before a ride, with the allan keys, soI know at least at thestart of the ride all is nice and tight and ticky to boo