Stupid mechanic errors you have made

[Vantage]

That's interesting my dad has a demoyo not a common make! I'll ask him for a picture?

Do you have a picture of it.

The camera makes it look squished and stretched a bit.
If I ever get my strength back it'd be a nice bike to choose for Colin's Cheshire rides.

 

[Jameshow]

The camera makes it look squished and stretched a bit.
If I ever get my strength back it'd be a nice bike to choose for Colin's Cheshire rides.
View attachment 668118

Interesting not like his what's the name on the down tube.

I'll ask for a picture of his.

 

[Jameshow]

This is like my dad's... But his is alu.

 

[Vantage]

Downtube name is Colutti. No idea what it means. The model is a Scorpione. Campag Veloce throughout except the chainset which I swapped out for a Spa. The original Campag was too high geared for me.
From the little history I've been told about on another forum, DeMayo frames are quite good.
Mines certainly no slouch.

 

[ColinJ]

I was chatting as I unfolded my Brompton, didn't quite get the handlebars in the right position as I tightened the clamp, set off, and abruptly somersaulted over the collapsing handle bars...into a perfect judo break-fall roll and stood up again!

I once accidentally rode into a deep narrowing rut on a fast MTB descent. I couldn't escape from it and eventually the rut came to an abrupt end. The bike stopped dead, upended, and launched me forward over the bars. I landed on my feet and ran down the hill to keep my balance. I eventually came to a safe stop and trudged back up the hill to retrieve my bike!

 

[Arjimlad]

Adjusting V-brakes at the wheel, then realising that the cable outer had popped out of the brake lever on the bars!

 

[Dogtrousers]

Just remembered another stupid.

I was trying to get a pedal off an old Peugeot. It was one of those pedals with a hex socket in the pedal axle.

Well, you know how the left hand pedal is left hand thread. Yeah, I know that too. Clockwise to remove it. So I put the hex key in and turned clockwise. Nothing. I added some leverage, I forget how, heaved, and managed to turn the hex key into a barber's pole. Then I realised...

... I was looking at the pedal from the wrong side. I was looking at it from the inside - so I could see to insert the hex key. Clockwise, looking from the outside (pedal side) of the crank is anticlockwise looking at it from the inside.

Doh!

 

[C R]

Adjusting V-brakes at the wheel, then realising that the cable outer had popped out of the brake lever on the bars!

That has never ever happened to me .

 

[byegad]

Carefully changing the chain on my Club Tour I measured twice and cut once, threaded in the new chain and it skipped locked and generally was useless. Looking at it I then realised that I'd ever so carefully threaded over the guard on the lower jockey wheel of the derailleur.

Next time I changed the chain, I did it again!

 

[Venod]

Carefully changing the chain on my Club Tour I measured twice and cut once, threaded in the new chain and it skipped locked and generally was useless. Looking at it I then realised that I'd ever so carefully threaded over the guard on the lower jockey wheel of the derailleur.

Next time I changed the chain, I did it again!

You are not alone, post #31 ^

 

[Arjimlad]

@byegad moi aussi

 

[colly]

Last time I had the rear wheel off (last week) I didn't tighten the rear skewer properly. I found this out last weekend on a ride organised by @ColinJ .
Lots of up and correspondingly lots of fast downs. @GuyBoden was asking about my brake calipers and as I looked at it and put my hand on the wheel, it moved. Not just a little bit either.
I had been fiddling with the derailleur for the past 20 miles because the indexing seemed out. I found out why.

 

[ColinJ]

I just put a new sealed bearing in the freehub of my turbo trainer bike. I clumsily overtightened the nuts when reassembling the hub. The wheel span fine when the quick release skewer was undone, but when I tightened it there was some noise and quite a bit of friction from the bearings. It only took a very slight loosening of the nuts to sort the problem out. (There was still no significant play in the hub after that.)

 

[Dogtrousers]

I just put a new sealed bearing in the freehub of my turbo trainer bike. I clumsily overtightened the nuts when reassembling the hub. The wheel span fine when the quick release skewer was undone, but when I tightened it there was some noise and quite a bit of friction from the bearings. It only took a very slight loosening of the nuts to sort the problem out. (There was still no significant play in the hub after that.)

Sorry Colin, but slightly overtightening a bolt is not stupid enough. You need to try much harder, maybe put a teabag in the freehub and pour boiling water over the bearings in a mug. That kind of thing.

 

[ColinJ]

Sorry Colin, but slightly overtightening a bolt is not stupid enough. You need to try much harder, maybe put a teabag in the freehub and pour boiling water over the bearings in a mug. That kind of thing.

Ok...

The previous time I did a job like that involved tapping out knackered bearings and very carefully tapping in the new ones (I don't have the right tools to do it properly).

I had just finished and put the wheel back on the bike when I spotted a rather important spacer left sitting on my table! That spacer is supposed to sit on the axle between two sealed bearings so they can push against each other.

I had to tap out a brand new bearing without damaging it, insert the spacer, and then tap the bearing back in. I fully expected to damage the bearing doing that but somehow managed to do it successfully.

I suppose it would have been a better 'stupid mechanic error' if I actually had killed the bearing doing that!