Things that snap off in the dark - tell us your best bits

[gavroche]

It is only "perfect" if...

• You only cycle to places where you have a phone signal AND...
• (You have someone who you can phone for a lift (who doesn't mind being your free taxi service) OR...
• You can afford the taxi fare home/to a suitable railway station)

I don't/don't/often can't, so I carry the tools and spares!

1 an 2 have always applied although I have never needed 2 up to now.

 

[ColinJ]

1 an 2 have always applied although I have never needed 2 up to now.

I was recovering from my illness of 2012/2013 but eventually felt well enough to start cycling again. I did 3 or 4 short, flat rides then I felt up to doing the Cragg Vale climb from Mytholmroyd. That climb is long but has a low gradient only averaging about 3.5% and I was riding slowly so I felt okay until I got about 4kms up it. At that point the gradient kicks up to about 8%. Suddenly, I didn't feel so good. As in VERY BAD! I started to feel VERY iffy as the gradient eased higher up but I thought I would recover on the easier section above. In fact, I felt more and more wobbly so I got off my bike and sat on the grass verge. Then I felt like I was going to black out. For once in my life I decided to do the sensible thing and phone for an ambulance - OH CRAP, NO BLOODY PHONE SIGNAL!!!

I did keel over for a couple of minutes but eventually came round enough to freewheel back down the hill and ride the 3 flat kms home.

 

[carvelos]

Has anyone tried the 'stuff the tyre' with grass trick when a tube gets ruined and if so how do you fashion a track pump in a field?
And moreover what psi will meadow clippings be okay up to?

 

[Tom B]

This one got my attention.

Luckily while I was miles from home the sister in law crashed into a wall in sympathy and I borrowed her bike to ride to the car to pick up the bikes and take her to hospital.



More amusing that stranded.
Over inflated a tyre once and nearly killed an elderly fella when it blew off the rim under an echoey bridge. The owd fella and local "celeb" was on his way back from the lunchtime drinking session and dived under a bus stop bench thinking he was being shot at or there was a terrorist attack.

Had a puncture a few months ago on the MTB about 2am on the Moors. Got my pack out and found I as my road bike kit with thin large diameter tubes and not much co2. Stuffed the 700c tube into the 27.5x tyre and inflated as much as i could ( of course that was the day the inflator tool leaked) and rode / rolled / walked the 8 miles home on a very squidgy soft lumpy tyre.

I have plenty of tales of being miles from home with flats in the middle of the night and no means of repair.

Snapped a new chain up on Rooley Moor once, took a chance and rolled down to Rochdale (opposite direction to home) and blagged Halfords to sort it on promise of payment.

 

[I like Skol]

How recent do we need it to be?

Last week had a small 'dismount' while on a night time MTB ride and got home to find my back-up front light had departed from the handlebars, leaving the integrated mount behind? Cue much disappointment and moaning and gnashing of teeth. It was my best ever, emergency 'throw it in a pocket just in case' back-up light so when I spotted it had gone I had a quick shower then jumped into the Land Rover and drove back to the edge of the moors where I thought it had exited and walked back up the trail with a big torch in hand. Found it exactly where I thought it might be, just about 50ft from the gate where I had parked.
On Monday morning I had a spoke snap in my back wheel during the early morning darkness commute but continued to work ok. On the return journey at night, also in darkness the wheel started to get rapidly worse as the remaining spokes started to rip out of the failing rim! I had to pull over and whip out the spoke key to make some emergency adjustments so I could finish the ride home.
When things go wrong it does seem to be more often in the dark. Also, never leave home without a spoke key.....

 

[snorri]

How can aluminium be a suitable material for bikes, aeroplanes, drinks cans, my car wheels or anything else? Bring back wrought iron and a hammer and a brace of donkeys

It's just one of the evils perpetrated by the cycle sport industry on the unsuspecting utility cyclist.
I well remember visiting a repair shop whist touring in Germany. Come back in an hour the guy said, I did and with sad face he told me he could not replace my chain wheel with like for like, but.............he did have a replacement that would be longer lasting and less expensive. What is this miracle material, I thought. Not wrought iron, but it was steel!

 

[matticus]

This one got my attention.

Should be fine if you put it in the right way round.

 

[fossyant]

Last week had a small 'dismount' while on a night time MTB ride

Small..... OTB !

 

[Nebulous]

Not me, but my mother-in-law told me an amusing cycling story today.

Her father was a farmer with a mill driven by a water wheel. He got up one morning and found a bike half-in the dam and a flat cap lying beside it.

Being very worried about it he opened the sluice and drained the dam, but didn't find anything / anybody.

One of the local worthies on his way home from the pub had fallen in the dam, managed to get out and walked home, leaving his bike and cap behind.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

This one got my attention. View attachment 561241

View attachment 561242

Luckily while I was miles from home the sister in law crashed into a wall in sympathy and I borrowed her bike to ride to the car to pick up the bikes and take her to hospital.



More amusing that stranded.
Over inflated a tyre once and nearly killed an elderly fella when it blew off the rim under an echoey bridge. The owd fella and local "celeb" was on his way back from the lunchtime drinking session and dived under a bus stop bench thinking he was being shot at or there was a terrorist attack.

Had a puncture a few months ago on the MTB about 2am on the Moors. Got my pack out and found I as my road bike kit with thin large diameter tubes and not much co2. Stuffed the 700c tube into the 27.5x tyre and inflated as much as i could ( of course that was the day the inflator tool leaked) and rode / rolled / walked the 8 miles home on a very squidgy soft lumpy tyre.

I have plenty of tales of being miles from home with flats in the middle of the night and no means of repair.

Snapped a new chain up on Rooley Moor once, took a chance and rolled down to Rochdale (opposite direction to home) and blagged Halfords to sort it on promise of payment.

That Pringled wheel is the wrong way round in the frame. But guess they just rested it there for reference. But even a Pringled wheel can be rescued to get you home. Just needs a bit of body weight and then a spoke key.

 

[Tom B]

That Pringled wheel is the wrong way round in the frame. But guess they just rested it there for reference. But even a Pringled wheel can be rescued to get you home. Just needs a bit of body weight and then a spoke key.

Correct, it was of course just rested in for the photo.

The cause of the pringling was that the rim failed at the pin and it opened out.

 

[confusedcyclist]

I've lost all sorts, but nothing that ended a ride... but a very close call when my chain snapped and I lost all forward drive, unbeknownst to me, thanks to the freewheel, the chain rolled off the cassette into a storm drain. I was madly confused how my chain had vanished until I looked back a few yards and spotted the drain. If it had landed on the floor I would have been able to remove the damaged link and put it back together a bit shorter, but it was long gone! Fortunately for me, a nearby halfords was merely a short uphill push, and a fairly long coast downhill. I picked a new chain and carried on home.

 

[matticus]

the chain rolled off the cassette into a storm drain. I was madly confused how my chain had vanished

hahahahahahahaha!
I bet you were confused

 

[TheDoctor]

Roger that! Plus, you can either find a crisp packet (as I did) or buy one.
That means your tyre boot costs 50p and you get some free crisps!
I'm sure chocolate, ice cream or pork pie wrappers would work just as well.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

While we CC'ers carry sufficient spares and tools to improvise a small but servicable bike out of the contents of our saddlebags, we never, ever carry tyre boots. This is because tyre boots absolutely must be improvised out of crisp packets, plastic milk bottles, £5 notes etc. Otherwise they don't count. Park Tools TB-2? No way!

Not only that. We take nearby grasses to weave into a strong thread , and a thorn to use as a needle. Thus we are ready to sew up our tyres and get back on the road.