[Closed] Really stupid bike set up mistakes...

not really a bike setup mistake but the good lady mistook mr sheen for deodorant! she is 5 mths pregnant, but still funny

I've seen a few gear cable inners zip-tied to stays 😀

Tends to impair gear-shifting...

French bike journo who rode with us for a day turned up with his forks on backwards and rode like that until we spotted it at lunchtime.

"Zut alors! I turn ze bars for packing ze bike on ze train and I make meestake after!"

We believed him. 😉

i once put my chain back through my rear mech the wrong way didnt realise until a few hundred metres into my ride (after a friend had dropped me off a long way from anywhere) which resulted in the mech and hanger in a mangled mess and a bloody long walk back!

Spent well over an hour trying to fit some tyres, they just wouldn't go on! Once I could no longer feel/use my thumbs I noticed what size the tyres were and immediately remembed that 24" tyres don't fit 26" rims. Much swearing....

I've seen a few gear cable inners zip-tied to stays

Hmmm, wonders how long it would take a ridding buddy to notice why their gears not shifting properly if someone had placed a zip tie in such a manner 😉

I decided to change the bushes in some old fox forks once.

Made the tool to extract the old bushes ok and it worked fine. Turned up a dolly to push in the new bushes and pressed the first one in fine.

Aren't I clever?

well no, because I took the second lower bush, and pressed it in [b]ON THE SAME SIDE[/b]. There was no chance of getting it back out without without mullering it. I had a trip planned 2 days later. Luckily I bought some lowers from here and they arrived in time.

[url= http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6174/6192650687_2bba136088_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6174/6192650687_2bba136088_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/53860438@N06/6192650687/ ]OH GOD[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/53860438@N06/ ]Northwindlowlander[/url], on Flickr

I've seen mechanics fit cranks at 90 degrees to each other when in a hurry...

briliant from northwind there

northwind - how on earth did that happen? 😆

mashiehood - Member

northwind - how on earth did that happen?

Pure skill (it was all done with the bike hung like that in the stand, so there's no obvious up or down. Still stupid though!)

Someone should ride that. Front wheel drive, recumbent, rear wheel steering fubarniche 🙂

Took me a few moments of wondering "How did he fit the seat post where the BB should be" before I worked it out. 😀

On a related theme, I worked for a truck dealer once.
Two guys went to collect a brand new lorry back from having a tanker body fitted.
They got about half a mile before finding out the hard way that the body builders had zip tied the air pipes to the prop shaft.

OK - here goes.....

I've done this twice now. When threading the chain through the jockey wheels in the rear mech' it's possible to get the chain rubbing on the metal frame. There's a tab bent inwards between the two jockey wheels - if you don't get it right it makes a funny noise but otherwise works fine 🙄

I rode it like that for a couple of weeks first time I did it 😳

Second time I spotted my mistake before riding off 😯

jag - i have done that before 😳

I once swapped over the brakes on a hire bike in the USA

... and left them "wrong"

Phoned up the shop from the UK, luckily nobody had ridden it since

Northwind, that is next level not paying attention, or building bikes when too tired/pissed/stoned! I'm impressed. It's not even like the C456 has a straight steerer tube, it's tapered!!! 😆

Have laced a 32 spoke wheel incorrectly before when tired, and not noticed my mistake until I came to tension it. Needless to say I think I swore at myself, put it down and re-laced it the next day after a good nights sleep!

Seen a good few people with forks on backwards out there, usually having just bought a BSO from Halfords or JJB Sports.

Helmets on backwards is always a funny one too.

Seen someone struggle for several minutes, trying to figure out why they couldn't get their wheel into the frame... He was trying desperately to put it in the wrong way round, cassette on the disc side, and disc on the cassette side!

Seen a few "pub bikes" with upturned drop handlebars to give a nice rise to them, but expect this was done intentionally.

But perhaps the funniest, even funnier than back to front forks, was I saw someone riding along with their stem the wrong way round. Not upside down, but as in pointing towards them, so they were sat bolt upright on the bike, and if they wanted to go round a corner they had to push the opposite way on the bars! 😯

A recent mistake i made when putting new bars on... Put bars on, brake levers on, grips on, bunced up and down on the forks to check the possition and they were tight. Then spent several second trying to work out what the loud knocking sound was... Turned out i forgot to put one of the gear shifters on and it was hanging down next to the fork leg.

When i worked in a bike shop i lost count the amount of times people came in saying when they steer their feet hit the front tyre... Forks on backwards. (they built it themselves).

I did fit the lowers to my Fox forks back to front once. I did notice before fitting them to the bike, though.

If MTG's allowed a lorry one I'm allowed a car one:
Friend who is very clever (Cambridge grad, 1st at medicene, trainee surgeon) came out one morning to find car all frosted up.
Went back inot house and put kettle on. Used her nouse, boiling water will crack the screen, so just warmed it, then turned kettle off. Took it outside and defrosted all windows on the car outside her house. Took kettle back to kitchen, left the house, locked the door, went to car.
'That's not my car'
Not even close, different make, model and colour. Just happened to be parked where she usually parks.
.
Bike one, getting the plastic bumper and foam stop thingy upside down in the bottom of a set of Magura Durins. There's a thread on here somewhere with me asking how to fix rebound top-out problems...

A road bike from a fleet of hire bikes I was working with once had the cables routed so badly that the bars would only turn left 😯

Another one had such long cables that they touched the front tyre

Northwind wins hands-down though 🙂

If MTG's allowed a lorry one I'm allowed a car one:

When I was new to driving, had borrowed my Mum's car and was round a mates. I left when it was dark and got into my Mum's red Fiat Uno. It felt a bit odd somehow, and looking up, the sunroof had disappeared too...

Turns out the keys seemed to work on OTHER peoples red Fiat Unos too....Oops.

once spent 20 minutes trying to help my mate fit pedals before a ride. Couldn't work out how thy wouldn't go in and after much brute force managed to cross thread the pair of them on the cranks. It was only on close examination that I figured out they were on the wrong way...ooops

Arrived for a holiday in Italy with six mates, we were all building up our bikes, I pronounced myself first finished, only to see I'd put me front wheel on back to front, disc gouging the fork and all.

Northwind, that is epic! Nice job.

🙂

Removed front spacers on the fork through stem gubbins. Did all day kielder with terribly noisey front part of bike as it wasn't centered at all.

Stripping the brakes from an old style 456, to go on another old-style 456.

Cut the hoses to get them out of the closed guides.

Fitted the new olive and insert, back into the lever and tightened it up just right.

Out with the bottle of oil and did the bleed, working just right.

Had forgotten to run hose through guides of new frame! D'Oh!

APF

Friend who is very clever (Cambridge grad, 1st at medicene, trainee surgeon) came out one morning to find car all frosted up.
Went back inot house and put kettle on. Used her nouse, boiling water will crack the screen, so just warmed it, then turned kettle off.

God help us all. Cold water defrosts just fine (try it).

Fitting brakes to a new frame so I ordered a 3m length of hose, and cut it roughly 1m and 2m to make the two runs of hose. I then oh so carefully measured the desired new length for the front, at 75cm, and went and oh so carefully cut a 75 cm length ..... from the bastard 2 metre length. I needed a minimum 165 length for the rear so that was all wasted. Bank holiday weekend, late Saturday afternoon, no chance of getting any more hose until the next Tuesday.

Heads sheared off disc rotor bolts. Several times. Garrgggggghhhhhhh.

i had one guy on tour come to me and ask why his forks were knocking. he wanted to lower his bars so he removed the stem and the spacers and just replaced the stem, without the spacers.

another good one.... i caught one guy rubbing gel into his leg. i asked if it was a pain relief gel. turns out it was energy gel. his legs felt tired.

cynic-al - Member
I've seen a few gear cable inners zip-tied to stays

Tends to impair gear-shifting...

To be fair his wrist was bust at the time, so any shifting wouldn't have been that great

One of my favourites, we had a young lad given two P7s in different sizes and spec's to swap the components across from one to the other. After about 4 hours, he'd completely stripped and re-assembled both bikes back onto their original frames.

A bikeshop once cut down my gear outers (when completing a frame swap) so the bars would turn less than 45degrees total. Thanks to them I decided to learn how to build a bike myself. Cyclesurgery you muppets.

And since then, you've been doing it twice a week.

Serious question: how long does it take you to strip and rebuild a bike? There must be mechanics in bike shops who've done it nowhere near as many times.

My most common error is putting the lowers back on the wrong way around after a fork service. Muppet 😆

Not bike set-up, but still bike related...

Racing at Sherwood Pines in '99 on my brand spankers GT XCR3000. Feeling good and from halfway round the last lap I put in a big charge for the finish, getting myself up to 3rd place. I crossed the line and slowed to a blowing-out-of-my-arse stop, feeling pretty damned chuffed with myself.

At which point, a bemused looking marshall quietly said to me, "You [i]do[/i] know you've still got another lap to do, don't you?"

I eventually finished something like 15th.

I can carry out a swap in 45mins. I never have to retune the rear mech as I always run a full (independent) outer gear cable 8)

I never have to retune the rear mech as I always run a full (independent) outer gear cable

Thank heavens for the rigorously adhered-to international standard for derailleur hanger thickness then. 😉

Two of mine...

New talas forks, old hose. Built bike up and drove Edinburgh to Glen Clova to do Loch Muick. Set off and unwound the forks. All good with weight on them but pulled a wheelie, forks extend and rip hose out of the master cylinder....

Re assembling bike after a flight. Cutting the cable ties to release the discs I always remove and stash inside the wheel spokes, yep, cut through the cable ties and three spokes...

Northwind... top job... !

A member of staff once managed to completely retap the bottom bracket threads the other way round in a frame as he was trying to fit a bb. Rather than stopping and thinking he might be trying to install it the wrong way round he just reached for the tool and recut the threads. Never let him in the workshop again.

Personal most common fail is when using gear inner sets that are precut into short and long lengths I always seem to manage to use the longer one for the front, cut it to length and then try the rear.

xtr pedal + big spanner + jumping up and down + wrong way = new axle + cranks.

Shop mechanic asked to cut bars down, cuts an inch off one side, has a brew, cuts another inch off the same side again....

Shop mechanic fitting new forks, measures head tube of frame and cuts steerer.... without allowing for headset/stem/spacers.

Shop mechanic drills out Santa Cruz Bullit swingarm pinch bolt using too big a drill, removes bolt and the machined recess the bolt sits against so that it will actually pinch together...

[b]mccett[/b] - [u]Member[/u]

[b][u]Shop mechanic[/u][/b] asked to cut bars down, cuts an inch off one side, has a brew, cuts another inch off the same side again....

[b][u]Shop mechanic[/u][/b] fitting new forks, measures head tube of frame and cuts steerer.... without allowing for headset/stem/spacers.

[b][u]Shop mechanic[/u][/b] drills out Santa Cruz Bullit swingarm pinch bolt using too big a drill, removes bolt and the machined recess the bolt sits against so that it will actually pinch together...

I see a pattern...! I trust that:

a) This wasn't all at the same shop.
b) In each case, the shop replaced your FUBAR'd kit FOC.

Does repeatedly replacing inner tubes during a ride without checking tyre for that monster thorn sitting in it count?

Northwind wins handsomely. Picture evidence as well - good effort, sir!

Put down the tools after an evening fitting my new drivetrain. Woke up in the morning, noticed it's a nice day, I thought I may as well ride to work. Then I notice the gear inners cross under the downtube, I'd fitted the shifters the wrong way round! Rush to undo all the bolts, feeling glad that I hadn't cut the inners down. Swap the cables over, check the underside, problem solved. Cut the inner to size.

I get on the bike to double check the indexing on the rear, notice not much is happening. Check the front, gear change but it doesn't feel right...
Yup, I'd got the shifters the right way round the first time, I'd just routed it wrong... Ride to work with "Low, Med, High" instead of 10 speed, with 10 degrees of not-quite-right at the front...

First sealed bearing hub I serviced I carefully pressed both bearings into the hub then picked up the axle and thought hmmmmmm.

Also serviced some bombers (again first time) rebuilt them then found an internal part still on the work bench. Oops.

Northwind wins handsomely. Picture evidence as well - good effort, sir!

Cutting the cable ties to...//...cut through the cable ties and three spokes

Mccett same mechanic for all 3?

First sealed bearing hub I serviced I carefully pressed both bearings into the hub then picked up the axle and thought hmmmmmm.

It's a bit like a game of "I have never", I have never rebuilt a QR hub correctly in one go!

Other than that just plenty of chains not passing through the front mech and tyres on the wrong way arround.

A mate, fitted some nice Carbon bottle cages before his first road race a couple of years ago. The seat tube one was finem but the downtube one, had a little problem of retaining the bottle as he'd put the open end facing down 🙂

I've had loads of chain routing lols - especially with the newer Shimano rear mechs where you assume that there is a guide plate in between the jockey wheels. There isn't.

I've incorrectly routed the cable to a top swing front mech which resulted in gouging a farrow into the back of a swingarm, plus I've cross threaded the expensive end of a SRAM X9 shifter when trying to bolt it to my bars.

I suspect that I may have ronnied the installation of my new chainguide as the chain rattled against the backplate in the granny ring, despite me following the instructions...must there really be a spacer between the backplate and the frame before you screw the BB back into place?

alpin - Member
i had one guy on tour come to me and ask why his forks were knocking. he wanted to lower his bars so he removed the stem and the spacers and just replaced the stem, without the spacers.

another good one.... i caught one guy rubbing gel into his leg. i asked if it was a pain relief gel. turns out it was energy gel. his legs felt tired.

I almost did the Northwind one (frame in workstand upside down, focused on the headtube).. luckily he'd posted that pic a few days before, so I thought "Ah.." and checked before proceeding 🙂

[b]D0NK [/b]- Member
First sealed bearing hub I serviced I carefully pressed both bearings into the hub then picked up the axle and thought hmmmmmm.

Also serviced some bombers (again first time) rebuilt them then found an internal part still on the work bench. Oops.

Most annoying I've had is wrestling on a dual ply high roller then pumping it up only to realise I'd put it on backwards.

A friend who shall remain nameless (cos I was with him at he time) was strugglng to fit a Hope crown race onto his forks. It was just too tight. We ended up heating it up over a gas hob to try and expand it, but it wouldn't go on.

Eventually, after lots of hitting hith heavy objects, we realised it wasn't the crown race, it was the top cone insert. Swapped them round it all slipped together.

oops...

[b][u]PJM1974[/u][/b] - [u]Member[/u]

I've had loads of chain routing lols...

You've had loads of [i]what[/i]? All of a sudden, I feel rather old!

Half way round Whites @ Afan realised why my brakin and general speed control was soo rubbish.......brakes wrong way round after recent bar change.....rest of the way home guessing wether left hand was front or rear and same on the right......needless to say ended up in a big stock and much ribbing from mates!

I once went round to a fellow STW's place to help him index his gears on his Alps bike he was building

He was also about halfway through his 2nd bottle of wine when i got there

All the cables were routed and tightened up

The rear shifter didn't feel right from the start - the feeling was just all wrong.

It turned out that the 'pissed bike builder' had routed the wrong shifters to each of the mechs 😀

My usual favorite is to set up my snowbord bindings the opposite way round.

A friend gave us some of the bulk load of innertubes he's bought from CRC and we greatfully stashed them in out camelbaks for about 3 months without checking that they weren't actually 24"

I was the fellow STW'er in Bolton Jon's story above ^^^^^ and it was only a bottle and a quarter, do you think i'm some kind of drunkkk....hic!

Laced a rear wheel up with a different hub that I'd just serviced. For the life of me couldn't get the dish correct, much head scratching, umming and ahhing...eventually, and it did take a while, I realised I'd put the axle into the hub with the spacers all on the non-drive side! 😳 😯 🙄

I was shown photos of someone's mate who took some brand new Lyriks to an Engineering shop (non bikers) and asked for them to lop an inch off the top of the steerer.

They came back with an inch long steerer...

Not quite a 'set up' issue - First ride back after a broken collarbone, went with mates to Pirbright, back when the place was littered with massive gaps and high skinnies. Didn't like the look of a steep roll in so held on to a tree and lowered my Kona down by the saddle. Let go of it for the last bit and the bike did what all bikes do when freefalling, span the fron wheel through 360deg, ripping both hoses out of my HS33's!
Rode on for the rest of the day with no brakes and got my confidence back ASAP

scud - Member
I was the fellow STW'er in Bolton Jon's story above ^^^^^ and it was only a bottle and a quarter, do you think i'm some kind of drunkkk....hic!

Scud - I tried so hard to keep your identity a secret!!

I had a mate install an inner tube with the presta valve nut, INSIDE the rim!! only to be discovered when he got a puncture and i changed his tube. thorn caused the puncture not the nut!!

[img] [/img]

Not really a setup issue, but went out on the bike a few weeks back and thought the ride was very harsh. Every 10 mins or so stopped and let more air out of the tyres but nothing made it better.

Not until I nearly got home did I realise that I had been riding for 1 1/2 hours with my suspension locked out front and rear. 🙄

My mate, the night before a big race: "I'd better fit the timing chip now, rather than just before the start when I'm stressed." Result:

[img] [/img]

[b][u]alanw2007[/u][/b] - [u]Member[/u]

My mate, the night before a big race: "I'd better fit the timing chip now, rather than just before the start when I'm stressed." Result:

Your mate lives in Tokyo?

You get timing chips in races these days?

I think you meant "Sportive"?

Your mate lives in Tokyo?

Yes and so do I.

You get timing chips in races these days?

For hillclimbs, yes you do. I know what I mean, thanks.