"You Are Doing It Wrong" or funny mistakes we all are making

[Stefan Mikes]

It all started when -- as a kid -- I poured vegetable oil into my Mom's sewing machine to oil it... My Mom had a very old, pedal operated sewing machine that my Dad electrified by adding a small conversion set. The vegetable oil went into chemical reaction with air oxygen turning into hard insoluble mass over the time; the machine became useless. My poor Mom!

2019 was the year I bought as many as two e-bikes. The technology progress is so fast! I haven't heard about concepts such as "A-HEAD stem", "thru-axle", "derailleur clutch" etc etc until recently. It is so easy to make mistakes!

The most funny mistake from my own viewpoint was the fact I had ridden an e-bike equipped with the Suntour Nex suspension fork in the blocked position for almost 2000 km until I read (on the EBR Forum) how to adjust the shock. And I was complaining on how crappy cheap Suntour shocks had been! Or, the first use of the torque wrench: I damaged the Knog Oi bell by applying as much as 2 Nm torque to its screw

Mistakes, mistakes... Any stories to share? Bike related or not.

 

[PDXzap]

I'd be here typing all night if I were to put down all the stupid stuff I've done Failing memory helps me go on living!

I once had a few different rechargeable lights for video work. 2 of them shared the exact same recharge plug but one was a 6v and the other was 12v. In a hurry, I plugged the 12v charger into the 6v light
It ruined the battery but luckily my, now ex wife saw it and informed me before I burned the house down.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Good, good stories, @JayVee!

 

[indianajo]

I changed my chain for the first time last week. I've changed industrial chain dozens of time at work, with special tools sold by Phelps Dodge, but they don't work on any bicycle chain narrower than the 1/4" 5 speed kind. The schwinn chain breaker didn't work either, when I tried to change the 15 speed schwinn MTB chain 25 years ago.
So the Bike Hand $10 chain breaker actually worked, and pushed the pin out. I first put the chain together with industrial master link, which is better & reuseable, but unfortunately won't actually go through the derailleur takeup. Take apart & back together with KMC master link. PI** to get it to snap, I had to use an automotive transmission snap ring tool to get it fastened. The Phelps Dodge chain stretcher would be perfect, except for being too thick for 3/32" chain. Then I realized I had run the chain through the shifter cable. KMC warns their master link is one time use, and they are right, I couldn't get it to unsnap, even bending a cheap ****ese snap ring tool after I ground grooves in it to engage the round parts of the chain to pinch it together. !@#$#$%&^
It's $8 freight and three days from 4 PM to get a new master link out of modern bike. So I removed the shift cable. This involved cutting the ferrule off, then cutting the end off to make it fit back through the takeup hole. Then it still wouldn't go through the hole & I had to cut some steel wires off. Then when I did get it through the bottom hole, I missed the hole on the back of the derailleur and shoved it through the clamp anyway. Rather than throw the $20 extra long (for cargo bike) SS lubricated jaguar shifter cable away after shortening it again, and disassemble the handlebar shifter to put a new one in, I left the shift cable missing the hole on the back of the takeup.
The first installation of the DD hub motor was about as annoying. I put a homemade torque arm on, involving a plastic block to push against the rear axle strut, which saved me the time to make a clamp to go around the strut.
I get 11 miles out, in the middle of Charlestown, and the motor binds up. I can't even push the bike it is bound so tight. I call a church friend with a mid size car, take all the bags & baskets and battery mount off so the bike will fit in his car, and he carries it home to town for me.
At home I take the DDmotor apart to see if the cover is dragging on the windings or the bearing has failed or something. It is possible the aluminum frame (very stiff) is pushing on the motor covers so hard that they are bending in a little & rubbing the case. So I grind down the axle shaft flat parts thinner, and make 2 extra thin washers with the flats, so that the pinch of the bike frame is carried by the motor shaft, and not the motor covers, which don't have internal thrust bearings.
After about 2 days of machining, pinch problem solved, I realize it may be possible that the torque arm plastic block was rubbing on the outside of the motor cover. There is a white mark on the cover on that side. Duh! I fix that problem, too. Make a proper clamp around the frame strut and abandon the plastic block.
No more trouble with the DD motor binding up. I actually got the 26 miles out to my summer camp in one 3.5 hour trip.
I'm not the world's most experienced bike mechanic. But I'm among the most persistant, not giving up.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I'm not the world's most experienced bike mechanic. But I'm among the most persistant, not giving up.

Have you noticed how complicated e-bikes are compared to the mechanical ones?

 

[Lightning P38]

It all started when -- as a kid -- I poured vegetable oil into my Mom's sewing machine to oil it... My Mom had a very old, pedal operated sewing machine that my Dad electrified by adding a small conversion set. The vegetable oil went into chemical reaction with air oxygen turning into hard insoluble mass over the time; the machine became useless. My poor Mom!

2019 was the year I bought as many as two e-bikes. The technology progress is so fast! I haven't heard about concepts such as "A-HEAD stem", "thru-axle", "derailleur clutch" etc etc until recently. It is so easy to make mistakes!

The most funny mistake from my own viewpoint was the fact I had ridden an e-bike equipped with the Suntour Nex suspension fork in the blocked position for almost 2000 km until I read (on the EBR Forum) how to adjust the shock. And I was complaining on how crappy cheap Suntour shocks had been! Or, the first use of the torque wrench: I damaged the Knog Oi bell by applying as much as 2 Nm torque to its screw

Mistakes, mistakes... Any stories to share? Bike related or not.

About 20 years ago I had 30 bikes in my garage and basement in Iowa. I had about 5 Schwinns with the one piece cranks, and I overhauled them during the winters. I had a dozen LeTours, and did some customizing to them too. So I know my way around a Schwinn bike!

So, one day I am putting a one piece crank back into a bike. I am having trouble getting the lock nut started on the left side. I try about 5 times, and then decide, heck, I need to go to bike shop and see the guys there and have them fix it. So I get there, and give the crank to Mark, and he threads the nut onto the crank, no problem! Yeah, I forgot it was left handed threads! Geez....that was The dumbest thing I have ever done with a bike!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

What about you Stefan, do you do your own maintenance on your e-bike? We haven't heard about your adventures.

I only do basic maintenance. Can clean and oil the drive-train. Can replace tyres and inner tubes. I have successfully replaced the handlebars with all accessories. Yet I hate doing that. I can screw up the simplest things, like putting a tyre against the intended rotation direction! I can find loose screws and tighten them. But I don't even have the Loctite Blue!

Just recently, I've replaced regular inner tubes in my Vado with the Michelins. And I could not re-insert the tyre bead into the rim, so stiff the Elektrak tyres were! Almost crying, I drove with the wheels to my brother who did the work easily and better than I could!

Whenever I need to a mechanical work on an e-bike, I'm frustrated. Seemingly simple works end up with a disaster in my case. So if the matter is of basic maintenance, I see my brethren in Kiełpin. Jacek and Piotr have got a fully equipped mechanical garage and are happy to help me. Typically, Jacek rides my e-bikes battery-free around his homestead and listens to any noise. If the noise can be heard, he or Piotr fix the bike. That's why I don't write much about my own maintenance work.

When the matter is more complex, say, installing a dropper post or perhaps replacing the cassette or the brakes; or adjusting the derailleur, I visit the LBS of a man by name Jakub and of his brother, as they are cycling experts of a class. I don't mind paying them for the good service. Technically, I should service the Vado at the Specialized LBS and I reluctantly do so just not to invalidate the warranty.

Of the funny things -- and to illustrate my inability for the mechanics:
A guy here at the Forum asked about the bolt size for the Vado rear-rack. I should have given myself a good slap before I went to unscrew the bolt and measure it! It turned out the machining clearances at the assembly were poor and I had a big issue to re-fasten the bolt! Or, it is very easy to remove the rear wheel in the Vado with the thru-axle and all. Yet how you exactly replace the wheel is a mystery for me; I wonder how I managed doing that the last time...

Or, the darned power connector in the Lovelec Diadem! Any time I have replaced the rear wheel (with the hub-motor), I reconnect the power cable. There are clearly marked arrows pointing towards each other. In 100/100 cases the motor wouldn't start after reconnecting the cable! You have to push the plug into the socket very strongly and I fail doing that properly at any occasion...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

You Are Do It Wrong Revisited

Ride out 100 metres from your home to discover you have attached the road-cycling SPD-SL pedals to the crank; the pedals you promised to never use anymore and for which you don't own proper shoes.

 

[tomjasz]

Firs build I trashed the chainguard trying to turn out the BB the wrong direction. I'm amazed I didn't destroy the darn thing with a 20" breaker bar. Worse yet I bought a BBS01 to install on a coaster brake bike. In the end, I bought a new flat foot bike and made the Trek 3pd Pure a front direct drive. The Pure is still my most comfortable and most ridden bike.

 

[indianajo]

Have you noticed how complicated e-bikes are compared to the mechanical ones?

Actually no. The worst job I ever did was install a Sturmey Archer S80 IGH on the mountain bike. The spoke calculators on line are full of lies. The IGH vendor (thebikeshopstore.com) refused to guess what spoke size I would need. I ended up buying 3 boxes of 50 spokes before one size fit, and that was only using extra long nuts as some were longer than others on the same wheel.
So after I got the hub into a wheel and on the bike, after 500 miles the shifter pawl started popping off the ring every mile. Which throws the IGH into 8th gear, which is unrideable on flat ground. I never did solve that problem. Fortunately happened only 4 miles from home so was able to push the bike home without a tow truck. Went back to 7 speed freewheel sprocket cluster wheel, and the Sturmey Archer S80 IGH equipped wheel hangs on the wall in the garage. I should put it out for the scrap truck.
The 7 speed shimano rear axle is no paragon of virtue. I had one the race come unscrewed and drop some balls out on the road, stranding me 5 miles from home. I was able to push it home. At least I found out how to buy more balls, and carry a dozen with me when I ride the MTB now. *****y design, there is a replacement axle with a fixed race shown online, but nobody ever has one in stock. I tried to buy some extra 3/8x26 nuts to use one as a locknut instead of the stupid shimano ferrule design, but thebikeshopstore sent me 3 bags of random junk instead of 3/8x26 nuts. Ended up 18 months later making nuts out of hex stock with a tap from victornet.com which was actually the right size.
The first two bike batteries I bought were garbage, but at least when the power failed out on the road, I was able to pedal the bike to the destination. Yeah, geared hub motor. Only the 3rd bike battery worked, the one from Luna. Had to build a test jig for batteries to prove it was the $310 battery twice, not the $221 motor.

 

[dodahman]

I don't work on my bike, so this is not bike related.
I had been working at the boatyard for about 2 years when the boss invited me to go to a shooting range. I owned a S&WK22 for a long time, but had not done any shooting in a long while. Off we went. Boss had an handgun with a clip. I got all checked out, stepped up to shoot, and carefully hit the clip eject button rather than the safety. Clip shoots out, hits the ground sending its component parts(springs etc) in all directions,never to be found. It cost me about 2/3 day's wages to replace. Doh!

 

[john peck]

If I possess a smidgeon of wisdom, it is the result of myriad mistakes