Bizzare Mechanical Breakdown

jackhunt

Thought I would share this bizarre mechanical failure. Riding to work this morning I thought my chain had snapped. Upon inspection I saw that a lolly stick had jumped up to wedge itself in my jockey wheel, The derailleur/chain jammed and as a result I sheared the rear deraillier bolt clean off.

How the Hell could a wooden lolly stick bounce up of the road to do that? I thought it was sabotage for a second but I had been riding for 13 miles without a single problem.

Anybody else have bizarre occurances?

ColinJ

I was out mountain biking with a mate once when suddenly he got a rear wheel puncture. We stopped to fix it and discovered that a rusty 6 inch nail had gone through his tyre. Not so bizarre you may think...? Well it had gone through one side next to the rim and come out on the other in the same position - how did that happen!

jibi

ColinJ wrote:

I was out mountain biking with a mate once when suddenly he got a rear wheel puncture. We stopped to fix it and discovered that a rusty 6 inch nail had gone through his tyre. Not so bizarre you may think...? Well it had gone through one side next to the rim and come out on the other in the same position - how did that happen!

Must have been that Amazon tribe that moved over to Hebden Bridge and use blowpipes on MTBers'

They can't find poisonous frogs so use 6 inch nails.
george

Tourist Tony

What, when they're not selling stuff on t'internet?

pneumatic

I had a bizarre one last week. I was riding to the foot of the Mont Ventoux for a "once in a lifetime" ascent (and to pay respects to Tommy Simpson) and I got a puncture. Nothing surprising there. I did the usual procedure: swear, shout at mate in front to come back, remove wheel, tyre, tube, check for foreign bodies in tyre, replace tube, tyre, wheel and pump it up. It was fine to Bedoin and then we stopped at a cafe. There being no appetite for Cognac and amphetamines, we had a coffee and I tried to get some more air into the tyre, whereupon a very kind Danish woman lent me a track pump that did the job right and proper. Ascended the Ventoux on my rock solid tyres, took pictures and started to come down. Half way down, the back wheel went all over the place on the hairpins and I eventually realised I was punctured again. Limped home on what I could get into it with the hand pump, wondering why it had not gone down going uphill, only going downhill. I persuaded myself it was something to do with the heat of the rims.

Turned out, after much inspection of the tyre and tubes that the punctures were both in the same place and that there was a shard of stone lodged in the tyre all the time. I still find it weird (and very lucky) that the tubes were fine going up and not going down.

Lucky Luke

If I were to puncture at all I'd sooner have a puncture on the ascent than descent myself especially on such a climb/descent . Much safer (plus the added bonus of a bit of a breather !) .

jackhunt

And to add to my 'Lolly Stick of Doom' story. I took it to a LBS at lunchtime so I could ride back home after work and lo it cost me £73!!

He's me thinking it would need just a new bolt. But no. Apprently because 'the spring' was missing, they decided in their wisdom to slap a whole new derailleur on. Fran-frickin-tastic. Had I known I would have took a taxi home - would have been a damn sight cheaper.

It made me jolly cross I can tell you. So now I have an almost new derailleur sans 'spring', a pathological hatred of the LBS and lighter in the pocket to the tune of £73.

Woe betide the next child I catch discarding a lolly stick.

PS Does anyone know what 'spring' he was talking about - presumably it will be one associated with the bolt.

schlepcycling

Which bolt are you talking about?, the adjuster bolt at the back of the mech where the cable first enters the mech?, this has a spring and if it's Campag you can buy just the adjuster and spring which is what I did when I sheared mine off, I managed to screw out the bit of bolt left in the mech and just put in the new one.

jackhunt

The bolt that sheared was the bolt that connects the RD to the frame.

The rest of the RD was intact.

What 'spring' could have been lost I do not know. Is there one that surrounds thie frame bolt?

MrKawamura

ColinJ wrote:

I was out mountain biking with a mate once when suddenly he got a rear wheel puncture. We stopped to fix it and discovered that a rusty 6 inch nail had gone through his tyre. Not so bizarre you may think...? Well it had gone through one side next to the rim and come out on the other in the same position - how did that happen!

This exact thing happened to my road bike about two months ago. I wondered if I'd been shot at with a nail gun, especially as it happened alongside a row of houses in a "less desirable" part of town. When I was at Sixth Form college somebody was randomly shot in the arm with an air rifle while cycling through the Totland estate in Farnborough.

I still find it hard to believe that the nail managed to jump up off the pavement and embed itself horizontally through both walls of my tyer.

pneumatic

I got shot by an Italian once, whilst cycling home from work in Fife. Turned out he was aiming at a woodpigeon that was flying between him and me. Happily the pellets had lost most of their momentum before reaching me and bounced off both me and the bike, earning me the title "ironthighs" for my trouble.

I learned several things from this episode:

1. I have always been right to be wary of birds; they may cheep prettily, but they are basically trouble.
2. My local police station has a firearms officer, who was sent to investigate. I think he is a bit like the Trumpton Fire brigade and spends most of his time off-mission, so he was understandably VERY excited to get the call.
3. When you get shot at, the first thing that goes through you mind (provided it is not a bullet) are the names of half a dozen plausible suspects and all the reasons why they might want you dead.
4. Regular cycling and the wearing of lycra shorts can give you natural and reliable kevlar-like protection in the leg department.

Thom

schlepcycling wrote:

... if it's Campag you can buy just the adjuster and spring which is what I did...

Schlepcycling: Where did you buy the adjuster from? I've been looking for one for ages but have only been able to find Shimano ones.

Cheers,

Thom

mr_hippo

Wasn't there an incident years ago when a cyclist was brought down in a race by a plastic carrier bag? Tour of Britain, Steve Joughin and Stoke come to mind.