Lessons learned the hard way

msw

What bike maintenance lessons have you learned by breaking things? I'll start with yesterday's.

I got a torque wrench!

I looked up the right torque for the bolt I was trying it out on and chose something similar!

I sheared off the bolt! Turns out the difference between 7 and 9 Nm is quite significant.

Count to ten and repeat "It's all part of the process..."

Ben6899

... we all love looking down
All we want is some success
But the chance is never around

Valy

Ben6899 wrote:

... we all love looking down
All we want is some success
But the chance is never around

What?/What's the relevance?

desweller

Loads. Just loads.

Don't throw old parts away if they are serviceable - you may have need of them one day!
If you're carrying out a service prior to an event, make sure you do it with enough time to source spare parts should you discover a major fault
Keep moving parts clean and oiled - or one day they'll seize and snap, usually when you're 50 miles from home in the pouring rain
Don't ride through puddles in which your bottom bracket will be submerged
Don't overtighten threaded headsets - it's a one-way route to wrecked bearing races
See above for cones
Don't use solvents to clean freewheels - they do a great job of washing the grease out of the ratchet mechanism
Once a square taper crank has come loose during use, don't retighten it and then go on another long ride
Check your brake cables regularly - it's no fun at all when they break during use

salsarider79

Just one more turn of the bolt should tighten....ah.

Yep. I did that and then needed a new rear axle....

Smokin Joe

DesWeller wrote:

Loads. Just loads.

Don't throw old parts away if they are serviceable - you may have need of them one day!
If you're carrying out a service prior to an event, make sure you do it with enough time to source spare parts should you discover a major fault Keep moving parts clean and oiled - or one day they'll seize and snap, usually when you're 50 miles from home in the pouring rain
Don't ride through puddles in which your bottom bracket will be submerged
Don't overtighten threaded headsets - it's a one-way route to wrecked bearing races
See above for cones
Don't use solvents to clean freewheels - they do a great job of washing the grease out of the ratchet mechanism
Once a square taper crank has come loose during use, don't retighten it and then go on another long ride
Check your brake cables regularly - it's no fun at all when they break during use

Don't decide to tweak the limit screws on your front mech five minutes before the start of a road race :oops: :evil:

flateric

So how about trying really hard to true a wheel, getting no side to side movement at all, only to discover you now have an oval wheel......

Ben6899

Valy wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

... we all love looking down
All we want is some success
But the chance is never around

What?/What's the relevance?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQWZrDH5X8o

It just reminded me that's all. I wouldn't worry...

neeb

The worst is always not having the precise tool for the job and using something else because you don't want to wait until Monday when the shops are open and/or have to spend money on another tool... Chances are you will strip a thread, round a bolt and/or lose a lot of skin on your knuckles...

The most recent example of this for me was fitting some new style campagnolo shifters, the bolt that fixes them to the bars is really difficult to get at with a torque wrench. You really need to remove the rubber hoods AND get an extension for the bit.

freehub

You don't usually sheer bolts due to putting too much torque on em, too much torque means that you could strip the threads. sheering bolts is usually down to not placing the allen key in properly, so you put some force on and twist the allen key that does the damage.

desweller

freehub wrote:

You don't usually sheer bolts due to putting too much torque on em, too much torque means that you could strip the threads. sheering bolts is usually down to not placing the allen key in properly, so you put some force on and twist the allen key that does the damage.

What you're describing is rounding off of screw heads, not stripping threads. That's just down to either poorly formed screw heads, poor tools or poor technique. Note that it's a lot easier to round off small screws than large ones as the tolerance requirements on the interface between the tool and the screw head are much more demanding.

If you're using poor materials then you will strip threads before shearing screws, but if the screw and fixture material are any good then it's pretty easy to shear screw heads off. Use copaslip kids.

Valy

Ben6899 wrote:

Valy wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

... we all love looking down
All we want is some success
But the chance is never around

What?/What's the relevance?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQWZrDH5X8o

It just reminded me that's all. I wouldn't worry...

I see. I was going absolutely apeshit, thanks for clearing it up.
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I wonder if I should have posted here....


Yesterday I was having a look at my BB. Too it out had a look, then pu it back in and started tightening. As before the cups did not go all the way in, I was trying to make them this time.


So I ended up snapping the non-drive side cup. (ES25 BB - plastic cups/shells w/e they are called)

desweller

I think Spasypaddy will soon be on here posting about how you should regularly remove your aluminium seatpost from your steel frame in order to regrease it!

Valy

What the....