Have you ever been stranded by a mechanical issue?

grahamcp

Last night I had a spoke break resulting in a wheel that would no longer turn due to rubbing on the inside of the fork (also posted in buying advice regarding new wheels and spoke count).

The bike wasn't ridable therefore I called my girlfriend who was fortunately able to pick me up.

This got me wondering - has anyone else had a mechanical that meant you could not continue a ride - and what did you do about it - particularly if you couldn't contact anyone who was able to pick you up.

I do try to be prepared for issues but I also know there are some situations that I won't be able to deal with. I don't carry a spoke key or spare spokes for example, and if I had a chain snap I'd be equally stuck as I don't generally carry a chain tool. There are always going to be some possibilties (accident damage etc) that you just cannot fix on the road.

Maybe I need to rethink my preparedness for the more rare situations such as these - but I'm curious as to how others manage.

Anonymous

today - 2 punctures, nothing to do about it (nearby bikes shop were shut). Walked to a friends house, dumped bike and borrowed clothes, took PT to work.

recently - broken spoke (zonda) so had to walk to train station to get home. I had broken my rear mech off previously in the same ride but managed to fix that and carry on single speed.

another ride, chainring bolts fell off (god knows how!?) - went to bike shop to fit new ones and carried on my ride.

Not carrying a chain tool is a mistake as it can fix a lot of problems. They are very small now and fit into small multi-tools (I have the pedros one and its ace). I should carry a repair pack on me too or even just patches. May invest.

Basically if I am f**ked - walk to nearest train station. That's where you need to make sure you have mobile phone reception. If you don't - ask a stranger! Like in the old days!

pblakeney

Broken chain, extremely worn. I now have a guage and carry the necessary tools. Fortunately only 1/4 mile from home.
I always carry a small pack of instant patches. They are not great (fixing at the roadside is not an ideal siuation) but will get you home.

veronese68

I carry a little box with a split link and some self adhesive patches, multi tool has a chain breaker on it. That way I can get home after a broken chain. I've not had to use them myself, but have got other people going with them on longer rides. A broken gear hanger would result in a long walk. I I'm doing a long ride off road I will carry a spare with me, but don't usually. Wheels have enough spokes that one going shouldn't cause too many issues, disc breaks mean I have a lot more clearance. Managed to carry on home after a car drove into me causing a badly buckled wheel.

alan_sherman

A few times, but normally you can limp home, or at least to a trainstation.

A crash at a race. Stem and bars snapped, tacoed wheels, hurt body. Called for lift home.
A broken chain on a commute. Also took out the shifter when I hit the deck. If I had a chain tool I could have fixed it an limped home, but a black cab was a better option.
A couple of times I've had punctures on a commute when I had no tube / repair kit. I've used PT to go home then gone back to get the bike later.
Bent forks after hitting a dog. Bike was rideable but I was in shock. Could walk home in 10 mins from that one.

On the commute I usually carry a basic repair kit but I can switch to public transport / taxi if something serious.


Examples of limping home have been:
Snapped chainstay (actually done that twice). Quite nice for a frame to be so old that is actually wears out!
Broken gear cable: singlespeed / 2 speed home.
Broken spoke: adjust brake and ride home, or true a bit with spoke key and ride home. Once I broke two spokes and caught a train home as I was out of spare tubes.
Collapsed rear hub: limp home very slowly!
Broken mudguard: Tape up and ride home (done this twice)
Gashed tyre: Fashioned a tyre boot that got me to a bikeshop to buy a tyre and continue ride.

A friend snapped bars through a pothole and rode 15 miles home. His arm was knackered from taking all the weight on one side!

webboo

Broken spoke in rear wheel ( Fulcrums ) I had to get the missus to come and get me. A couple of other times with punctures and not be able to get my pump to work.
My mate always carries enough cash to pay for a taxi home.

thomasmorris

Most stuff doesn't just 'break', with the exception of punctures, tyre cuts and crash damage. I'd say preparedness is more about making sure the bike is running as it should before the ride.
I see some of the stuff people carry and I just think that most of it is superfluous if the bike is well maintained (I can't remember the last time I used a multi-tool on a ride).

I take the view that failures on a well maintained bike will be of the nature not fixable with a simple spare or tool (i.e. crash). Therefore you're better just carrying a spare layer of clothing so you don't get cold waiting for pick up or walking to nearby public transport.

In the UK, on a road bike, the weather is rarely extreme enough, or you remote enough for a stranding to be seriously dangerous. The worst case scenario is really an expensive taxi ride or long walk.

In ten years of MTB and 5 road: I've been picked up 5 times, one crash, the rest running out of tubes or slashing a tyre.

Man Of Lard

Sure - I took my bike out for a ride - nothing too strenuous, just 12-15 miles in an hour around the country lanes around here over lunch time.

After around 3 or 4 miles, I passed a sign "hedge cutting in progress" - there were some hedge trimmings on the road but I avoided them all (so I thought... you can see where this is going).

About 10 miles in (so I'm on my way home, just), it had started to rain and the wind got up - the tyres started to *sound* different - by 10.1 miles I was on the rim on the front. So into the nearest field gate, out with the puncture repair kit. Located & marked the holes (3) and was then distracted by the rear tyre being equally flat. Whipped it off and located & marked the hole. Out with the vulcanising solution.... bloody thing had dried out into a small snot-like lump.

OK - sod it - I'll try overinflating the tyres and see how far I get before I need to reinflate. Answer approximately 100 yards. Expending more effort pumping the tyres up than riding the bike.

Nothing for it - walk home.

Now - I carry a tube, at least 3 different brands of glueless patches, a minitool kit, a KMC quicklink, a tenner and a crappy 2G PAYG mobile on the network that has the best coverage around here.

A couple of weeks ago, the freehub on my Mavic Aksium disc wheel decided to exhibit all of the engineering qualities of camembert - with the help of my "on board" tools, I managed to bodge it (by inserting some suitably sized pieces of gravel) to be a fixed-enough hub so I could ride home albeit with no freewheeling possible.

alan_sherman

Freehub bodging at the roadside? I'm impressed!

andcp

Here's one that I didn't foresee - a few years ago, about 15 miles from home and at about 18 mph down a slight slope, I had a mudguard stay fail. That went in to the front wheel, which then stopped rotating, which caused the bike to pivot vertically until it was at about 90 degrees to the road at which point the forks ''folded' at the steerer tube/fork crown, dropping me somewhat less then gracefully onto my head. I don't want to start a helmet debate, but I was wearing one that day and I've worn one ever since. It is open to opinions of others whether the bump on my head has helped or hindered me since, but I can tell you the neck pain was excruciating. Called the wife rescue service who said she would turn up when she had finished 'something important' at work! (but she did turn up bless her)

(eta - bl**dy hell Grahamcp, just noticed you've been here longer than me)

keef66

Snapped the chain on my £50 BSO I bought in a box off some bloke on a disused garage forecourt. Luckily only a mile walk home. Last time I buy any cheap no name Chinese rubbish...
Snapped DS spoke on Shimano RS10. Wheel so far out of true it jammed on the chainstay. Despite having the tools, couldn't true it at the roadside. 5 miles from home and couldn't even push the bike along. Phoned wife for a lift...
Snapped gear cable inside the RH shifter, luckily on a bike with a triple chainset so was able to ride the remaining 10 miles home as a 30x12 singlespeed.
And once as a schoolboy my mate punctured and we discovered we'd both managed to come out without puncture kits / tubes. Long way from home and before the mobile phone was invented (and even then, nobody with a car we could have phoned). I had to leave him at the roadside and race into the nearest town to find a LBS for a hasty purchase. Never ever made that mistake again!

DeVlaeminck

Had 3 snapped spokes early on after getting back into cycling which resulted in a call to the missus and a couple of hours stood in a phone box in some village near Buxton to shelter from the rain. Apart from that the only one I can think of was a stick getting caught up in the mech ripping it from the bike when I got my dad out to pick me up - just like being a teenager again!

I've snapped a chain twice - once on the Marmotte but got a lift in the broom wagon and once in Normandy on holiday but it was one of the rare occasions I had a chain tool on me.

craker

Mostly workshop errors
1- Front wheel fell off. Subsequent fork damage (& concussion) meant I wan't cycling anywhere. Blame the rusty QR skewer.
2 -Lockup up hub. The lockring on a bearing cup wasn't done up tightly so the bearing cup screwed itself into the bearings. Without the right spanner that wheel wasn't going to be turning for anyone.
3 - Snapped QR skewer. Possibly as a result of above, the axle was offset slightly and protruding from the dropout. As the back wheel kept moving in the dropout I kept tightening the QR until it snapped. I chanced rolling it down a slope, with some trepidation, but you couldn't pedal it without a skewer.
4 - Frozen freehub pawls (no engagment). Someone on here did mention a common solution, not so straightforward on a cold morning in a genteel Gloucstershire village on my commute :-)
5 - Snapped mech hanger. Some say there are workarounds.
6 - Snapped seat clamp bolt. Surprisingly hard to cycle without a saddle.

fenix

Broke spoke - too few spokes to get it to work without and so had to be picked up.

Broke chain on fixed wheel - had to get picked up.

Wore through tyre on hack bike - had to get picked up.

I think that is three times I've needed to be rescued in 30 years plus of cycling - so not too bad.

With hindsight I should have stopped when the chain started making funny noises, and I should have noticed the bald tyre but it had full mudguards on and It wasn't THAT obvious. My bad.

I take a card with me and a phone too - just in case.

Man Of Lard

alan sherman wrote:

Freehub bodging at the roadside? I'm impressed!

Wasn't pretty, sounded like crap but it got me 14 miles home. Completely & utterly bollocksed now of course.

Secteur

Thankfully so far no - several punctures all repaired by the roadside.

However, last week i had my first "catastrophic" failure (Non dangerous, but catastrophic as in something you couldnt repir at the roadside) and quite unbelievably it happened not 50 ft from the front door of a local bike workshop. I was about 20 miles from home with no-one to call, so would have meant calling a taxi i guess.

Given the remote places i am lucky enough to spend 95% of my time cycling (Top o' th' moors, wind turbine and heather land) I find it quite remarkable that my first catastophic failure ever in years of cycling would happen literally seconds away from the front door of an open bike workshop!

964cup

Oh yes. Both taxi jobs and limp-homes.

Snapped spoke on a DA C24 - immediately unrideable. Shimano spoke nipples are proprietary, too. Wife-taxi.
Snapped chain on a stiff climb - walked up, then freewheeled back with the help of pushes from my mates.
Double-punctured at least twice - first time uses up the pitstop to no avail (big cut), then switch to the spare tub, then that fails. Last time I had to pinch my wife's rear wheel and use that to go and get the car - so technically she was stranded.
Crashed, snapping the bars and doing myself some damage. Rode gingerly to the station, then train home.
Forgot to put the top-hat stepdown axle diameter adjustment washer into a replacement Mavic freehub; bike become a fixed gear. You can actually ride it like that, but it's neither easy nor fun.
Crank came adrift (FSA K-Force). Wasn't carrying a 10mm allen key, oddly enough. Had to keep retightening it finger-tight, riding half-a-click then stopping to rinse and repeat.
Got driven into by a lunatic in a rental van. Pretzeled the front wheel. Walked to the nearest bike shop, bought a new front wheel, made it (late) to my meeting.

Recently, not me but a club mate - 60-odd K into a 170k sportive, half-way up a hill, rear mech goes into the spokes; mech ripped off, chain bent. We considered trying to rig it as a single speed, but gave up and he freewheeled back to the bottom and called a cab.

homers_double

I jammed a free hub once on a MTB ride once and spent the following eight weeks with SM open appendix wound. Not sure if they were related but I nearly died.

redvee

Had a tyre fail on the way to work, bodged it enough to get to work with a soft tube and an improvised boot and as soon as I got into work called my Dad to rescue me for the return journey home. Called Dad again when I snapped a seatpost at the clamp close to work.
Luckily only had two instances where my skills and tools couldn't get me home in the 3.5 years I've been working at my current job.

bompington

Once had the chain snap on the Glen Quaich road up from Loch Tay. I got out my chain tool, which promptly snapped: it was (no kidding) a Tesco Value chain tool. Thankfully, there's a bike/boat hire place on the loch which was only a couple of miles away. Chain fixed and on I went, well relieved - 40 more miles to where we were staying.

Pace thomasmorris, I have had to call the team car once in Scottish winter conditions that would have been pretty nasty, if not seriously dangerous (there were houses a couple of miles away) - below freezing, dark and snowing, heading for home along my usual route when, for reasons I never worked out, something catastrophic happened to my whole drive chain - rear mech ended up in the spokes, front mech twisted at right angles.

A couple of months ago I had a massive blowout of the sidewall (yes, it was a GP4000): I was just on the phone to the DS to summon the team car when a chap in a proper country 4x4 stopped and was happy to throw the bike in the back and give me a lift home. I like the country.

The most bizarre mechanical ever was the time my rear mech just fell apart - one of the bolts holding the jockey wheels just came undone. And disappeared, of course, so no fix possible: I took the mech off, shortened the chain and rode the rest of the way single speed. CRC were sceptical but eventually replaced the mech.

SIMONFREESE

Loose crank bolt. On the commute so no choice but to continue. Net result, crank wrecked. But hey, I got to work on time!

peat

The only time (touches his wood) was when my mech hanger snapped off, mid way up a steep hill.

I tried to do a Singlespeed bodge, but couldnt get the tension right so the chain kept dropping. After a few miles of swearing, i gave in and called my dear old Mum.

CiB

Only two spring to mind.

First was learning that Shimano chain pins aren't reusable, 12 miles from home when the chain separated and left me stranded luckily nr a pub we know. Phoned to be collected from it, had a great Saturday afternoon waiting for them and also for a bit longer when wife + boy #1 eventually showed up.

The other was my Di2 battery going from full charge to flat during a stop 50+ miles from home. That wasn't such an enjoyable phone call, taking a few hours out of her day to fetch me. 50 miles in the lowest gear wasn't an option, but it was the catalyst to get it sorted once & for all and it's been ultra-reliable again ever since, nrly 3 years on.

term1te

I had some aluminium handle bars break. There must have been a growing crack that slowly failed. Nothing dramatic, I was just aware that he right side of the bars was slowly bending down. I stopped pulled it up, and the right side just came off in my hand. Fortunately I was only a couple of miles from home, so walked back.

bigmat

Had to walk home from the far side of Richmond Park to Balham in cleats having taken no money and no spare tube. Haven't done that again. Long walk from a cobbled sector to the next feed stop at Paris Roubaix after destroying my rear tyre, but managed to get hold of a new one there. Broke a chain on a sportive, fortunately it was all downhill to the next feed stop so just gorged myself whilst I waited for my parents to bring a spare bike. Various things I have managed to keep riding with - snapped carbon bars, snapped alloy extensions on TT bike (managed to zip tie it in place for the ride home), pretzelled chainrings (on road bike and MTB - on the MTB I bashed it back into shape with a rock and kept riding it for another few years!), have ridden on after spokes went, has to be pretty bad to not turn round if you open the calipers fully. I did have to get the train when a taxi rode over my front wheel once though. Managed to keep going when my 11 tooth cog disintegrated, cassette was a bit wobbly though!

bigmat

Oh yeah, almost forgot, snapped a chain a few miles into my commute. Managed to kick / freewheel along for 5 miles to the office and picked up a chain at lunchtime. I even took a few scalps on the descents - the shame!

roger_merriman

BigMat wrote:

Oh yeah, almost forgot, snapped a chain a few miles into my commute. Managed to kick / freewheel along for 5 miles to the office and picked up a chain at lunchtime. I even took a few scalps on the descents - the shame!

I have some reasonably good times for decents during the years I had SS bikes, I blame my MTB back ground!

Last time I was stranded was 20 years ago, with a new MTB and knocking the rear derailer off, plus a year or so later snapping a chain. Though luckily I was at the top of a mountain that time so free wheeled home for most part.

bobmcstuff

Few months ago my rear mudguard failed on a descent and got sucked in between the brake and the wheel, while I was doing about 35mph.

The bike started fishtailing wildly and then the tyre wore through and the inner burst... Had to get a taxi home. My mate was behind me and he said he couldn't believe I managed to stay on. Would have been a painful fall!

Pituophis

Snapped a rear hanger and phoned my dad (then 79!) about 5 miles from home.
I had walked about 3 miles back by the time he had had a shave, got changed, combed his hair and "got organised".
Bless him.

darkhairedlord

Dislocated my shoulder playing football, slow puncture and couldn't hold the pump. Most people didnt have phones back then so pushed the bike home with my one good arm.