Botch repairs (and heroic bodges) on the trails

Kiblams
Kiblams Posts: 2,423
edited October 2009 in MTB general
Had an awesome FTD ride yesterday evening after work with the OH, and half way round managed to snap my chain. Promptly repaired thanks to my 'boy-scout' upbringing of 'being prepared' and carrying all sorts of tools with me. 8)

But it got me thinking of things which break out on the trail that there simply isn't a handy tool for...

I'm not looking for advice on what to take with me :P but what I am interested in is everyone's stories of botch fixes out on the trail, the more novel the better :D

Comments

  • cgarossi
    cgarossi Posts: 729
    Frame failures generally mean game over. I dont think theres much you can do. Also pringled wheels can caused your ride to go south (litterally in some cases).

    The last botch repair I did was when the pivot on my Juicy 5 brakes fell out, leaving me with a floppy (oo er) lever. So I fixed it by wedging one end of a alen key into the hole allowing me to make a makeshift pivot. Worked for the rest of the ride. Now its fixed with a bolt and nut and a washer.
  • VWsurfbum
    VWsurfbum Posts: 7,881
    cgarossi wrote:
    Frame failures generally mean game over. (litterally in some cases).
    i read on hear some time ago that a guy snapped the rear triangle and Bodged it together with a stick and some duck tape to get back to the car! Quality.

    My bikes are genrally bodged together anyway! :D
    Kazza the Tranny
    Now for sale Fatty
  • bomberesque
    bomberesque Posts: 1,701
    filled a torn tyre with grass to finish a ride
    raced on a flat front tyre to get back to the pits (the rim was fine, further reinforcing my confidence in wheels today)
    converted a bike to singlespeed when the deurallier broke. chain was a bit slack, but it worked after a fashion

    nver had to fix a broken frame on the trail, like the splint and gaffer tape solution though!
    Everything in moderation ... except beer
    Beer in moderation ... is a waste of beer

    If riding an XC race bike is like touching the trail,
    then riding a rigid singlespeed is like licking it
    ... or being punched by it, depending on the day
  • VWsurfbum
    VWsurfbum Posts: 7,881
    ahh the broken deraileur senario, seems like every time on the second day in wales i end up running single speed!
    Last time i broke the chain on the wall and put it back on the outside of the front derailliur which meant i only had the outside ring!
    Kazza the Tranny
    Now for sale Fatty
  • .blitz
    .blitz Posts: 6,197
    Never had to botch anything. I am mechanically very sympathetic, my bike is always maintained to the max and nothing ever goes wrong with it :D
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    you can't actually fix a frame with a bit of wood, you need a field to fill a tyre... both are cycling myths.

    You certainly shouldn't fill your forks with wood if you blow a seal...

    bottle mount bolts work as cable pinch bolts and dics bolts in a push.

    Just take duck tape, zip ties, bungee cords and you can fix most things. If you pringle a wheel you can normally get them straight enough to ride by jumping onto them. But it will shag the hub bearings if you're not careful so i tend to stand on it and carefully load my weight on. If you've snapped a frame, and in a group, forks will fit in most rucksacks, then use bungee cords, zip ties and straps to put the frames and wheels on the outside of the bag. Then the guy who's bike broke trail runs whilst the others carry the broken bike.

    If you get multiple punctures and have no patches i'd imagine if you cut the valves of the spares you could more easily fill a tyre with inner tubes to keep riding.
  • Kiblams
    Kiblams Posts: 2,423
    Just take duck tape, zip ties, bungee cords and you can fix most things.

    Someone can't read so good me thinks... :wink:
    kiblams wrote:
    I'm not looking for advice on what to take with me, but what I am interested in is everyone's stories of botch fixes out on the trail, the more novel the better
  • nonnac85
    nonnac85 Posts: 1,608
    I saw a guy who had filled his tyre with sand at Chicksands once because his inner tube had punctured and he had no spare. He then went down the race tracks - nutter!!
    My Website - Trail Centre info for the UK: MTB Trail Time
  • Things i'm never without are..

    Loads of cable ties in varying sizes
    spare SRAM chain links
    chain remover
    a good multi tool.

    I can't really take much else! :lol:
  • jmj
    jmj Posts: 100
    Snapped rear triangle repaired with zip ties, tape and a handful of metal tyre levers and allen keys.
    Was ridable to get it back to the car.

    Broken free wheel fixed (literally) by the application of a stick and some zip ties to make a fixie.

    J
    Commencal Meta 55 Team custom build
    Giant Trance 06
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    It's BODGE, botching means failure, bodging means heroic victory :lol:

    I was out on my brother's Saracen once and the front brake lever snapped. So I tied the cable to an L-shaped stick, and took the top cap off and stuck the stick into the stem, and any time I wanted to brake I pulled up on the stick :lol: Can't do that with hydros...

    I came across a feller up in the hills, trying to inflate a rear tyre with a shock pump. Now that's heroic... He was up to about 10psi when I arrived, don't know how long he'd been going but he looked like he was about to die.
    Uncompromising extremist
  • stubs
    stubs Posts: 5,001
    Got a big gash in a tyre sidewall and the tube bulged out. Wrapped a piece of plastic cut from a plastic fertiliser sack that was hanging in a handy hedge round tyre and rim then held it in place with zip ties got me back to the car just before the zip ties wore away

    Tried jumping on a pringled wheel once Oh Flipp well I wanted a new wheel any way
    Fig rolls: proof that god loves cyclists and that she wants us to do another lap
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    My rear wheel disintegrated on Wharny once, pulling out a load of spokes and cracking the rim. Wheel wouldn't turn, but managed to bash it back into shape, then loosen the QR and realign the wheel so it somehow went through both stays.

    I made it back home!
  • Kiblams
    Kiblams Posts: 2,423
    Northwind wrote:
    It's BODGE, botching means failure, bodging means heroic victory :lol:

    Happy now? :P (my understanding of the word 'botch' was a clumsy repair)

    Nice work guys! Not had to do much out on the trails so far myself, just minor repairs that I usually have tools for.

    Me and the missus are headed on a road trip next week up to Whinlatter and Glentress with a trip to Edinburgh to sort some more of the wedding plans, kinda got the feeling I may have jinxed us starting this thread... :shock:
  • bomberesque
    bomberesque Posts: 1,701
    you can't actually fix a frame with a bit of wood, you need a field to fill a tyre... both are cycling myths.

    wish I had a picture to prove it but take my word for it you're wrong.
    Everything in moderation ... except beer
    Beer in moderation ... is a waste of beer

    If riding an XC race bike is like touching the trail,
    then riding a rigid singlespeed is like licking it
    ... or being punched by it, depending on the day
  • joec1
    joec1 Posts: 494
    Two interesting botches i can think off...

    1. went to the Forest of Dean Fodca and a mates Trek Fuel (with Avid Juicy7's) experienced a lack of brake pads... the rears fell out (the caliper was faulty and didnt apply pressure correctly at speed, so the clip broke and pad flew out...

    we botched it with an elastic band (one of the crappy ones that hold new innertubes together, and a slightly larger "postman" style one,) double wrapped around the caliper to hold the pad in place. (this worked well) and looked god on the trek... as it was colour co-ordinated haha.

    2. (not really a mechanical repair) a mate slipped and put the chain ring through his leg,.... (12 teeth marks....) after a little hobbling and dumping of bikes on the uphill (about 2 miles int othe whites climb at afan) i whipped out my F/Aid kit and used a triangular to stem the bleeding (didnt have a dressing bandage as only took the bare essentials) free wheeled himto fire road and them drove to hospital and 18 sticheslater... good as new.

    :)

    ps... 101 uses for a triangular bandage i will have you knoe lol...

    (im a first aid trainer assessor)
    www.settingascene.com - MTBing in Wilts and the southwest, join up for info and ride details.
  • Came across some youngsters at Swinley, one of them lost the deurallier oh his HT, the hanger snapped so they borrowed my chain tool to remove some links and create an SS

    The chain wanted to climb up to the biggest gear on the rear cassette as this is what they're designed to do, so my mate used some cable ties in between the sprockets to stop the chain from heading towards the largest gear
    We bumped into the youngsters about 2 hours later and it was still working away nicely.

    A true bodge.. Mission accomplished
  • Skonk
    Skonk Posts: 364
    Had a friends chain snap while out some time back.

    We had no chain related tools, but one of the guys had a spare pin in his bag.

    I found a small rock to use as a hammer, a larger rock to act as a sort of anvil and a small allen key.

    I managed (after quite some time) to knock the old pin out and remove the broken link by holding the allen key against the pin and bashing it with the small rock, and (after lots more time and effort) bash the new pin in just enough to allow him to ride the bike home.

    Was some distance away from home so would have been a chore if we'd have had to walk it (5 of us in total).
    Canyon Spectral AL 9.0 EX
    Planet X RT90 Ultegra Di2
  • CraigXXL
    CraigXXL Posts: 1,852
    you can't actually fix a frame with a bit of wood, you need a field to fill a tyre... both are cycling myths.

    wish I had a picture to prove it but take my word for it you're wrong.

    I came across a guy stuffing anything he could find in his wifes flat tyre, they were very pleased when I offered them a spare tube on the promise they post a new one back to me. I was more pleased when they turned up on my doorstep a few days later with not one but two new tubes and some beers.
  • Steve_b77
    Steve_b77 Posts: 1,680
    Had a mate totalyl taco a rear wheel after a crash, so I smacked the offending bent rim on the deck nice and hard - low and behold it straighted it so there was plenty of stay clearance and he carried on with teh ride for another hour.

    Ultimatley he needed a new rim.

    Also single-speeded my old HT after ripping the mech off
  • VWsurfbum
    VWsurfbum Posts: 7,881
    CraigXXL
    what nice people you all are!
    +1
    Kazza the Tranny
    Now for sale Fatty
  • turpinr
    turpinr Posts: 255
    supersonic wrote:
    My rear wheel disintegrated on Wharny once, pulling out a load of spokes and cracking the rim. Wheel wouldn't turn, but managed to bash it back into shape, then loosen the QR and realign the wheel so it somehow went through both stays.

    I made it back home!

    a couple of weeks ago a young lad came of his brand new scott scale up rivvy and buckled his front wheel.his dad took the front wheel out ,pressed the QR (opposite side of disc) into the ground,a couplof pushes and grunts later it was running true again.
    i was very impressed