REVIEWS DEALS BIKESHOPS TRAILS

Ever broke a tool doing something really stupid?

1929 Views 15 Replies 14 Participants Last post by Gym123, Dec 29, 2021

DeoreDX

Discussion Starter · Dec 10, 2021

2

I just did. I wanted a way to be able to convert my single speed to a geared bike quickly so I set up a length of housing on a derailleur and shifter I can quickly throw on and off my bike. Throw in a couple of minutes to switch out the cog for a cassette and I figured I could do the swap in ~10 minutes tops. I was going to swap it over from SS to geared for a gravel ride so I thought I would time myself. I loosened the sliding dropouts. I had forgotten to grab my quick link pliers but I had a combo tire lever and quick link plier strapped to my bike so I pulled it off the bike to undo the quick link. First try one handed the link wouldn't budge. I hiked up my britches and squatted down for more leverage and squeezed with both hands until it went "POW!". In my haste I forgot to loosen the tugs and release the tension off the chain. With a tensioned chain there was no where for the quick link to go. Unfortunately my combo tire lever/quick link tool was the proverbial weak link. Can't fault the tool here, dumb user error was to blame for this one.

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1 - 16 of 16 Posts

the-one1

· #2 · Dec 10, 2021

Sometimes you take things for granite

Reactions: 5

127.0.0.1

· #3 · Dec 10, 2021

while in SS mode...ooofff

Nocturnalnature71

· #4 · Dec 10, 2021

the-one1 said:
Sometimes you take things for granite

I haven't spit water out reading a reply in a looong time!

wschruba

· #5 · Dec 10, 2021

There are not too many tools/places on a bike where you can wind up in the 'I thought I was turning the other screw' situation. Maybe breaking a chain, and neglecting to put the chain on the breaking shelf instead of the loosening shelf (these aren't really a "thing" anymore...). Usually not a fatal error to the tool, but it will snap the pin if it's hardened.

I've seen the pressure foot snap off of crank extractors when a crank is jammed on the spindle, or stripped the crank arm extractor threads out if a washer was left in the crank arm.

Monty219

· #6 · Dec 10, 2021

DeoreDX said:
I figured I could do the swap in ~10 minutes tops

There’s your problem. Every time i give my wife an estimate of how long i will be in the garage it is at least doubled if not tripled. I figure “i used to be a pro mechanic, i remember how long this should take” things have changed a lot in 15 years and although i know how stuff is supposed to work new nuances are always popping up!

Pisgah

· #7 · Dec 11, 2021

Once I broke a whole bike doing something stupid with a tool.

Gym123

· #8 · Dec 11, 2021

wschruba said:
I've seen the pressure foot snap off of crank extractors when a crank is jammed on the spindle, or stripped the crank arm extractor threads out if a washer was left in the crank arm.

I found out how much softer the crank extractor is compared to the spindle of the old BB is in my Giant was- I'll post a photo later. It pushed into the threaded hole because the previous owner didn't maintain it and never removed or greased the mating surfaces, so I had to crank the snot out of it to remove the crankset and THAT'S the reason I have disassembled the bike, one section at a time, as I found more things that hadn't been maintained. All I have left is to clean & lube the front wheel bearings.

Gym123

· #9 · Dec 11, 2021

Monty219 said:
There’s your problem. Every time i give my wife an estimate of how long i will be in the garage it is at least doubled if not tripled. I figure “i used to be a pro mechanic, i remember how long this should take” things have changed a lot in 15 years and although i know how stuff is supposed to work new nuances are always popping up!

New twists, along with "Where the heck did I put my BB socket (or other tool)?". Even working in a very small area, I have a hard time keeping track of things. I don't get lost, it's my tools that wander off. Really!

sgltrak

· #10 · Dec 11, 2021

Like others here, I have destroyed a crank puller on a square taper crank / bottom bracket about 35 years ago. I was helping customer or customers while doing repairs and got distracted while removing crank fixing bolts, ringing up a purchase after removing the drive side nut. I helped another customer and then returned to the repair while talking with yet another customer. I used the Campagnolo crank extractor to attempt to remove both crank arms, forgetting that I had not yet removed the other nut. Drive side required a lot of force to remove, so I didn't think much of the force the NDS was requiring until the threaded section of the tool began to separate from the rest. I wish I had grabbed the Park or Sugino crank pulller tool that day instead of the Campy unit. Doh!

Fairbanks007

· #11 · Dec 11, 2021

Every time I've broken a tool I was doing something stupid.

JPSeuropa

· #12 · Dec 11, 2021

I do a lot of automotive work. Every time I break a tool, I remind myself that "that was stupid. you knew that tool was at best marginal for the job, yet you persisted...stupid, stupid, stupid. Oh yeah, lazy too...since the right tool is sitting right there in the toolbox, but you didn't want to get out from under the car and go get it."

Reactions: 1

Cleared2land

· #13 · Dec 11, 2021

Starting with the assumption that we are using high quality tools, tool failure is almost always operator error. Right tool with the correct application usually gets the job done.

Reactions: 2

Roge

· #14 · Dec 28, 2021

Cleared2land said:
Starting with the assumption that we are using high quality tools, tool failure is almost always operator error. Right tool with the correct application usually gets the job done.

^This^. Harbor Freight tools don’t count.

#mtnbykr

· #15 · Dec 28, 2021

Yes.

Gym123

· #16 · Dec 29, 2021

Roge said:
^This^. Harbor Freight tools don’t count.

HF stuff can be OK but at least they have a good return policy, so the crap tools can be returned if they're found to be too bad to keep. In many cases, their stuff is better than the Craftsman tools I used before switching to SnapOn and I learned the lesson about opening a 'truck account' vs paying cash- it's too easy to end up with a big balance without noticing but that was long before HF came out with anything that might compete- I bought the SnapOn flank drive sockets and six minutes before their patent ran out and paid about three times as much as the price I saw at Sears when they introduced their version. I can get a stick of HF sockets SAE or Metric) for about $20, while the SnapOn cost about $80.

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