Your record for destroying new bike gear?

[eddief]

After picking it up in person in Sacramento, I brought it home and had it sitting proudly by itself on my living room sofa. It was gorgeous painted to copy the Mini Cooper of the day in Electric Blue Metallic. Finally on the weekend I was taking it out to the garage to build it up. As I went down the porch steps I banged the seat stay on the railing and put a big chip in the new paint. Spent hours touching it up as best I could but never quite like the unscathed first few days.

[Hilltopwalters]

About 30 min into a ride on a one off S-Works my boss lent me 5 years ago I got smashed by a car that flew through a yellow. Driver proceeded to speed off.

Still hurts when I think about how embarrassed I was to make that phone call.

[ZaddyWatts]

10 minutes. Completely destroyed a crank arm because I stupidly didn’t tighten a pedal down to the correct torque spec. Had to walk the bike out of the woods but thankfully I was only 10 minutes into my ride. Luckily the shop was able to redo the threads on the crank without having to replace it. Lesson learned.

[Repack Rider]

When I was 12, my family finally let my brother and me get new bikes. They were Hercules Hawthorne 3-speed "Racers" ordered from Montgomery Ward. Before then we had ridden second hand balloon tire bikes. My parents had not bought me a bike, so I bought my own for $5 at a garage sale.

Even in 1955, $5 did not buy much of a bike. But after riding that junk for three years, finally I had a new "Racer."

One week later I was racing a younger neighbor, Kevin Ward, to show him how fast my new bike was. I rode into the back of Kevin's dad's 1955 Chevy, which was parked in its usual place in front of their house. I bent the fork, and the bike was never the same.

I was too embarrassed to tell my parents, and I knew nothing of bike shop capabilities in repairing such damage. From then on, I rode my brother's bike when he let me. My love of bicycles ended, until ten years later when my car died, and I was forced to take up cycling again.

This time it stuck.

[bironi]

Originally Posted by Repack Rider

When I was 12, my family finally let my brother and me get new bikes. They were Hercules Hawthorne 3-speed "Racers" ordered from Montgomery Ward. Before then we had ridden second hand balloon tire bikes. My parents had not bought me a bike, so I bought my own for $5 at a garage sale.

Even in 1955, $5 did not buy much of a bike. But after riding that junk for three years, finally I had a new "Racer."

One week later I was racing a younger neighbor, Kevin Ward, to show him how fast my new bike was. I rode into the back of Kevin's dad's 1955 Chevy, which was parked in its usual place in front of their house. I bent the fork, and the bike was never the same.

I was too embarrassed to tell my parents, and I knew nothing of bike shop capabilities in repairing such damage. From then on, I rode my brother's bike when he let me. My love of bicycles ended, until ten years later when my car died, and I was forced to take up cycling again.

This time it stuck.

Good story,
Thanks.