Things I hear all the time:
“What did you do to your bike?”, “I didn’t even know that part could GET broken.”, “How did you manage to do that?”
Things I think all time:
“ANOTHER flat?”, “That sounds like a broken spoke”, “I need a zip tie”,”Why does the shifter casing keep breaking”, “I need to order more derailleur hangers.”, “Half a pedal? – that’s fine.”, “Thank the heavens for quick links”, “That’s not a crack is it?”
I don’t know WHY I destroy my bike(s). I’m not entirely sure what it is that I’m doing that is different than everyone else. I fall on occasion – sure, but not often enough to warrant the frequency and consistency of damage. I’ve cracked frames (I did a rear triangle & a seat post joint – on different bikes of course), broken pedals, taco-ed rims, broken spokes… at least derailleur hangers are designed to break off. I have YET to find a bar-end cap that will survive an entire month on my handlebars. Last week saw a broken derailleur pulley and a cracked shifter casing. This week I lost one side of my clipless pedals.
What a mess.
“You ride like a 300lbs man!” Maybe it’s is just my massive personality that is torquing the bike in such vicious ways.
Probably not.
In the grander scheme of life, I find this interesting:
I have had 2 serious bike related injuries in my life – a broken collar bone and a shattered elbow. Both of these injuries happened while racing my road bike – a bike I have never broken anything major on. My mountain bike on the other hand – I seem to break something on it almost constantly, yet I’ve had no serious injuries to my person while riding one.
There is poetry in there somewhere.