Stuck, and had to call for back-up?

I was wondering how many of you have had yer bike break and had to call someone to come get you. I've had a lot of breaking down, yet it seems to always happen in a place I can manage to get home. Most of the things that have broken are things I can fix now, but still I've only been far enough from home to warrant a field repair once (and I didn't have any tools with me, but I was able to strip the wire with my teeth, thank god because it was like 4 am and like 15 degrees). Well, I guess most people here can pedal if they need to, so we could also mention the worst you've had to do with pedaling home. Worst break down for me was probably actually when I ran out of battery 20 miles from home and discovered my charger was broken. Luckily, Milwaukee seems to have a great bus system because they came all the way out there.

I was stuck and needed a lif on my second commute to work on my eBike. This was due to an all around puncture caused by Slime tyre protectors. They had a sharp edge which wore through the tube around the perimiter. The slime inner tube let go with green gunk every where. This happened exactly mid way between home and work. Doh!

Been there twice, both times due to flats. At about 200 total mileage, and 9miles from home, I ran over something metal with my back tire nearly locked up for a panic stop at a red light. Thought I could make it through the intersection while the light was still green. Not sure what the object was (a wire brush, perhaps?); but it left about a dozen holes and several stiff, steel wires in my inner tube. I walked a quarter mile back to a grocery store to make the call and wait.

I changed tires to Continental Town & Country's with tube protectors. Had about 500 miles of trouble free riding then while commuting home, 15miles from home & 5 from work, I ran over some large, metal staples. These punctured between the rear tire's tread blocks ( must have hit a pile of them ) and they went through both the tire and tube protector. Makes me wonder if the Schwalbe Marathons would work any better?

Early on (<50 miles total), I melted my Power-Poles about 2miles from home. I rode it back, but it was quite a struggle. The extra weight of 48V11.5Ah battery and a 5304 on the rear plus motor cogging really adds up. Melting my connectors was my only electronic or motor failure in 800 miles & 3 months of riding - so far.

Now if I could just eliminate those flats...

Eric S.

Only two break downs in ~3400 kms.

1) 4 inch nail straight through tyre (Schwalbe Marathon Plus), and both sides of the inner tube. Didn't have repair kit with me.

2) a fairly dramatic failureof the side plate of my hub motor. So couldn't pedal, or motor on.

I have also twice had to rescue my wife from car failures using the bike. So I consider the score even.

Rifle said:

Well, I guess most people here can pedal if they need to, so we could also mention the worst you've had to do with pedaling home.

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Full story:
http://electricle.blogspot.com/2009/12/blown-mosfets-due-to-chain-jam-possible.html

Quick version:
--Rightside chain derailed, tangled, jammed (destroying at least 6" worth of links in different places in the chain)
--Jam caused rear wheel to be pulled out of the dropouts *only* on the right side, along with the derailer bolted to it, by the super-high torque of my non-hub motor (nearly destroying wheel, bending axle, rim, etc)
--Wheel stopping rotation and chain stopping caused motor to stop and controller current limit didnt' work fast enough, 80A MOSFETs took over 153A and bottom leg of controller blew.
--Spent an hour on median fixing wheel and chain enough to pedal 2.5 miles home (a real chore on a 150-pound bike that won't stay stably upright at less than around 9MPH).

Haven't had a chance to fix controller or correctly repair wheel yet, either; may not for a couple of days minimum, so I'm on the old upright pedal-only DayGlo Avenger for now.

Had lots of other failures including a few that required walking home, like when the motor actually ripped out of it's 1/8" thick steel mounting plate (had to double it up to 1/4"), and in very early drivetrain versions before motorization when even the torque from pedalling was too much for my "handcrafted" adapter parts....

There were some also with the DayGlo Avenger before it was motorized and after; most let me pedal home, but not all.

EDIT (added): In my nearly 3 decades of cycling, all unpowered prior to 2007, I've had other disasters of various kinds including a rear wheel actually coming entirely out of the dropouts on a cheap Murray Biotech 10-speed when I hit a very deep pothole I couldn't see at all (managed to just clip the edge with the front wheel but the rear went right in and didn't come out with the rest of the bike!), and got lucky that someone with a pickup truck happened to be right there at the time. That was around 11 or 12 years ago. Lots and lots and lots of other "little" disasters that don't quite meet up to that one.

Once, except my back-up was riding with me.
The Kenda tire sidewall separated from the wire bead. BANG!

Adam, Justin, Mark and Zev helped me limp ~8 blocks to the shop.
I rode home from there with a free tire installed.

I did some mods to the bike and did not put my pump back. Nice big nail poked through the tire somehow. Fixed it with my patch and tool kits but was unable to put air in. Called for help to save me from a two-mile walk pushing the 65lb beast and trashing my tire.
I also melted a Powerpole once. I used some stiff wire and evidently it almost pulled apart so made a bad connection heated up and melted stuff. Digging in my bike bag I discovered I had no tools so reached for my Leatherman on the keychain no keys that day either. So I grabbed for the cell phone but had left it in the other jacket. Took 20 minutes but I managed to get the melted plastic off on terminal and plugged in the naked terminal, to the less damaged one, adding a small chip of wood to make it tight. Funny thing it was cuz I rode off on a nice warm afternoon then the bike broke and immediately the wind kicked up, the rain started, it got dark and the temperature dropped probly 15 degrees in a few minutes so as to make my fingers not work to well. Did the werq under cover of a small overhang of some warehouse. I got lucky that time and babied it home.
Think I need adult supervision to make sure I have everything before I go out some days. ;^)

I broke down last summer in a bad neighboorhood of chicago. I have to ride through east garfield park on my way home from work. Its one of the most dangerous areas in the USA. I hit a pot hole and the rim on my cruiser was bent bad. Bike was messed up. I had to call my wife to bring the truck. i was lucky i didnt get robbed or shot.

Now i go around that area but it adds 3 miles to my commute.

Yeah, vulnerable on a bike in some places on earth. Some carry bear spray etc.

Only one call to the wife in 5000 miles so far. For a flat for sure. I've pedaled a dead bike a long ways for sure at times. Still quicker than waiting an hour for the bus. For some reason problems only occur when it just went by. On my commuter I carry everything now, pump, chain breaker, wrenches. And lots of 4x4 grade slime in my tubes. The stuff with the huge chunks in it to plug larger holes. My tubes must weigh about 2 pounds each from all the slime. Seems like I get a lot of need for the tools at first on a new secondhand bike, and then it tapers off a lot after I chuck all the junk stuff that came on it.

dogman said:

Yeah, vulnerable on a bike in some places on earth.

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Compared to a car almost always vulnerable. Riding through East St. Louis I had some teenagers tried to get my attention and I slowed up ever so slightly before they started throwing rocks at me (they missed). Breaking down at that point would have been the worst ever. If people couldn't have cars there'd probably be way bigger efforts to improve our ghettos. Instead people spend money to live in gated communities and ride right over them on the freeways.

One bike, Giant Lafree Lite, has never broken down, not even a flat. One time the seat got a little loose, but the first gas station I stopped at loaned me the correct wrench.

All other bikes, evenly split into fixed on road, took bus home, called for ride. 7 years, now about one break down a year, usually now either fix on road, or take bus home. (excluding first test rides after significant work on ebike)

HOWEVER, with the defunding of mass transit and bus service getting downgraded, I will have to be more self sufficient. Will put more slime in tubes, always carry extra tube maybe run better tires, carry better rain gear.

Any more info on that tube that can be changed without removing the wheel?

I used to ride three different ebikes and would move the meter, jacket, chain, lock, and tool kit as I changed rides. now just making kits for every bike.
Seems the bike breaks when there are no tools, it rains when the jacket is at home. That is going to end.

d

The beauty of an e-bike is that its a bicycle and you can pedal it without the motor-assist. That said, I never ride a bike without a basic tool kit (an all-in-one) and tube repair kit (had that drilled into my head as a kid) and I've got tire pump attached to the frame. I always have my panniers and in addition to the tool kit and tube repair kit, I've got a basic first aid kit (now that it's winter I've got an additional winter kit--chemical hand warmers, extra gloves, fold-up thermal blanket, etc.--since I live in a rural area in the far northern US Rockies). I also never go out without hydration on board the bike. If you have the proper tools, you should be able to handle most basic bike repairs while out on a ride.

P.S. An all-in-one tool kit doesn't weigh much or take up much room. Mine's similar to this one.

Yeah, carry tools. Mine have fixed others bikes more than mine. Road karma is always good to have.

Twice, rescued by my brother.

Broken seat post - with battery on rack the bike was unrideable (no there wasn't enough post left to make it lower).


Broken frame. No explanation required.

I had a couple tire break downs, though not too far from home. 1 front and 1 rear. 4 or 5 spoke breakages...most of the time too bad to just loosen up the brakes and ride home. I've since gotten a much better wheel so hopefully that's a thing of the past. There have been a couple bad "chain wraps" where I've had to walk it home. Having a chain-drive sometimes poses challenges. Called on the fiance twice to help me out.

nwmtnbiker said:

The beauty of an e-bike is that its a bicycle and you can pedal it without the motor-assist. That said, I never ride a bike without a basic tool kit (an all-in-one) and tube repair kit (had that drilled into my head as a kid) and I've got tire pump attached to the frame. I always have my panniers and in addition to the tool kit and tube repair kit, I've got a basic first aid kit (now that it's winter I've got an additional winter kit--chemical hand warmers, extra gloves, fold-up thermal blanket, etc.--since I live in a rural area in the far northern US Rockies). I also never go out without hydration on board the bike. If you have the proper tools, you should be able to handle most basic bike repairs while out on a ride.

P.S. An all-in-one tool kit doesn't weigh much or take up much room. Mine's similar to this one.

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All I need I thought till you mentioned the body repair kit (first aid). Found the Crank Bros unit had a chain break tool and four spoke wrenches one fits the 12g spoke nipples also a nice unit. The Leatherman is great for on the go electrical repair it makes them much easier. It's always on my keychain. Now I will go and upgrade my first aid kit from one Band-Aid in my wallet to something a bit more substantial. Thanks for the thought. Kit weight is at 12 oz at the moment. Way to heavy for the roadies me thinks. ;^)

My travels are usually within city limits.
Although I carry tools for a repair, it's a real PITA on an Xtracycle when it's wet, windy, cold and dark.
The bike won't fit on a bus rack and is too long to be legal on sky-train.
The most important "tool" for self reliance would be a two-legged center stand.


Top to bottom is a pump and 22mm combination wrench. They live in the inside pocket of the Xtracycle Free Loaders
The under-seat bag holds most of the rest of the stuff.
The Leatherman and spare fuses live in a battery bag.
The spare inner tube is wrapped in a sock to prevent chafing. The sock provides an emergency rag/glove for handling the chain.
Next to that are three steel tire irons, a boot and two self stick patches.
The 4-way spoke wrench, chain breaker and hex keys fit what's on the bike.
Then there's a pair of latex gloves and some moistened hand wipes.
The Crescent wrench has been carried by every bicycle I've owned since 1970. Even when I didn't need it for my bike I carried it to help others. It has.
The last item is a cork screw. Every bike I've owned since 2000 has carried one . . . they're all Swiss Army Bikes.

For anything more than a couple miles from home I trail a kid carrier, in which I have an air compressor, spare tire, tube, tools, and sometimes extra batteries(LifePO4).

I've tried calling back up once, the most I got was a non-refusal to check the bus schedule online and the expected command "Wait for the bus". It was a 40 degree day and a holiday, so the bus was on holiday, so I potentially had to wait upto an hour. To my luck, I encountered someone at the bus stop that was already there for at least 20 minutes, so I had only 40 minutes at max to go! YIPPEE! It turned out to be 30, but still not fun. (And, as you might infer, they do not put up schedules at the bus stops. Seattle was faaar better in this regard.)

I now take my 2 pound netbook with me for any "extended trips"(At least a mile) just in case... it contains all of the bus schedules on it.

biohazardman said:

Kit weight is at 12 oz at the moment. Way to heavy for the roadies me thinks. ;^)

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If that is too heavy, my several-pound kit would probably kill them.

ive had two punctures where i called for back up. once i had to drag it home when the wheel became stuck somehow. usually i can pedal or motor it home if something breaks.

I had my sla battery pack burst into flames while riding! I had rigged up a battery balancing system on my 48 volt sla's with no fuzes
One wire shorted and there was a chain reaction fire from the isulation burning off the wireing! It was the beginning of winter and was quite cold out. At least I had a nice battery fire to keep warm with :lol:
I ruined my winter gloves while frantically ripping out fistfulls of wireing to stop the fire. I had to pedal the heavy pig 20 km home
The fire burnt holes into 2 of the batteries and charred the other 2; I fixed them with bike tire patches and kept using them 8)

On another occasion I was just heading out to work on my front hub with plug braking through a 1 ohm resistor and my front steel dropouts failed!
The axle split the dropout in half on one side and spun the axle ripping all the wires and blowing my controller in the process. I was just accelerating from a stop and wasn't up to speed so no crash this time. I had to walk the busted bike home and then walk 10 km to work with no backup bike.

This was my first E-bike about 4 years ago and I was experimenting with everything!

i have a back-up ebike now. DIY ebikes can be a bit unreliable. unlike commercially designed products you have to do all the beta testing your-self. probably high end commercial ebikes are more reliable but you get what you pay for.

i never carry any tools with me. just cable ties for securing stuff that falls off. the side of the road is no place to fix stuff. even the AA know that.