Author Topic: Worst bodges you've come across ?  (Read 20056 times)

Worst bodges you've come across ?
« on: 24 January, 2010, 09:29:22 am »
What is the worst (or most un-necessary) bodge you have ever seen on a bike ?

I'll start:
These were all found on same e-bay "bargain" when it arrived.

Front wheel - clincher tyre on tub rim
Brake levers - old non aero type, hoods from aero type, cable holes punched through top.
Brake inner cables forced into gear cable outers  -  with a few loose strands curled up inside levers
Seat post filed away at saddle end so a short allen key could be used to adjust clamp bolt
seat post diameter too small - sides of frame slot forced together by overtorqued bolt.
Rear derailleur hanger thread stripped, mech designed for axle mounting, bolted to hanger with a bit of M10 rod & 2 nuts
And - I have no how or why this happened, but when I took the BB out, one of the bearing cages was so distorted, the balls were floating around loose.



clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #1 on: 24 January, 2010, 09:42:11 am »
:o :o :o

Hope that you manage to get it to rideable condition without too much hassle.

And how the hell can you even do this?:

Front wheel - clincher tyre on tub rim
Getting there...

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #2 on: 24 January, 2010, 10:18:34 am »
Some years ago, one of my colleagues decided to get back into cycling and dug up his old BSO.  It wasn't a very stable ride, and when I looked at it, it had an old mechanical speedo, with a pickup fitted between the hub and fork.  In essence the wheel was slightly sideways from where it should have been, so the front and rear wheel tracks weren't in line.

Once we binned the speedo, the bike worked OK, well better anyway, it was still a heavy old BSO!

Admittedly, it wasn't strictly speaking a bodge, but it was a damned bad idea by whoever did it!
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #3 on: 24 January, 2010, 03:37:24 pm »
... so the front and rear wheel tracks weren't in line.

I see no problem with that.  ;)
If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is...

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #4 on: 24 January, 2010, 03:53:59 pm »
... so the front and rear wheel tracks weren't in line.

I see no problem with that.  ;)

Maybe I should have caveated it with the phrase "...when he wanted the bike to go in a straight line". :)
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #5 on: 24 January, 2010, 04:01:09 pm »
... so the front and rear wheel tracks weren't in line.

I see no problem with that.  ;)

Maybe I should have caveated it with the phrase "...when he wanted the bike to go in a straight line". :)

A certain well-known cycle engineer designs his bikes that way.

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #6 on: 24 January, 2010, 04:26:30 pm »
Not sure if it counts as a true bodge but...

An 11-year old's bike with the brakes removed (by Dad) - because they were making a noise.
It was safe though because he was wearing a hel....


Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #7 on: 24 January, 2010, 04:50:12 pm »
... so the front and rear wheel tracks weren't in line.

I see no problem with that.  ;)

Maybe I should have caveated it with the phrase "...when he wanted the bike to go in a straight line". :)

A certain well-known cycle engineer designs his bikes that way.

I assume you're talking about MB, and I remember one of his bikes where he did manage to build the bike that way, so angled the front forks over so that the contact point of the wheels were in line, even though the centres of the wheels weren't.  I think I've got a shot of it somewhere, where you can see the angle of the two wheels to each other!
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #8 on: 24 January, 2010, 08:07:15 pm »
He's done ones with the rear cantered over to give inline contact patches, but he has also done bikes with 'parallel tracking'  - they still work
If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is...

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #9 on: 24 January, 2010, 08:13:09 pm »
I guess, as with many things relating to the stability of bikes, it depends on a plethora of aspects.  The bike in question definitely worked better once the speedo had been removed, but that could also have been due to other elements.

Either way, binning it was the best solution!
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #10 on: 24 January, 2010, 08:44:11 pm »
I once commuted to work on a very ancient and neglected bike.

One day I noticed a small rust hole in the chainstay, near the chainring. I poked the hole with a finger and the hole increased substantialy.

Next day at work I got one of the welders to weld on two lengths of 1/4" diameter steel rod to reinforce the weakened chainstay.

Commuted on that bike for a further two years before scrapping off the frame.
I don't want to grow old gracefully. I want to grow old disgracefully.

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #11 on: 24 January, 2010, 09:48:41 pm »
Commuted on that bike for a further two years before scrapping off the frame.

That would appear to be a good bodge.

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #12 on: 25 January, 2010, 10:42:21 am »
There's a gut at work who commutes on a Dahon with a broken hinge. It's repaired with a combination of aluminium plates araldited in place and loads of gaffer tape. Looks awful, but he reckons it is actually more rigid than it was before he "fixed" it.

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #13 on: 25 January, 2010, 10:46:16 am »
........  loads of gaffer tape.

Ahh!

Doubtless, that'll be mexican welding tape.

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #14 on: 25 January, 2010, 12:17:29 pm »
:o :o :o

Hope that you manage to get it to rideable condition without too much hassle.


It's taken me a few months, partly because I was determined not to spend any money on it, partly because I was still on the "learning curve" as far as fixed wheel was concerned; but it is now rideable - albeit with wheels robbed from another bike.   Now all I have to do is get used to riding fixed. 8)

Mr Larrington

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Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #15 on: 25 January, 2010, 02:26:38 pm »
He's done ones with the rear cantered over to give inline contact patches

That was the UFO as campaigned by Ian Sheen in the mid-90s.  He reported that it worked much better once it had been fitted with a set of conventional stereo forks and had the rear casting rotated so as to make the rear wheel vertical.  Last heard of lurking in Big Mal Squires' loft after having been converted to USS :(
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Tim Hall

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Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #16 on: 26 January, 2010, 09:13:19 pm »
Years and years and years ago I had a Vindec Speedster.  Somewhow (I think I crashed it) the joint between the top tube and seat tube came apart. It was lugged construction. Fortunately there was a wee hole in the lug, and corresponding wee hole in the top tube.

So I put a nail in it, to stop it springing further apart.

Worked like that for 3 years, until it got stolen.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Tourist Tony

  • Supermassive mobile flesh-toned black hole
Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #17 on: 24 March, 2010, 07:27:04 pm »
Many years ago I read of a motorcycle bodge, where someone wanted a Guzzi style brake, in which the rear brake pedal operates one of the front discs as well. So, he removed his front brake lever and bolted it to a crash bar, connected by a rod to the pedal.
This is not a bodge, it was built by the factory apparently, but I shuddered when I saw it. The bike itself must be about the least rigid tandem ever:


The rear brake....s:


And the operating mechanism-shaped-object.

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #18 on: 24 March, 2010, 08:31:54 pm »
Aside from the non-rigidness of the frame, that isn't a good brake arrangement.  The failure of any part of the mechanism will cause both rear brakes to fail.  A not much more complex design could leave some redundancy in the system.
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #19 on: 27 March, 2010, 08:10:01 am »
"Schwinn - purveyors of BSOs for over 100 years".

I suppose we have them to thank for the MTB.  Sort of.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #20 on: 29 March, 2010, 12:54:54 pm »
My Schwinn Rocket88 was an excellent bike, though.

Granted, I did eventually snap the frame...  :-[
Life is too important to be taken seriously.

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #21 on: 31 March, 2010, 09:16:06 am »
<snip>
This is not a bodge, it was built by the factory apparently, but I shuddered when I saw it....
<snip>
Sorry, but that *points back to picture of "tandem"* is a bodge.  It has bodginess built in right from the off.  *shudders*.  It looks suspiciously like the cycling equivalent of a cut and shut.
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Tourist Tony

  • Supermassive mobile flesh-toned black hole
Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #22 on: 07 April, 2010, 06:19:24 pm »
I was having a chat with the group including the women who were riding the thing. They told me that it was eactly how it came from the shop, new. We were in the Puszta, the great Hungarian plain, so not many no hills too worry about

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #23 on: 08 April, 2010, 09:01:56 am »
Unfortunately the worst bodge I've encountered was a custom built tourer I had made for me.

The company seem to be a 2-part operation, shop and frame builder.  The public deal with the shop, who then pass on the spec for a frame and on receiving said frame, add components.

So the result..

The back brakes useless because the bosses were too far apart and in any case the V-brakes were not suitable for use with drop bar levers and 'travel-agents' are a bodge in themselves.
The triple chainset would only work on 2 rings because shimano MTB chainsets were/are not compatible with STI shifters
The expensive Schmidt dynamo could not be aligned with the tyrewall track and so massive wear occurred when using it.

The really annoying thing was their great reluctance to fix anything and in the end I gave up on them and
took it to Mercian and Ellis Briggs who did a good job in tranforming the heap into a fine tourer. 

(Have also used Roberts who produced a magnificent audax machine.)
 






Move Faster and Bake Things

Re: Worst bodges you've come across ?
« Reply #24 on: 07 November, 2014, 11:48:50 am »
Speaking of flexible frames.

Bike with top tube cut out by Cycling Mollie, on Flickr