'what good bike parts have you broken' thread?

[Once A Hero]

Re:

Earliest one I can think of is a frame rather than a part.

1990 Muddyfox Adventurer - top tube cracked right through about an inch from the head tube. How? Just by riding along a frozen path littered with horse shoe prints which basically made the path into a teeth rattling washboard which the frame obviously didn't agree with!
Story has a silver lining though as the frame was a little too large for me at the time, and the LBS sent it back to Muddyfox who replaced it under warranty for one in the right size

 

[rogerzilla]

Re:

Ripped out the sidewall of a nice tyre on a glass bottle during a short ride into town. Had no way to remove the wheel (nutted fixie), so patched the tube in situ, booted the tyre with (literally) the back of a fag packet, and it got me within half a mile of home before the cardboard gave up and it popped again.

 

[Silvergoat]

Re: Re:

Ripped out the sidewall of a nice tyre on a glass bottle during a short ride into town. Had no way to remove the wheel (nutted fixie), so patched the tube in situ, booted the tyre with (literally) the back of a fag packet, and it got me within half a mile of home before the cardboard gave up and it popped again.

You did well with that. I always carry a roll of Gorilla Tape and a craft knife with me now after suffering spates of punctures, blowouts and running out of patches nowhere from home. I cut a small 'patch' off the Gorilla Tape and slapped it straight on the inner tube firming it down. As a temporary fix it got me home but it stuck so well that I was riding with it for weeks. I think the tape is a little porous so I had to pump the tyre up every 5 days or so. The tape's also useful for other fails too...