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Had a customer bring in a bike with a cassette held on by a zip tie
This was at my shop in Boise last Tuesday. The guy said his 'buddy' fixed it for him after the lockring threads stripped. The zip tie snapped after about 3 miles, obviously. I had to explain why a $12 lockring tool and a new freehub body was the only real fix. Has anyone else seen a 'repair' this creative?
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emery_lopez8d ago
Nah, that's just a bad idea all around. A zip tie can't handle the torque from pedaling, even gently. It's not a temporary fix, it's a guaranteed way to wreck the whole wheel. That "buddy" cost him way more money in the long run.
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blake69120d ago
What if the zip tie was just a temporary trailside fix to get home? Sometimes you gotta use what you have. A new freehub body is the right answer, but not everyone has the tools or cash right then. Maybe his buddy was just trying to help him avoid a long walk. It's not a real repair, but it shows some quick thinking in a pinch.
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fox.matthew19d ago
But how far could you actually ride on that? A zip tie is plastic and those pawls take a real beating. I'm picturing it just shearing off the first time you put any real power down, maybe even jamming things up worse. What's the real-world distance on a fix like that, a couple hundred yards of gentle pedaling before it fails?
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