I used some old pipes and brackets to hang my hiking sticks in the garage. Thought it was sturdy, but when I put the third one up, the whole thing came off the wall. Now I have a pile of sticks and holes in the drywall to fix. Probably should have used stronger anchors.
Yeah, that sounds familiar... I once tried to hang a bike rack in my shed with some old hardware. Thought it was solid, but the whole thing pulled out of the wall when I put the second bike up. @the_joel has a point about whether it's the anchors or the whole setup... in my case, the brackets were fine, but the wall itself was just drywall with no studs. Ended up with a big hole and a bent bike frame. Sometimes DIY projects teach you the hard way about load bearing and proper mounts.
Man, your story really hits home. I used to think any anchor would do the trick, but hearing about your bent bike frame convinced me to always check for studs first.