Ever regret lending out your bike/scooter?

I'm alway hesitant on lending out my ebike to other people because in my mind too many out there are idiots. My boss usually borrow my bike for small errand like coffee and snacks. I usually accept but follow follow along setting up battery, turning on switches, and giving direction until the last minute of departure. Lately i've been skeptical and keep saying no. Anyway...today i cave in and said yes. Oh boy do i regret it. I didn't notice anything differently when he came back because he doesn't pedal but as we were closing up the guy said sorry earlier he stopped some where. When he parked it, it tipped over and scratched the handle bar.

I said it's alright not a big deal, but i was skeptical and have a further look at the bike. At the moment i'm doubting the whole tipped over thing. My front fork is dented a bit near the dropout. left rubber handle was scratched up, brakes lever scratched up...both side. His store start out saying it tip to the left so i agree with the left handle scratched up. Further investigation show my right pedal also was scratched up. This lead to seeing the front derailleur is bent inward. Following that i notice the rear dérailleur is now pointing toward the spokes. I'm pretty sure dérailleur doesn't have negative camber. From that view i looked up and my battery bag was scratched up. Some of the zipper has popped their position. Nylon show some fraying. Rear rack was bent. Oh and the best part. My throttle is stuck. If i twist it to max position, i would have to turn it back to decrease because the return spring doesn't work. So now when i brake i can't just release throttle and apply brake. Have to twist the throttle back and then brake.

No one is touching my bikes again. I'll make copy of full repair reembursement agreement and have them sign it before taking it out. Okay...enough venting. Back to banging and adjusting my drive train.

ngocthach1130 said:

I'm alway hesitant on lending out my ebike to other people because in my mind too many out there are idiots. My boss usually borrow my bike for small errand like coffee and snacks. I usually accept but follow follow along setting up battery, turning on switches, and giving direction until the last minute of departure.

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Borrow the douchebag's car and give it back wrecked. Tell him it tipped over.

That sucks

Plan B: Get a beater bike and hook up a cheap motor system. Let him borrow it with just enough charge to get half way.

fechter said:

Plan B: Get a beater bike* and hook up a cheap motor system. Let him borrow it with just enough charge to get half way.

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*With a bent derailleur.

Yep I've often regretted lending my bikes to people.

Your derailleur hanger is frocked but it can be repaired, it takes a special tool that's like a lever that screws into where the derailleur goes with a screw thing at the other end so you can compare it's angle with the wheel and adjust it, but I've done acceptable repairs with an adjustable wrench. May need a new derailleur. Consider going SS? Just find a gear you can live with all the time, if you have horizontal drops I know there's magic gear calculators somewhere on the net, or maybe you could use a ghost ring.

The throttle probably just has the grip pushed against it, I'd try working it outwards a bit.

yeah i got the throttle problem straighten out. The rear derailleur is also acceptable now. The hanger was bent. Yeah, it was real fun straightening out a aluminum hanger. Aluminum is a bitch to straighten once bent. Took lots of pulling and disassembly to hammer it straight. Still pretty pissed off seeing a bike that was babied so much, now having scratches and deep gouge everywhere.

Exactly why I don't lend my bike to anyone. I just tell them it's not really finished and I'm not done testing it (which is only a half-lie).

Hmmm.. i've had ok luck so far.. i lend any of my bikes to any willing participant.

but.. all those who borrow my bikes know how i am with them and how much time i spent putting them together so they take alot of care.

I've had a few incidents with tip-overs and one crash ( not me.. but friends .. ) , these tings happen and i have enough parts to fix them up, if and when i eventually start to sell these bikes to the masses, i will have to deal with this type of stuff regularly, may as well learn now.

letting people use your bike is a big deal. i only let cool people try my ride, and cute girls :wink:

tho its too heavy for most girls and they cant hold it still to get on it. often when i hand it to someone they think it is going to weigh like a normal bike and they drop it or drop themselves. some people underestimate the power and end up launching the bike. if they don't let go the thing will do a massive wheelie!

LOL @ Ypedal's new avitar.

Ypedal said:

Hmmm.. i've had ok luck so far.. i lend any of my bikes to any willing participant.

but.. all those who borrow my bikes know how i am with them and how much time i spent putting them together so they take alot of care.

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Same here. Most of the time, the people I let rid my bicycle take care of it because I only let trustworthy people ride it, or I make them aware that if they ride like an idiot, I might have to give them a hand upside there head.

OpAmp said:

Same here. Most of the time, the people I let rid my bicycle take care of it because I only let trustworthy people ride it, or I make them aware that if they ride like an idiot, I might have to give them a hand upside there head.

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Another idea:

Buy a cheap helmet from the thrift store for $2. Smash it as hard as you can against the ground; you want it in as many pieces as possible. Show it to them as say this is what happens if you crash.

Many years ago I had a really neat two door hardtop Lincoln with a huge 500+ cubic inch engine. Although it was ten years old it was absolutely cherry and I was PROUD of that car. One of the fellows I worked with asked to borrow it to run into town to cash his check and against my better judgement agreed.

After he came back I looked out the window and noticed he had backed it into my parking place and I merely thought he was being nice as I didnt have to walk around the car or back out myself. When I got home I pulled into my garage and thought no more about it. Next morning my wife rode to work with me and when she went around to her side she asked what happened to the car. The whole passenger door and panel behind it were crushed. Destroyed. Door wouldn't open.

Guess who denied anything. I went into town and found green paint on a pole in the liquor store parking lot.

That was 40 years ago and I still don't lend my car. Bike either. A couple of people have ridden it but always in my sight.

Mike

Kids always come up to me when I am on my "Toys"(small electrics) and want to ride it because it looks fun and easy, little do they know I made every bike I own and have riden them when they rode like shit and not as fast as they are now, in other words I have already worked my self up from a Pinto to a Mustange and know how to act on my bikes through knoledge gained from crashing them so many times in the past. many of you know my bikes are fast and many of you know my bike look like danger....But I cant keep people from asking me all the time that dumb ass line "Can I ride it" Reply: "Hell no, go get your own!"

I have had many of my friends ride my bikes though, some times they crashed them right in frontt of me with peices spooling all over the road. I always asked as they walked it back to me befor they could even say sorry, I asked if they were ok? So and So to emphisise the fack that they paid in there own pain. Sure I was pissed, but I make my bikes from shit in the first place, so fixxing them isnt the problem at all to me, hell I could re weld a frame back together from the worst of wreaks!

Only a few. I'm hesitant about the guys at work as one of them is liable to hurt themselves and sue me. I'd only let people who are genuinely interested in e-bikes ride it with the hopes of it being contagious enough that they get into it. So far one is close. My mom tried it too, she's 65 and it was running at 80 volts then on a 408. She didn't max it out though. My dad was too chicken to even get on it.

I'm currently fixing up an e-scooter, it'll be the first EV I've ever owned and ever ridden. I'm really amped to get it done. Problem is, I have a friend who will most definately want to take it for a ride. This is a problem as he has already totalled his first car and is on his way to totalling his second. He's extremely destructive. I'm not one to say "no" but I'm going to have to if I'm to protect my precious.

Sputnik

I'm begging people to take my electric bicycle for a ride but no one wants to. I wonder why. I guess "My ride" isn't fashionable.

lol ummmm trust me did it once guy under estemated the 80km/h ebike and took a wipe out i was like told u so thank got i protected my packs like a baby newborn lmao lipo packs arnt the most tuffest cells lol

Yes,I lent my ebike to my 18 yr old nephew once and did regret it.
He said he only wanted to take it for a short ride to show the bike to his friends and he'd be back shortly,I reluctantly agreed.Off he went and he didn't come back til ~4 hours later with a completely flat battery (the LVC on the controller is set to 19v).Turned out he let all his friends take turns riding it and when the batts went flat they decided to go into someones house for a few beers and then he pedaled it back home.When he got back I yelled at him for a bit and then his mom got into his face too.He's grown up some since then but it's unlikely I'll let him ride it again.

Eric

KTM 500 count...? then yes..... dumb fat ass thought he could pop/ride a wheelie like yours truly @ 40+mph.... regret that I did not have a frocking camera for you-tube.....
E-bike......no regrets.... g-friend iz scared of it (scared of anything electrical that isn't made to vibrate),... 10 yo daughter loves it (she gets 2nd build...RC 7000watt) and 50 yo bro grins ear 2 ear.... in fact he's 'contracting' (beer+parts) me to build him two.....
http://www.unitedhobbies.com/UNITEDHOBBIES/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=5139

I had some stranger and his kid at the mall ask me for a go on my dyno 36v bmx ebike, I said no, its my transport man, and he got all agressive and started to shoot me and the whole bike thing down.

And just the other day some guy I sat next to having my pie and drink bothered to ask me if those wheels were mine just to tell me it looked too heavy I sort of looked at him and thought so did he and called him a dick as he walked off.

Youre doing well to say no to anybody, its times like these you set that word into stone. We have met some freaky people over the years who have asked to borrow what ever small things we have and no is quite an easy word to say.

No no no.



Nope!

Hey can I have the password to the admin panel to ES Cpanel login? Can I get shell access to the server?

PLEAAAAAAAAASEE,

317537 said:

I had some stranger and his kid at the mall ask me for a go on my dyno 36v bmx ebike, I said no, its my transport man, and he got all agressive and started to shoot me and the whole bike thing down.

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poor kid............. quite an influence that fuc*tard is......
biggest prob I have iz explaining of how sheet worx as they salivate all over 'em selves.....

After reading these horror stories I think I'm going to stop letting other people ride my bike.

I have only allowed one person to ride my ebike and that was my mechanic. I had second thoughts immediately after watching him take it for a spin down the middle of the street; he was out of control.

Actually I should probably say that he is my former mechanic now that I have placed my really cool 4WD in storage and up on blocks back in April 2009.

I have a bike for "loaning" out for demo rides, 36v 20mph max and 22A!

My personal rides don't get loaned out, not to anyone... ever.

-Mike