Most useless purchase ever?

boink · Post by **boink** » 11 Jan 2009, 3:10pm

I've bought some useless stuff over the last 2 years, returning to cycling after a 20 year lay off, but the worst has to be the hi viz 'smiley face' stickers
bought at halfords last week. Unpeeled them, stuck them on my fabric pannier bags and then watched them unstick and drop onto the floor. £5 on two little stickers which the small print tells you you might have to sew on!

Just wondered if anyone else has ever shelled out for something they thought would improve any aspect of their cycling lives, only to get that 'wheres the receipt' feeling as soon as it was out of the bag/box?

glueman · Post by **glueman** » 11 Jan 2009, 3:29pm

May have mentioned this before but about 15 years ago at York Rally I bought what I believe to be a saddlepack cum mini-rucksack. It consisted of yards of webbing, buckles and snap links and a small pouch of hi-tech nylon containing numerous zips.

It was reduced from £70 to £7 or summat which should have been a clue. For a while it became a party game - what the hell is this - before I stripped it of the plastic bits and binned the thing. Utterly and completely useless.

rapidfire72 · Post by **rapidfire72** » 11 Jan 2009, 4:14pm

Aldi overshoes, zip-puller broke, 1st time out. having said, I stuck a safety pin on and considering how warm there were, but did bin them in the end.

frank9755 · Post by **frank9755** » 11 Jan 2009, 5:48pm

Easy - rainlegs. Funny things that go round your waist like a belt, then when it starts raining you unroll two flaps to cover the fronts of your thighs.

Bought them from Wiggle for about £30. Put them on once in the kitchen. My wife just laughed and said they looked like fetish wear. I didn't get round to returning them in time so they are lying around the house somehwere. Last time I looked on Wiggle they were selling them off for about £4.

bikepacker · Post by **bikepacker** » 11 Jan 2009, 6:04pm

An Extremities beanie hat from Terra Nova. It was supposed to be insulated but it was useless.

Jeckyll_n_Snyde · Post by **Jeckyll_n_Snyde** » 11 Jan 2009, 6:44pm

Second hand Sidi shoes offa fleabay.... the wrap around yellow plasticky bit (with ratchet buckle) disintegrated/snapped (had become brittle) when i washed them..... seller just ignored my e-mails.
Complete waste of money......never again :evil:

paulah · Post by **paulah** » 11 Jan 2009, 6:57pm

The £30 cateye hl-el320, I do still use it on flash pointing towards junctions coming up on the left, but it's no use as a headlight on the potholed roads we have in Stockport.

vernon · Post by **vernon** » 11 Jan 2009, 7:01pm

frank9755 wrote:Easy - rainlegs. Funny things that go round your waist like a belt, then when it starts raining you unroll two flaps to cover the fronts of your thighs.

Bought them from Wiggle for about £30. Put them on once in the kitchen. My wife just laughed and said they looked like fetish wear. I didn't get round to returning them in time so they are lying around the house somehwere. Last time I looked on Wiggle they were selling them off for about £4.

Saw my first pair in the wild today. They looked really stupid. Could'nt see the point of them today as it wasn't even raining.

fausto copy · Post by **fausto copy** » 11 Jan 2009, 7:15pm

Cateye halogen front light, can't remember the model number.
A mate of mine got one for me for a fiver from the local market.
First time out, it was raining. The bulb blew within 300 metres!
Went to LBS for spare bulb. Cost?
£5.
There's a lesson for you!

Also a pair of Eager overshoes.
Shouldn't really complain as they did what they sadi on the tin......
they went over my shoes!!

:roll:

garybaldy · Post by **garybaldy** » 11 Jan 2009, 7:21pm

Wedding Ring!

York Commuter · Post by **York Commuter** » 11 Jan 2009, 8:09pm

Garrybaldy

I concur with you - wedding rings have done nothing for my cycling either!

rather than planning long trips, or even getting out for decent day's riding I find myself cooped up. both literally and metaphorically. :cry:

However I do find marriage has other benefits, and on the whole I'd sooner be married than not.

YC

random37 · Post by **random37** » 11 Jan 2009, 8:10pm

A pannier rack for my Dawes Galaxy, that when it arrived turned out to be for a bike with 20" wheels. :wall:

paulah · Post by **paulah** » 11 Jan 2009, 8:29pm

get a folder to match the pannier :lol:

patricktaylor · Post by **patricktaylor** » 11 Jan 2009, 8:41pm

York Commuter wrote:... I find myself cooped up ...

In the garage?

boink · Post by **boink** » 11 Jan 2009, 9:06pm

Well, as fausto copy's had 2...my other worst buy was a pair of aldi waterproof overtrousers. Chucked away in frustration outside Glasgow last summer after a last abortive attempt to get my feet past the mesh lining stuff. Hard enough to do in the house never mind in a downpour on the Erskine bridge.

Those rainlegs are funny, but I bet they're easier to actually get on.

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