Spent two hours once chasing a weird clunk in my car's suspension, swore it was a ball joint, bought the part, jacked it up, and found a loose wrench I'd left in the engine bay from an oil change a month before. You know you've hit rock bottom when you're thanking a socket set for not falling out at highway speed. But hey, at least you didn't have to explain to your riding buddies why you pulled the whole drivetrain for a bottle cage bolt that costs fifty cents. I'll take a dumb mistake over a real repair bill any day, even if it stings a little.
Remember that time I tried to fix a wobbly table by stacking coasters under the leg? It worked for a week until my cat jumped up and sent everything flying. Sometimes the classic fix is the only one you've got.