ogbigbird

i first started riding at age 5 and had the same bike untill age 14. i got it for christmas, and it was a "st" bmx 20" bike with mag wheels. i rode this bike everywhere, all the time everyday. yeah, i was that kid. changed tires on it so many times i lost count through out the years, but never really worked on it. one day when i was 14, the bottom bracket began to get loose. i tightenned it up and added grease, but it kept getting worse (1pc crnks). so i took it to the LBS to get it fixed and a day later he called saying my bike was "dead on arrival", and to basicly chaulk it up. so after getting rid of it, i got a roadmaster 10speed and rode the heck out of that. all the while, i began how to work on my bike more and more untill after long, realized that with just a new set of bearings and perhaps new hardware, i could have saved my first bike, and even if i never rode it again, i would still have it to just say, "yeah, thats my first bike." i understand that the LBS may have not thought it worth their time or my money to put a new set of bearings in my trusted steade, but it would have to me. my point, if you don't allready, get to know how your bike works and learn about it, service it oncwe you've learned how to. just a pair of bearings woulda got my bike on the road instead of sending it to the junkyard. and its sad how many salvagable, rebuildable or perfectly ok bikes end up there. thanks for listening to me, and for all of those who had their first bike or trusted steade prematurally scrapped, thats why i learned. thanks.

operator

Please learn how to use paragraphs. It makes people actually want to read what you write.

ogbigbird

my bad, didn't think it was my sentence and paragraph structure i was trying to get acrossed. with that aside, i hope it doesn't detract from what i had to say. new to a computer, so still figuring out little things.
hope this is better. tommorow, i may even learn to tab. thanks.

Joshua A.C. New

No, that's how you get something across.

In any event, yes, you're absolutely right. When the BB went on my Rampar (leaving me with a gouge on my shin), my dad helped me take it apart, replace some bits, repack with grease, and get it going again. I learned about how bearings work that day. When I wanted to go faster, he helped me take off the back wheel and change the sprocket. I changed handlebars, my front wheel to a totall rad to the max mag, and eventually moved on to a Peugeot 12 speed.

I've been doing it pretty much since. Those first steps were important.

daintonj

Are you also new to English?

griftereck

Its not that difficult to change the bottom bracket on a bmx with one peice cranks.
dont need any special tools either.

at my work they say if the bikes gonna cost more than £50 to fix.
tell the customer. maybe better getting a new bike. well if its a cheap bike.

ogbigbird

thank you to those that saw the point of my story and didn't worry about my sentence structure, paragraph formation, lack of spell check or any other gramatical errors. nobody is perfect and i wasn't submitting this thread as the essay for my highschool finals.

(start of new paragraph) the reason i posted this particular thread (and i had a feeling id catch hell over it) was to relate to those of you who got into bike mechanics for whatever reason got you there. and as i mentioned before, nobody is perfect and i'm not new to the english language (well you coulda fooled us), so nothing but love to "all ah y'all".

Jeff Wills

T'ain't no big thing. You could capitalize, too.

(My mom taught English way back when. She can't watch TV news without correcting the newscreatures' grammar. )

Joshua A.C. New

If you want someone to read and understand what you're saying, you do it well. Just like, if you want someone to ride a bike and enjoy it, you build it out of appropriate parts and size it for them.

Like, you see how everyone's distracted by the structure of the post and not reading what is, in fact, a really great story?

TromboneAl

While I try not to complain about grammar, etc, I'm going to do it here because the failure to break the story into multiple paragraphs caused me to skip what was actually a good story.

I initially brought this post up on my computer screen, started reading, saw that big monolithic paragraph, and skipped the whole thing. I then saw that Operator had noticed and commented on the problem that made me give up.

People, for some reason, just don't like to read one gigantic paragraph. It doesn't take much time to break it up. You actually have a good story to tell with a nice point. I would have skipped the whole thing if I hadn't read Operator's post. Other things like proofreading and capitalization would have made it even more pleasant to read.

Here's formatting that makes it easier on the brain:

-------------------

I first started riding at age 5 and had the same bike untill age 14. i got it for christmas, and it was a "st" bmx 20" bike with mag wheels. i rode this bike everywhere, all the time everyday. yeah, i was that kid. changed tires on it so many times i lost count through out the years, but never really worked on it.

One day when i was 14, the bottom bracket began to get loose. i tightenned it up and added grease, but it kept getting worse (1pc crnks). so i took it to the LBS to get it fixed and a day later he called saying my bike was "dead on arrival", and to basicly chaulk it up. so after getting rid of it, i got a roadmaster 10speed and rode the heck out of that.

All the while, i began how to work on my bike more and more untill after long, realized that with just a new set of bearings and perhaps new hardware, i could have saved my first bike, and even if i never rode it again, i would still have it to just say, "yeah, thats my first bike." i understand that the LBS may have not thought it worth their time or my money to put a new set of bearings in my trusted steade, but it would have to me.

My point, if you don't allready, get to know how your bike works and learn about it, service it oncwe you've learned how to. just a pair of bearings woulda got my bike on the road instead of sending it to the junkyard. and its sad how many salvagable, rebuildable or perfectly ok bikes end up there.

Thanks for listening to me, and for all of those who had their first bike or trusted steade prematurally scrapped, thats why i learned. thanks.

G piny parnas

I drink Makers, what do you'all drink?--- oh, I ride a bike-- what do you'all ride.

DMF 

I had a pang when scrapping my first bike, but realistically, the POS would have just been taking up space lo! these past 30 years. I don't miss it.

Otoh, I wish I'd kept riding...

DMF 

And to answer the piny question, Luksusowa potato vodka + Patron Cafe => killer Black Russian.

tellyho

I feel like I'm usually the grammar / usage cop, but I'm not sure this is worth policing. I suspect it's a generational thing. Ask ogbigbird how old he is and where he does most of his typing and I suspect you'll find it's on his phone.

daintonj

From my point of view in a written form of communication his initial post was as pleasant a sight as that of a diseased leper and a dog copulating, there can be no mercy shown to such a butcher of the English language. I'm not willing to make excuses even for generational gaps unless we're willing to admit that we're intentionally raising a generation of jelly brained imbeciles fit only for use as organ donors.

This has been a broadcast from the tolerance party.

j mendivil

Let us remember:
The strong are kind.

Why should we alienate people who share our values?

Perhaps we should grammer police them back into their cars?!

j mendivil

oops, grammar that is... even people who have multipul collige digrees make mistakes!

buzzybelmondo

Perhaps you should learn to use commas before criticizing other's grammar.

gmason

You forgot the spelling and lack of capitalization. And don't use ee cummings as a defense.

It is, unfortunately, a sign of the times. What the OP missed completely was your point that some can't get to his real message because of the language issues.

ogbigbird

thanks i mendivil. never thought that my paragraph structure and grammer would overshadow this thread so much. for those of you who saw my point, thank you. for those of you who pointed it out to me, thanks for getting me concious of my sentence structure.

for all the haters and the grammer cops, i get it so let it go. better off serving in the grammer or litterary forum. by the way, i am not on my phone and am probably older than you. im just saying.

gmason

I doubt it.

tashi

I nominate the above for "Best Ironic Post About Grammar" for 2008!

The original post was pretty easy to read really, and a good sentiment all around.

cs1

We should be encouraging not discouraging newbies. At least comment on his OP after you chastise him for grammatical errors.

Little Darwin

My first bike wasn't a BMX but it was well loved... and maybe it wasn't even my first bike that is coming to mind.

It was pieced together from the cast off parts from a neighbor's previous couple of bikes (he got new bikes regularly) and was what got me through high school on several bike hikes.

It originally had 24" 3 speed wheels, but I fixed that and relaced them onto some 26 x 1 3/8 rims from another bike, and bent the brake bridge so they would fit. Then I put a banana eat and rams horn bars on it from another bike and rode it for most of junior and senior high school, except for a brief period when I rode a new Western Auto 5 speed light weight until I broke the frame.

I rode that bike around the city, and even on 70 mile tours... until I joined the Marines. I came home on leave, and the bike was gone. I didn't say a thing, but I assume it ended up at the dump.

I rode that bike on the road, and on the trail. It was a mountain bike before the term was ever coined.

That was over 30 years ago, and I now have the pieces to construct a similar bike just so I have a tribute to that old bike... We had some happy memories, and it helped me through some sad times too.

And I learned a lot about wrenching on bikes from that one... since I started from scratch. Including building the wheels. All from a couple of books, and some tinkering. No parktool.com No SheldonBrown.com No internet at all.

BeretCyclist

My first bike(s) were all walmart junkpiles. My first real bike (04' Lemond Reno) I consider my first. Idk, It'd be harder for me to get rid of something I built, and not someone else.