Originally Posted by
big john
I have to disagree. There are brilliant people, successful people, people with massive intellectual backgrounds, who cannot maintain a bike, change a faucet washer, or perform basic mechanical tasks.
It's not a question of intelligence, some people just aren't wired to work with their hands.
I have fairly limited mechanical aptitude, but I can certainly change a faucet washer. Or install a new faucet. Or a new water heater or ceiling fan. A lot of basic mechanical repairs are so simple that literally anyone can do them. A fair number of folks who "can't" do these things really could do so quite easily. They believe they can't and it becomes self fulfilling prophecy.
Having said that, I do believe bicycle maintenance can be a little more complex and experience is quite beneficial. I don't do my own wrenching on bikes because I don't care to invest the time and energy. But I believe if I had to I likely could in most cases. I'm not sure HS kids should be taught bicycle maintenance because I'm not sure many of them of riding bicycles these days. But they should learn how to do some sort of "wrenching" so they understand that they really can turn a wrench. It will serve them well later in life so they can make a reasonable assessment as to whether or not the problem at hand really is something they could deal with. I know a number of folks who call in a contractor for the easiest of jobs simply because they believe they can't do it.