Originally Posted by
rydabent
An example of what you say is the people that say they can tell if a tire has proper pressure by feel. I always put a pump that has a pressure gage and top them off before each ride. Doing that means you might catch a tire that has a small puncture leak in in before you leave home.
At this point in the thread, a salutary digression might be in order.
rydabent, instead of starting threads about things that bother you about modern cycling culture, maybe consider starting threads in Foo with, say, anecdotes from your working life. I have a few myself from my jobs over the years, and I'd bet that you have quite a few, too. I think most people here would be respectful of such stories, and enjoy them. I'm sure I would.
For an example from my days of running bike stores:
The head mechanic in one of those stores ran into a problem trying to remove a pedal from a crank. Ordinary pedal, ordinary crank; just tightened on with a ridiculous amount of force. He came to me for ideas on how to proceed.
We looked around the shop for a tool that would both fit the pedal flats and offer extreme leverage. Nothing. Then I asked, "Where's that 8" self-tightening adjustable of yours?" He pulled it out and put it on the pedal. I stuck a 4-foot-long Park frame/fork straightening tool on it.
He slipped a long pipe over the other crank arm (that pedal had come off easily enough).
We braced ourselves. Think Sands of Iwo Jima.
Job done.
He figured I'd be able to help, not because I was a better mechanic, but because I'd once pointed out to him that, as a bike racer with pipe-cleaner arms, I was used to figuring out how to maximize what little strength I had while working on bikes.