Anyone else work on bikes at home?



Cody helping prep the crank for pulling, he can turn a wrench as well, not bad for 1 1/2, I didnt start till I was 10 or so. I hate it when he helps by smashing a crescent wrench into a stay or tube, not the nice round side either, its always the sharper murderously angled end, so even if the sticker is lucky enough to be in the way it still has no hope of stopping it from gouging aluminum clear through.



nawaww I love him, he is at least trying to help, better than his siblings who idly stand by with their friends giggling at the old guy working on bikes.

Heh...

BTW, that bike's steel, innit?

good help is hard to find

Tell your mechanic in training to put it upside down on the grass next time instead of on the sidewalk.
It's a lot easier on the seat and the grips.

Cute. Certainly better than having your kids play video games all day, which is about all a lot of kids seem to be good at today. It's encouraging to see a youngin' actually work on something... being able to fix things seems to increasingly be a lost skill, adults included. I have confidence that will change out of necessity, though.

Dear lord! what is that on the chainstays? a kickstand for Shaq's bike?!

That reminds me of my first bike that I got at the age of maybe 7 or 8. Mom must have found it for $3 at a garage sale. it was a typical single speed coaster brake dirt bike that the previous owner, or perhaps pilferer, had sloppily spray-painted over completely black.

I abused the crud out of it, riding it over everything and into everything. needless to say, I was frequently getting flats. well, Mom wasn't about to pay someone to fix my broken toy, so she opted to present me with a patch kit, the kind with the glue, patches, and a scuffing tool (that has been replaced by sandpaper in today's kits I figure) and left me to my own devices.

after figuring out the instructions in the kit, I dug up some screwdrivers from around the house and used them as crude tire levers. it wasn't until years later that I saw a real tire lever for the first time, and until then I'm not certain that I even knew they made tools specifically for that purpose. I ended up getting pretty fast at fixing my flats that way, probably in part because of how frequently I was causing them. somewhat amusingly, I don't recall ever getting a new tube, but I do recall a tube that eventually seemed like it was mostly made up of patches.

a few years later I got into video games. I don't remember much after that.

yes its steel, just a nieghboors kids bike I fixed up, and yes he dinged it, altho not as bad as the katmandu he smoked the day before..

yes Im grateful hes helping, and yes video games has ruined a couple of my kids already...

I was replacing the grips, hard blister making plastic, and the seat, which was also plastic..

and I pulled that monster kid stand as well, YUK!!

Don't get me wrong... I love me some video games, but some kids... It seems like it's all they want to do. They'll suck in school, but by golly they can kick some ass in Halo 3!

;-)