Working on your bike while at work
 

I just finished levelling out my saddle a bit after I noticed the nose was up to much after this morning's ride to work. I started to wonder, what's the biggest repair/maintenance job you ever did on your bike while at work?

I had to do repairs on my Strida lots of times, but the Strida is a bit of an unusual beastie anyway, so some of the repairs I had to do are not quite as complicated as they are on a 'real' bike. At any rate I replaced a headset bearing once, the belt drive once, and the bottom bracket spindle and chainring (they call it a pulley!) at least twice, and of course flat tires now and then.

More recently I'm riding a more conventional bike... and I've had to do flat tires, gear adjustments, futzing with headlight/taillight wires, etc. lots of times.

I haven't actually done any bike repair at work, yet.

That being said, given the amazing amount of time people spend "going to the bathroom" or "going upstairs for a coke", I can't see how anyone could make an argument against spending 5-10 minutes adjusting or fixing something on your bike.

That is, of course, assuming that you aren't a bathroom/coker/loiter.

I unpacked it out of a box and assembled it from the parts. :D

I swapped the bb, cranks, RD and headset from one bike to another yesterday.

I've patched about 5 innertubes at my desk, but not all at once. Most of the problems I can fix out in the wild pretty quickly, so I don't bother waiting until I get to work to tighten something up or adjust something.

When I get a flat on my way to work, I usually swap the tube out for one of my spares, then patch the punctured one at my desk and put it back on the bike to use the next time I get a flat.

I had to adjust my Rear D yesterday which got some really weird looks. Don't know what it's issue is but lately it doesn't want to stay adjusted for a whole trip before it starts slipping and attempting to shift between gears without really shifting. Could mean never get it right in the first place I guess.
A little wheel truing and brake adjustments are usually the most I have gotten into.

Excellent!


I keep a pump and tools here. I've done all sorts of fit adjustments, wheel maintaineance, and tune-ups, but nothing serious.

Heck, I have parts shipped to my office so I don't have to bring them from home :D

Sure makes my removal of the front pads to give them a little scuffing on some sandpaper look like nothing at all. Yep, it's the most I've done at work.

you try to remove your front brakes on your car at lunch wiseguy :D

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...mageID=1843129

After a (then) 9 mile ride to work on Halloween, I had to replace the knee joint hinge AND the femur-pelvis spindle, AND the knee-handlebar rubber band.

Just adjusting my brakes. Lately my coworkers frequently see me at my desk swapping tubes out and patching them.

On a bike? So far just adjust the saddle.

Back in college I replaced the starter in my 82 Tercel by myself in the parking lot between classes one evening. Took about 80 minutes to fix the car, and 20 minutes in the men's room to scrub the grime from my hands.

I did my front pads and rotors on my Escort over lunch in work clothes about 5 years ago. I also did an oil change (laying on my back with jackstands) for a co-worker over lunch once. But I wore coveralls and mechanics gloves for that. By day, I'm a UNIX system administrator and info-security guy, not a mechanic.

...minor stuff...
 

Nothing major: derailleur adjustments, tire patches, brake adjustments, fitting adjustments, tightening loose stuff, temporary repairs.

But, in my office of 10 people, there are 5 bikes... so there is always something being done.

Just this morning, one guy patched a tube, then repatched after finding the rest of the thorn during inflation. Another guy performed a temporary repair to a rear fender.

Yesterday I had to adjust my rear deraileur due to accidentally messing with it during a tube repair on the way in to work.

So, there's always something going on...

Nothing really major. I've added some fenders to a bike and removed/degreased/cleaned/reinstalled a chain.

Fixed a flat better (didn't like how the tube went in), minor adjustments, prepped and cleaned the bike for an off road ride right after work, put some new pedals on that I had just picked up from the LBS around the corner.

Why would you clean a bike for an offroad ride? Just asking.

I retaped the handlebars on a friend's bike while at work once. It took all of about 10 minutes tops.

Other than that, just minor adjustments and checking tire inflation before the ride home (I keep an extra floor pump under my desk).

I had a chain snap while stomping my way up the hill to work. Fortunately, it was only 50 yards from the building, so my walk of shame wasn't too far. Used a chain breaker to pop out the broken link and shorten the chain and rode home.

I've commandeered the men's bathroom a half dozen times to fix flats.

Did you go down when the chain broke? That's kind of scary...how many miles did you have on the chain?

Today...installed a new tire on my dingy/lifeboat bike and reworked a bottom bracket on the plant bike (I am temporarily assigned to work at an Alcoa plant, we ride bicycles to get around:D )

Aaron:)

I Keep a set of tools at work, and park my bike in an empty cube next to my cube (gloat). I generally spend a few minutes cleaning and doing minor adjustments right after I have arrived, while waiting to cool down and stop sweating before going into the shower. Typically I don't do any more maintenance than brake or derailler adjustment, perhaps a bit of lubrication.

I have all shipments delivered to work. I've had a case of sake, some odd looking shoes, panniers, fenders, some slightly less odd looking shoes, a God, The Devil, and Bob DVD...

I'm thinking about buying a bike trailer and having it shipped to work. I'd probably just haul it to my office and let it sit till quitting time. I'd then take the phone off the hook, build up the trailer, hitch it to the bike and ride home. I can't imagine there'd be any issue. I'd be a little hesitant of going any larger than that though. I'd have a whole bike shipped to a friend's house. I don't like UPS leaving stuff in front of my apartment while I'm at work.

On that thought I am about ready to purchase a cheap floor pump and keep it in my desk. It seems 3/4 of the times I get flats are at work.