vettefrc2000

Wrenching is half the fun!

My latest overhaul -

lhbernhardt

Well, as a matter of fact, I'm currently working on temporary assignment in Victoria, BC and living here car-free, with nothing but the fixie to get around. If I want to use the car, I must ride 35 km to the ferry, take a 1-hour 35-minute ferry ride to the mainland, then ride 45 to 50 km to my townhouse outside of Vancouver. To bring the car to Victoria costs over $60 each way, so I am not inclined to be using the car, unless it's to drive to Seattle, which I think is an appropriate use for a car. I also have a lot of respect for people who can do without cars completely, but I think they often miss out on stuff just because they can't get there on the spur of the moment, and I have always valued getting as much as one can out of life.

Like most other guys over 50, I am also a "child of the 60's" - having grown up in Berkeley (and Oakland) in the 60's - and I also don't like being told what to do. In fact, this is something I picked up in junior high school in Berkeley. Teachers had to earn my respect, and I had a very strong resentment against teachers trying to tell me what to do without having first earned my respect. But by the same token, anything I've ever had a real interest in doing, such as cycling, I have tried to do with absolute precision, learning everything I could, doing stuff according to all of the accepted rules, missing nothing. I have tried to avoid being the dilettante. So it's been a lifelong thing.

All the cyclists I have known have done their own mechanical work (well, the guys anyway), so I find it quite surpising to see there are so many guys out there who do not touch their bikes. I have always seen cycling as a total package of self-sufficient travel, which means having the resourcefulness to keep the bike going, especially out in the field. I thought that was part of the culture, but for the over 50's here, I guess not... And I think that's a shame, but then that makes me judgmental.

It's interesting to be accused of being judgmental, because I often get gently accused of that by my gf! Well, that's just me; you'll just have to deal with it. I think it's important to have an opinion, but I also welcome rational argument. What I am not impressed with are the comments directed at me instead of the issue. I prefer to think that I have been misunderstood, or at least not carefully read. A few of the comments show evidence that my initial post was not read completely. In any event, I have been known to change my opinion based on good contrary arguments (which is more than can be said of most of the rest of you!), but on this one I am standing firm. If you do your own wrenching, you get more respect from me. Does that mean I have no respect for those who do not do their own wrenthing? Well, I think you have all come to your own conclusions regardless of what I actually said, so believe what you like, I really couldn't care less! If you really think I have no respect for you just because you don't do your own wrenching, then you are probably right. But not because you don't do your own wrenching!

Luis

maddmaxx 

+1

JimF22003

I have things I do, and things I haven't done yet, and probably won't. (You won't get me near a bottom bracket, or see me cutting a fork tube.)

I understand plain old wrenches, but I get the heebie jeebies about doing anything that requires a torque wrench, and on my current bike that's most everything. I even have a torque wrench, but I haven't taken it from the package

donheff

+1 That is where I am. I fix flats, change chains, etc. I wish my LBS would do a Park Tools course because I would like to learn more and YouTube doesn't quite do it for a tool clutz. For example, on an old beater I "successfully" trued a badly messed up wheel. It runs fine but unfortunately the spoke nipples are now torn up. If it ever gets out of true again its toast.

But back to the OP -- absolutely!

The Weak Link

I have a friend who lives a mile from my house who has a proper man-cave and has most of the equipment anyone would need for bike work. I've changed out three suspension forks with his help. It's not hard but it helps to have someone with more knowledge hovering over your shoulder.

I hear a lot about bike co-ops. They sound like a cool idea but I'm not sure there are any locally.

Kotts

Of course it's OK... How else are those of us who ride and do enjoy wrenching going to make any side money? :-)

Kotts

I have to admit I don't get this. I'm not saying it's wrong, just that I don't understand it. Then again, I learned to use a torque wrench when I was 7.

Terrierman

I mostly fix things for a living, some technical, some not so much. I fix flats, clean chains and have put pedals on a bike. Its not a matter of not having or being able to afford the tools or the basic skills to work on bikes for me, it's a matter of not having the interest and not finding it fun or personally rewarding. So DF, a definite yes to it being OK to ride and not be a wrench.

Sgt. Spillco

Absolutely!

JanMM

I don't build wheels, so I must not be very serious..........

Would be way too much trouble and expense to take bikes to a shop for stuff that I can take care of myself.

billydonn

Nay!.... Away with these impure thoughts!!

It may be PERMITTED or ALLOWED to be that way, but I would stop short of assigning the high category of "OK" to such sentiments. The next thing you know, we will be talking about "rose smelling" and such!

gcottay

But are you properly ashamed? Guilt ridden? Downtrodden under builder boots?

No? Me neither. <G>

PaulH

It's also OK to be a motorist and not know how to tune Weber carburators.

Paul

BengeBoy 

Unfortunately, there is a difference -- it's actually easier (in my experience) to get a car serviced in a short amount of time (one or two days) than a bike.

The car repair business is built around "get it in by 8, you'll have it back by 5" -- for most minor/moderate jobs. Even *big* jobs are rarely more than a few days if a repair or body shop has time to do a proper estimate and order the parts.

The LBS market -- especially in the summer -- works on, "drop off your bike, we'll have it back in a week/10 days/two weeks," at least in my experience. There are exceptions, but it's hard to get a bike looked at and repaired quickly.

For me, if I want to ride a lot, learning to do most of my own minor/moderate repairs keeps me on the road. I enjoy cycling *more* cause I'm not always driving a bike to the shop. Changing tires, brake pads, chains, casettes, cables, and adjusting brakes and cables are all jobs I can do faster than I can load up a bike and take it to the shop. And I can order a part online, wait for it to be delivered, and install it in less total time than it would take for me to wait for a shop to do it.

(Of course I am not counting the times I have screwed something up and then had to take it to the shop anyway...)

Cone Wrench

I'll always remember when I discovered that specialized tools existed for working on bicycles. I think I heard a choir of angels singing and shafts of golden sunlight streamed to Earth when I first saw a third hand tool for brakes.
The other revelation came when I discovered that quality components actually adjusted properly. Working on cr*ppy stamped white metal compenents was very discouraging.

vettefrc2000

Most certainly!

ddez

For what its worth there are folks that arent good at putting in to written word what they mean.( i respect or admire the talent that those that can have, cause i cant). Is it just me? I got what Ihbernhardt was trying to say although it was put rather badly. Is everybody just being picky? He even tried to explain a few times. Maybe he pushes buttons i dont notice? Or maybe im just not looking for the worst. It just seems everybodys got to have a go at it,on and on, thread after thread after thread like Cranky said in another thread.

Ive not contributed a whole lot to this 50+ forum and ive not been here long so nobody will care what i think i suspect,but ive noticed a change in attitudes as has been mentioned and it seems to be on this thread too. So i think like Cranky and Road Fan that i'll take a hiatus from here as well,its really starting to get to me. This used to be a place of calm for me. Later folks.

bjjoondo 

I agree Denver, I like to "replace" items to upgrade but all the "fine tuning" adjustments are done by the LBS. Living in a 1 bedroom apt, I've got NO ROOM to set up a "shop" area and don't have the funds to buy specific tools so the largest part is done by the LBS. Keeps them in business and me "on the road"!

billydonn

Yep!

No disrespect for the mechanically disinclined, however. Another point is that bike mechanics gives another possibility for "talk" or "sharing" among cyclists... besides just riding. I like to look at bikes... sort of like hot rod cars as opposed to "stock" vehicles.

dedhed

I don't care that someone doesn't want to wrench on their bike, but it always seems they want ME to wrench on it.

Dan Burkhart 

Nothing at all wrong with someone wanting to ride a bike but not wish to wrench. This is not the mechanic's sub forum after all. Lots of folks don't even do flat repairs. When I ran my shop, walk in flat repairs were a major source of income, and paid better per minute than just about any other type of repair.
One of my regulars was a Dutch imigrant from Amsterdam. He has a beautiful Gazelle single speed, which is truly a pain to do a flat repair on. He used to tell me that in Holland, hardly anyone fixes their own flats. That's why there is a bike shop on every corner.

The Weak Link

Yesterday I rode with someone who has easily logged over 25000 miles on a bike and has competed at the National Masters level. Ridning next to her was like being at a craps table with all the click-clacking and rattling of a machine that she rides a lot but that she apparently doesn't know how to maintain. I've also seen her get a flat and have veryone pull over to change her tire.

So a few wrench skills are a good idea.

tcs

It's OK to ride your bicycle and not do or enjoy any wrenching on someone else's bike.

tcs

Doohickie

Um, no, it's not. At least not in my world.