bolton wanderer

Im with Patriot.....

<Goes into RANT mode>

How do some of you people survive in life if you have to pay someone to do every single little job...
I take it that if you wont work on your own bikes , then it also applies to cars, your household stuff like plumbing ,electrics etc.

YOU DONT HAVE TO BE WERNER VON BRAUN TO FIGURE THIS STUFF OUT!!!!

or is it the fact that Americans wont take responsibility for their own mistakes and would rather take a LBS mechanic to court if something does fail???

<RANT OVER>

squeegy200

Self sufficiency is an essential skill in most anything. Especially true with bicycles as one can become stranded far from civilations with a simple puncture if one isn't prepared with proper tools and skills. (Encountered many unprepared cyclists far from home with a flat)

But knowledge is also essential even if you don't do your own work. How else would you know if your local mechanic is telling you the truth if you don't comprehend what they are telling you. It is those that go blindly that are most likely to be taken advantage of.

Patriot

I will submit on some level, there are more difficult things on a bike that one can take it to the shop for repairs, like Bb work, or truing up high-end, high-tensioned wheels. My Rolfs are like that. I personally don't want to touch them. The spokes are sooooo tight, I'd probably break one of them trying to true them up. But most other wheels can be tweeked a little with no worries.

However, for most basic little things, like small adjustments, don't be so concerned. Save yourself the time and money. I suppose some people don't like ot get their hands dirty. Not to sound callus, but it seems to be a sign of how our society has evolved, I suppose. We are much more spoiled now with technology. And rightly so. Our fore fathers worked hard for it, so we could wreep the benefits. We have become a service industry, not a manufacturing one. And I saw a poll taken by an auto show on the Speed Channel once, 80%+ of Americans don't even know how to change the oil in their cars. It used to be everyone did. Not that this has anything to do with bikes, mind you. But I think it's a vision of where we are headed.

I guess times really have changed in the last 25 years. No more self sufficiency. No more independence. We are all dependent on someone else for almost everything. Ah well. The way of the world, I suppose.

Well, I really do apologize if ruffled a few efathers the wrong way, but I just had to blow off some steam after reading that other thread.

Hip, don't worry about it buddy. I expect this of the one, the only, the OCP Fashion Advisor.

-=(8)=-

You might want to consider switching to DeCaf ??

Really tho....Nobody is going to work on your stuff the way you are.
Thats enuff reason for me, alone.
A lot of bicycle specific tools can be adapted from stuff you get at
the hardware store. A 30.00 multi-tool can fix almost anything that is
going to go wrong with a newer bicycle for a long period of its life.
Willingness to get dirty is really the most important thing involved with
working on your own ride.

OC Roadie

I'm with you on this Patriot. For years I've always been able to tackle the simple things (change tires, minor DR adjustments, seat and bar adjustments etc.). I've always felt kind of ashamed that I spend 8-12 hours a week on my bike and didn't even know how to work on it. Just last week I finished my first build, it was fun and a very rewarding experience. I still took it to my LBS to get looked over and get a $35 tune-up (which was worth every penny, becuase they straightened out a bent derailleur hanger). For me this is also important because I ride solo long distance a lot, and I feel more confident about my abilities to solve a mid-ride problem. After completing the build, I realized that working on bikes is not rocket science, it's much simpler than it appears. I've always had a knack for working with my hands, so maybe it came a little easier. Park Tool's site is a great place to get started at, along with the directions that come with your components . On the other hand, I still take my bike to the LBS for fairly simple things that I could do myself. Sometimes it nice to have it done while I'm at work, and they are always very fair on their pricing.

neil0502

While I take the OP's point, I'm with you on this one. I bought my wife a road bike a few years back, but she has absolutely no interest in working on it. Though she promises she can save her own @$$ in the event of a flat, I strongly suspect she'd actually call me for help.

But I'm more than okay with that. I like maintaining the fleet, and it doesn't bother me one bit that she's not interested in working on her Cannondale.

...maybe it's just San Diego women...

DaveTaylor

Man, I got some good laughs out of the first few posts in this thread. While I share Patriot's frustration with people who can't fix simple things on their bikes, I look at it this way; it is OK to take every little thing to the LBS and pay the big bucks as long as you suck it up and don't complain, it's the people who whine and complain about paying that get to me.

ovoleg

I feel a feminist vibe...

I am outraged!

DOWN with WOMEN!

(except the hot ones)

Patriot

No, it's alot of women. My wife is the same way. She knows how to put the chain on, when it falls off. However, she will walk back a half a mile to the house to have me do it, because she doesn't want to get her fingers dirty.
Actually, no. She will start screaming at the top of her lungs first, to see if I hear her and come running to the aid of her highness.
If I don't hear her, then she'll grudgingly walk back, and commence blaming me for the chain coming off, since I didn't properly tune the bike before she left.

(This actually happened)

DannoXYZ 

Nah, especially the hot ones.... down on their knees... Anyway, chics shouldn't get their hands dirty, definitely reduces their hotness. And if they break a nail around me, they're history! Although if it's only chipped, I might be able to forgive that...

bbattle

Psssst. Bicycle Mechanics Forum is that way. ===>Right here.

marqueemoon

Here is how I learned to work on brakes. Though we had discussed the idea of her changing out her levers and bars, my girlfriend purchased new levers without telling me I was going to be her personal mechanic. I did a lot of cursing at the time (she decided NOT to buy new cables and housing and her brakes are ancient), but I got it done. I was pretty annoyed at the time, but I quickly forgave her. Since she has now helped me change out her bars twice I figure she can do it herself the next time

hairyleg

I would have put such a rant on here if I felt eloquent enough to do it without sounding bad.
Bikes aren't magic. They follow reasonable principles, and it seems like just about anybody should be able to learn how to do the basics. Get a book---like Lennard Zinn's book, "Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintainence"---a great book, very easy to understand.
Whatever you do, don't take your bike in to have them fix a flat. Please. (unless you have tubs, and are new to them, maybe)
You do have to get dirty, but hey, skin grows back!

Radiographer

wringer
two misspellings

fifao

Ha! Anything above a tire change, re-lube, adjusting whatnot and so on, I have my brother do. I am not very mechanically adept, so the things like trueing rear wheels and such I am not good at at all, I just force him to do it. (hairyleg is my brother, so no one tell him I said he was easily manipulated ).

But, anyway, if someone is just a plain beginner that does not know how to do thigs, and does not do things for fear of braking something, what about them? Someone needs to teach them how to change a tire, adjust a seat.....(oh thank you, my brother ) etc.

With this in mind, I would not find it offending for a newbie to go to a LBS and ask how it is done. As they say, "give a man a fish, give him a meal; teach a man to fish, give him his life".(or something to that end).
Teach him(her) to do it and hopefully he'll do it himself next time.

And there's nothing wrong with getting hands a bit dirty .

Radiographer

I once took an old beater car to a neighbor who happens to be the best shade-tree mechanic in Oregon and handed him a laundry list of minor items I wanted him to fix at his leisure. He said, "I can save you a couple hundred bucks--most of this is stuff you can do yourself."
I replied, "Forget it: I don't have the shop, the tools, the knowledge, the time, or the inclination. I can go down to the plant where I work and make that $200 in a day, but doing all this stuff would take me 3 days, and then if it's done wrong I have to do it all over again."
Life is full of tradeoffs. I take my bike to the shop if it's going to get fixed faster that way. If it's quicker to do it myself, I do it myself. But I have to figure in the time it takes to learn how to do it, too.
I'm 63 years old, and I've spent hundreds of hours lying under old cars in the mud trying to get them to run long enough to get them to the shop. I won't do it any more than I have to.
That said, I must confess I felt incredibly self-satisfied the first time I had a flat on the road and patched the tube without even taking the wheel off the bike.
To each his (or her) own. One of the deacons at our church came in one Sunday after spending Saturday in the engine of his car saying, "Lord make me just rich enough so I don't have to work on my own car."

Marge

Okay Patriot I'm calling you out!! Do you not realize that some people are so time
deprived that if they didn't take their bike to the LBS they would never ride?
Imagine you are mom of a pre-schooler and a school age child. Now is it more important, to work on your ride or be with those kids? Sometimes it's all you can do to work the ride in. So should we spank all those women for not working on their bikes?
I think not. It's great that you have mechanical skills and then some but not all people
can do the same thing. Can you sew? Care for a small child with a fever? Host the perfect party? Know how to make small talk? Juggle 1,000 items without dropping one?
I say each and every one of us has own own skill set. Don't be so critical.

DannoXYZ 

Changing a flat tyre, adjusting a derailleur and lubing a chain takes way, way less time that it would take to pack the bike in the car and drive 2-3 blocks...

Machka 

Response from a woman here!!

I think you've got some very good points. I know a lot of women (and men) who don't know the first thing about bicycle repair ... including things as simple as changing a tire!! Can you imagine ... riding a bicycle without knowing how to change a tire?? But there are people out there who are in that category ... it boggles the mind!

There are also people out there who assume that the bicycle must remain the way it came. So if it came with a certain saddle, for example, astounding as it may seem, I have encountered people who assume that saddle must stay with that bicycle, and cannot be changed. When they have complained about saddle pain, and I've suggested changing the saddle, it is like that idea has never ever entered their heads. Same with things like saddle height and handlebar height. If they bought the bicycle from a department store, from a friend, or even from an LBS and the bicycle is set up a certain way ... there are people out there who assume that's the way the bicycle must stay. And again, when I've suggested they raise the saddle or handlebars a bit, I have actually had people say, "You can do that?"

I have the tools and can dismantle and re-mantle a bicycle quickly and easily. I can also make most basic repairs that might be necessary. I know how to do all that because I took classes, and also took the time to learn from other cyclists. It really isn't that hard ... and if you're going to ride your bicycle any distance at all, knowing how to fix and adjust things is vital.

Oh, I've also got training and almost 10 years experience as an Engineering Technologist so maybe I'm just more inclined to want to know how things go together.

I do take my bicycle(s) into the LBS once a year for a checkup to make sure my repairs are on the right track, and that the more complicated bits are OK, but I may be doing that even less now ... I just received a new repair manual in the mail!! WooHoo!!

Patriot

Ok Marge,

I am a very patient and loving man, but your dragging this out of me. Spending the hours it takes to drag your bike to the LBS, pay some kid, and then sit and wait Lord knows how long to get it back, is alot harder on you than taking 15 minutes to fix it yourself. If time and money is a factor, then learning to fix your own bike as a single Mom, should be a dream come true. That's my whole point.

HEY!!! I said nothing about SPANKING women, but if that is something you.... nevermind.

Let's see, along with the decade I spent at sea in the Navy in Nuclear Engineering, undergoing several days at a time without sleep on a regular basis, and doing things I simply CANNOT explain here in public, I eventually entered into a much easier life for the last 8 years as a civilian.

Ok, let's see. Several years or so back, my wife was basically forced to work full time, because her job wouldn't let her go part time, and my other part time job wouldn't work hours around my full-time job, so I quit and let her work full time for a while (as a favor to her).

As a result, I have been Mr. Mom for a LONG time. I spent the last 6+ years taking care of the kids during the day (baby stage & up), even when sick (flu, fever, etc), working full-time night shifts to be the primary bread winner, getting only 3hrs of sleep/day, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, prepping for parties that my wife was hosting on her days off, and yes... even sewing a few items that the girls tear up. Why? Because my wife does not have the dexterity to sew, but she can turn an allen wrench to adjust the saddle on her bike.

Don't you dare judge my home making or child raising capabilities, just because I am a man. I certainly don't judge the capabilities of a woman. I only get discouraged when people COMPLAIN when they can't fix their own problems when those problems are so easily fixed, or because it's just too hard, or they just don't have the time. I can with all honesty say, that I've done more than most single Moms could or would ever have to go through in their lives, except actually giving birth itself. Sorry, I just can't do that one. And, I'm fresh out of pity right now.

And guess what? I NEVER COMPLAIN ABOUT IT!!! Why? Because I am the Husband of my wife, the Father of my children, and I love my family.

Oh, and I still have time to ride my bikes, AND FIX THEM!!!

"MERRY CHRISTMAS"

P.S. I think I love Machka.

DannoXYZ 

Dude, what are you doing marrying a chic who can't sew? Can she at least cook?

Patriot

Yes, she's a great cook. However, I used to work in a restaraunt, so I can cook too. We do alotta good cookin'.

Dchiefransom

Maybe you should have taken it to the LBS.

Patriot

HAHA, very funny.

RacerX

Getting worked up over what someone else does with their own time and money is a total waste of time.
In cycling you encounter many walks of life. That includes novices and mechanic-phobic riders. So what, big deal.

You do your thing and let them do theirs. Just because it doesn't jive with your world is a ridiculous reason to get angry. If it's that easy to push your buttons, you need to work on yourself a bit as well.