you skipped a step that many people do not know - how to inflate a tire (not flat).

when i frst started riding, a guy i knew in college said that he rode pretty frequently. after mumbling about for a few minutes, he blurted out that he would typically average around 25 mph on rides. i knew that it was really unlikely that he could go that fast, so i asked if i could ride with him sometime, and he agreed. when we meet up, he has no idea what he is doing. he takes 5 minutes to get the rear wheel set up, and then goes to inflate his tires. i don't knoew exactly what he did, but he basically ended up severing the freaking presta valve about 3/4 of the way up. it still held air, but wasn't going to be refilled again. we ended up riding along, me pulling his weak ass the entire time, and he topped it off with a failed cleat dismount crash at an intersection.

more to the point, when i worked at a shop for a summer, there was one woman that came to the shop EVERYTIME she needed her tires topped off. everytime, we would show her how to inflate the presta, but she just didn't have the mental power/interest to comprehend the process. it was insane.

but did he avg. 25 mph on the ride?

"...that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. ..." (Princess Bride quote...great movie)

Unless you restructured the shape of your wheel to create a specific election result I'm pretty sure you mean jerry-rigged on this one....:)

dude ~ women just like mechanics. I used to work at home depot and it was amazing what women would come in looking for

lol. it was probably the funniest bike ride i have been on. he started riding at the front first, as this was "his ride" to which i was just hoping to hold on. he gets up to 25 for about 15 seconds, then starts slowing down huffing. i don't remember too much of the details after that except that i was in front the rest of the time, and had to slow in several occasions when there was an elevation change. with about a half mile left, he freaking attacked me! i couldn't believe it! after a 20 second burst, he looked back expecting to see me in the distance, but i was right there, covering his 23 mph jolt of speed. about 100 yds after that, he crashed at the intersection. it was an amazing ride.

truth. one guy at our shop was stalked by a cougar for months.

Quite the opposite. Once someone reaches a particular point in that department, it makes no sense for them to be here.

A long screw? A good white caulk? A ballcock? 2" nipples? (I used to work at Home Deep Hell as well)

I can pretty much build a bike up from the frame. I'm very good at changing tubes/fixing flats and carry pump, tube, patch kit, cell phone, multi tool.

However, I do think that truing a wheel takes some practice and some skill. And derailleurs...I know how they work, but working on them simply freaks me out. I can never seem to get it right. I usually have my father help me out when I'm at home or one of my mechanic friends when I'm not. Maybe I should join a Fear of Derailleur Adjustment group. Is there a name for this fear?

well, perhaps if the wheel was so out of true that it resembled a salamander, but then again that likely can't be repaired in the field.

INCONCEIVABLE!


wiki says:

But I like that word! Plus, I was trying to reflect the fact that while the wheel was no longer true, it was contorted in a less-displeasing manner. Kinda salamander shaped, actually. ;)

Thanks for noticing though... together we can raise the level of discourse on BF.net to what can only be described as beauteousness! :beer:

I was a manager at a Lowe's store at one point....


....how about the stud finder gag? "let me see if it works" points at self and makes beeping sound "sure does."

I'm still trying to get my brain around the rationale behind the Cougar dating service ad that appears on the 41 masthead.

My wife is still laughing about that one--probably because she's seen me decked out in full Fred regalia.

So what's the deal: You young studs going after the older babes, leaving all the young hotties for us older guys?

For rides, changing flats is the minimum. Knowing how to boot a tire is useful. That's the only time I've had to call for a ride...blew out both tubes before I figured out my sidewall was compromised and I was out of tubes and patch supplies. The next two times it happened I was able to ride home with the tire booted. Having built both my bikes from the ground up, there are a lot of situations that I think I could handle on the road without having to call for help...like a broken spoke, chain, shifter cable, etc...but I don't think everyone needs to have those skills to venture away from home.

A few years back I was seeing a 40 year old woman. It was pretty awesome because she had a lot more money than gals my age. She bought me an incredible LOOK jersey that is still my favorite one. Older women can be fun;) I kind of like them still because they seem more settled than younger gals. Then again, my gal is younger than me, very stable, and pretty awesome!

Too bad for people, I am glad I read up on and know how to do some easy repairs and adjustments on my bicycles. Saves me time and money going to my LBS. Plus I LEARNED something new, main reason people dont know their bikes mechanics is because they dont care to learn, or have no time to learn. Once you learn something you keep it for your life. I never was a great handy man, but I feel great that I can at least fix some minor things on a bicycle, because a bikes mechanics are not tough to comprehend. Fixing flatts and tuning deraillers are so easy.

I agree 100 percent, older woman are so much better than younger girls. I like older woman because they understand the world more and they dont play around like a immature teen girl. I just find older woman allot more attractive.

the older they are the more grateful they are. I'm old now and I would be VERY grateful!

Whats up with deraillers? Once you get the limits down, all you need to adjust is the barrel adjusters for perfect shifts and/or tightening shifting cables. Nothing difficult or to be scared of, the only thing that sucks is if you have a cheap bike walmart style, those deraillers are impossible to fix or adjust because they were built to fail out of the factory, the deraillers on the GMC Denali althou were a breeze to adjust but lets say you get a mtn bike from toys r us and you wont fix anything on that bike.

I recently added a spoke wrench and chain breaking tool to my seat bag. I hope I never have to use either one on the road, but I don't want to be helpless if I ever do. Since I almost always ride alone, I think it's good to be prepared for most potential problems. That said, I always like to know where the nearest bike shop is as well.

Much cleaner and friendlier than HD from my experience. Must be because HD is always thinking about their stock value instead of how people actually like shopping there. If I wasn't just sticking it out until I graduated college and had become a dept supervisor at HD, I would have followed half my coworkers and switched to Lowe's.

I was in Lowe's the other day and was shocked at the employee-to-customer ratio. Man, there were people in red vests everywhere you looked, and not many customers. I'd be a pretty nervous employee in that situation.

I also find it interesting that the layout of Lowe's and Home De Pot is essentially identical these days. It's handy, if disconcerting.

They both try to make it intuitive, but at least here in CA Home Depot has cement flooring while Lowe's has tile. Fancy!!!

I wouldnt have a clue how to change the crank on my car, but most things on the bike you can figure just by looking at them.

1) No minimum - just ride.