I hate working on bikes
02-20-23, 01:14 AM
#26
Senior Member
I'm curious about this, too. I'm a long-time Riv guy and find them very easy to build, conversely more modernish bikes are a struggle for me, "What the heck is a threadless headset? Why is there threading on the dropouts and where are the quick-release skewers??" Maybe he's coming from modern to Riv.
02-20-23, 04:03 AM
#27
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 3,715
Bikes: Too many bikes, too little time to ride
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 442 Post(s)
Liked 472 Times
in
327 Posts
I sympathize with those who also feel their enthusiasm for tinkering has dampened over the years. I used to look forward to building bikes but now I dislike changing flats.
As someone with multiple bikes, I'm lucky that I usually have something that I can ride if one is in need of repairs. The slippery slope is letting multiple bikes fall to a state of needing repair and forgetting about what needs to be done after some time has passed.
Sometimes I find it therapeutic to swap tires or patch a batch of tubes. One of the worst is when I want to take the groupset from one bike to put onto a new frame. Such a simple job but it always takes longer than it should. Maybe wireless electronic shifting is the ticket but my wallet cannot support outfitting all my bikes with electronic groupsets.
Oh, and despite wearing gloves and apron I always manage to get a smidge of grease or grime on my clothes or myself.
As someone with multiple bikes, I'm lucky that I usually have something that I can ride if one is in need of repairs. The slippery slope is letting multiple bikes fall to a state of needing repair and forgetting about what needs to be done after some time has passed.
Sometimes I find it therapeutic to swap tires or patch a batch of tubes. One of the worst is when I want to take the groupset from one bike to put onto a new frame. Such a simple job but it always takes longer than it should. Maybe wireless electronic shifting is the ticket but my wallet cannot support outfitting all my bikes with electronic groupsets.
Oh, and despite wearing gloves and apron I always manage to get a smidge of grease or grime on my clothes or myself.
02-20-23, 10:27 AM
#28
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 990
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 511 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 646 Times
in
362 Posts
I just finished building a really beautiful Rivendell Sam Hillborne set up as a city bike with albatross bars etc. I am really glad to have it finished but I realized something very clearly: I really really dislike working on bicycles and if I never have to do it again it'll be too soon. I have gone back and forth to two different bike stores 6 or 7 times, got sent the wrong parts in the mail, raged and ranted while trying to set up super fiddly crap. Ugh. I figured that others probably can feel my pain and thought I'd just put in a word for paying your friendly local bike shop and enjoying your weekend instead of busting your knuckles and fiddling with annoying junk! ok rant over.
02-20-23, 10:35 AM
#29
Newbie
Thread Starter
I gotta be honest, everything went pretty smoothly on this build all things considered. I wound up having to do a lot of running around and got some wrong parts etc. I'm really stoked on this bike I just realized that i don't enjoy this process like i used to.
02-20-23, 10:57 AM
#30
Mad bike riding scientist
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 27,396
Bikes: Some silver ones, a red one, a black and orange one, and a few titanium ones
Mentioned: 152 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6237 Post(s)
Liked 4,245 Times
in
2,380 Posts
As for working on bikes, the more you do it, the less bother it becomes. But, honestly, people fiddle with bikes far too much. They don’t need near the work and adjustment that most people put into them. They should be able to go for thousands of miles with minimal maintenance.
__________________
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Likes For cyccommute:
02-20-23, 03:42 PM
#31
Senior Member
Pay no attention to him. His ignore list is about a quarter million people long by now.
As for working on bikes, the more you do it, the less bother it becomes. But, honestly, people fiddle with bikes far too much. They don’t need near the work and adjustment that most people put into them. They should be able to go for thousands of miles with minimal maintenance.
As for working on bikes, the more you do it, the less bother it becomes. But, honestly, people fiddle with bikes far too much. They don’t need near the work and adjustment that most people put into them. They should be able to go for thousands of miles with minimal maintenance.
Likes For Joe Remi:
02-20-23, 04:35 PM
#32
Full Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 451
Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 236 Post(s)
Liked 171 Times
in
104 Posts
I just finished building a really beautiful Rivendell Sam Hillborne set up as a city bike with albatross bars etc. I am really glad to have it finished but I realized something very clearly: I really really dislike working on bicycles and if I never have to do it again it'll be too soon. I have gone back and forth to two different bike stores 6 or 7 times, got sent the wrong parts in the mail, raged and ranted while trying to set up super fiddly crap. Ugh. I figured that others probably can feel my pain and thought I'd just put in a word for paying your friendly local bike shop and enjoying your weekend instead of busting your knuckles and fiddling with annoying junk! ok rant over.
Likes For tendency:
02-20-23, 05:36 PM
#33
Senior Member
I enjoy working/building up bikes, but I'd rather ride.
Likes For mackgoo:
02-20-23, 06:21 PM
#34
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: 25 miles northwest of Boston
Posts: 29,575
Bikes: Bottecchia Sprint, GT Timberline 29r, Marin Muirwoods 29er, Trek FX Alpha 7.0
Mentioned: 112 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 5227 Post(s)
Liked 3,599 Times
in
2,353 Posts
I just finished building a really beautiful Rivendell Sam Hillborne set up as a city bike with albatross bars etc. I am really glad to have it finished but I realized something very clearly: I really really dislike working on bicycles and if I never have to do it again it'll be too soon. I have gone back and forth to two different bike stores 6 or 7 times, got sent the wrong parts in the mail, raged and ranted while trying to set up super fiddly crap. Ugh. I figured that others probably can feel my pain and thought I'd just put in a word for paying your friendly local bike shop and enjoying your weekend instead of busting your knuckles and fiddling with annoying junk! ok rant over.
I don't mind working on bikes but I hear ya! some stuff is best left to the pros. watching a pro at work is great
how does it ride?
Likes For rumrunn6:
02-20-23, 07:53 PM
#35
Newbie
Thread Starter
Likes For messmer777:
02-20-23, 09:46 PM
#36
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Elevation 666m Edmonton Canada
Posts: 2,488
Bikes: 2013 Custom SA5w / Rohloff Tourster
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1240 Post(s)
Liked 326 Times
in
250 Posts
Well that did turn out just beautiful. But something is upside down. LOL.
Put a little Sigma speedo on there and let'r fly.
Cheers.
Put a little Sigma speedo on there and let'r fly.
Cheers.
02-20-23, 10:56 PM
#37
Newbie
Thread Starter
02-20-23, 11:03 PM
#38
Senior Member
Nice! The flipped Albas give it a cool Path Racer look.
Likes For Joe Remi:
02-21-23, 04:40 AM
#39
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: 25 miles northwest of Boston
Posts: 29,575
Bikes: Bottecchia Sprint, GT Timberline 29r, Marin Muirwoods 29er, Trek FX Alpha 7.0
Mentioned: 112 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 5227 Post(s)
Liked 3,599 Times
in
2,353 Posts
looks great. I see fenders & know from personal experience, that even just installing fenders, can warrant some ranting
Likes For rumrunn6:
02-21-23, 07:59 AM
#40
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: northern Deep South
Posts: 8,930
Bikes: Fuji Touring, Novara Randonee
Mentioned: 36 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2612 Post(s)
Liked 1,956 Times
in
1,226 Posts
The key to enjoy tinkering is to have multiple bikes, so that there is always at least one to ride and one to tinker with.
The corollary to the above requires a hoard of spare parts, so that one can minimize rendering multiple bikes temporarily inoperable by swapping parts between operable bikes.
The corollary to the above requires a hoard of spare parts, so that one can minimize rendering multiple bikes temporarily inoperable by swapping parts between operable bikes.
Especially fenders. Grr.
Likes For pdlamb:
02-21-23, 08:17 AM
#41
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 2,687
Bikes: too many sparkly Italians, some sweet Americans and a couple interesting Japanese
Mentioned: 10 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 569 Post(s)
Liked 595 Times
in
412 Posts
With way too many bikes I have resolved this with a pad of Post It Notes the Super Sticky ones and pen at the bike racks. I have used them for years and they last, one bikes is waiting for Campy pawls for at least 5 years now which have turned out to be unobtainium.
Likes For easyupbug:
02-22-23, 10:53 AM
#42
Full Member
I get where OP is coming from. Love the design and engineering on bikes today. It does take a commitment to get the tools and expertise to do a comprehensive job. I find that simple maintenance is satisfying but every 2500 miles or so off to the mechanic pro who dials it back to near perfection. So sweet to have the feel of a tuned machine deep into a ride.
02-22-23, 10:59 AM
#43
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Lincoln Ne
Posts: 9,924
Bikes: RANS Stratus TerraTrike Tour II
Mentioned: 46 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3352 Post(s)
Liked 1,056 Times
in
635 Posts
Remember a Bike is a machine that has very few parts and are very simple to work on.
Try working on an IBM Selectric Composer. It had 5000 part in a box no bigger than a large typewriter.
Try working on an IBM Selectric Composer. It had 5000 part in a box no bigger than a large typewriter.
Last edited by rydabent; 03-06-23 at 03:25 PM.
02-22-23, 04:59 PM
#46
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Boulder County, CO
Posts: 4,407
Bikes: '80 Masi Gran Criterium, '12 Trek Madone, early '60s Frejus track
Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 517 Post(s)
Liked 452 Times
in
339 Posts
Some like to tinker, and some just want to make it work like it's supposed to.
There's nothing wrong with taking it in to a shop. Just remember, if you do, the guy or gal who works on it will be of the second type.
There's nothing wrong with taking it in to a shop. Just remember, if you do, the guy or gal who works on it will be of the second type.
Last edited by oldbobcat; 02-22-23 at 05:02 PM.
Likes For oldbobcat:
02-22-23, 04:59 PM
#47
Happy With My Bikes
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 2,194
Bikes: Hi-Ten bike boomers, a Trek Domane and some projects
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 884 Post(s)
Liked 2,321 Times
in
1,122 Posts
I like the look of the bars flipped like that too on that bike. Even though the OP didn't seem to like working on it, it looks good and now that he isn't wrenching he can ride it.
__________________
"It is the unknown around the corner that turns my wheels." -- Heinz Stücke
"It is the unknown around the corner that turns my wheels." -- Heinz Stücke
Likes For Chuck M:
02-22-23, 05:11 PM
#48
Over the hill
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 24,389
Bikes: Giant Defy, Giant Revolt
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1002 Post(s)
Liked 1,219 Times
in
697 Posts
Well, they could be of the first type, but they know it’s their job to be the second type when working on someone else’s bike.
__________________
It's like riding a bicycle
It's like riding a bicycle
02-22-23, 05:45 PM
#49
Method to My Madness
Join Date: Nov 2020
Location: Orange County, California
Posts: 3,723
Bikes: Trek FX 2, Cannondale Synapse x2, Cannondale CAAD4, Santa Cruz Stigmata 3
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1984 Post(s)
Liked 1,501 Times
in
1,041 Posts
I am willing to pay a fair price for good enough and to pay more for optimal, because some degree of tinkering is often required to get from good enough to optimal.
Likes For SoSmellyAir:
02-22-23, 07:46 PM
#50
Newbie
That bike looks nice. I have a take on the vibe you're talking about which is: when you decide you're going to do something yourself and then it goes annoyingly sideways at some point, I tell myself that if it had just worked the first time then I wouldn't have learned the additional stuff that I did about whatever system it is. And then if the bike does finally turn out well, you get to have the post-knowledge that you really got in to the weeds with the thing and got familiar with it and got it dialed in, after that you can take some time to enjoy your work until the next thing comes up