Originally Posted by fuji86 (Post 14193934)

I knew that someone would take offense to it, wasn't my intention, but it's true. As for working at Scrod's shop, Yeah there are things I'm not going to touch because I simply don't have the experience and/or patience to deal with them just the same as anyone else any more. But rebuilding a hydraulic fork, how much more difficult is that than rebuilding an automobile brake system master cylinder or drum wheel cylinders. Let's see, I've rebuilt carbs on cars & motorcycles. Rebuilt starters and alternators. I think owning an MGB and a couple of Fiats from the 70's that I've done my share of shade tree mechanics to get a car running again & home. Replaced McPherson strut cartridges on cars & motorcycles. Replaced steering components on recirculating ball steering systems (do they even make cars with that any more). Tie rods and steering linkage. I've even torn apart 4, 6 & 8 cylinder engines and rebuilt those from my HS days. One of the first cars I ever owned, the engine wasn't even in the car and was fully disassembled. Came in a box and read a Haynes Maintenance & Repair manual to put it back together. And so I'll take credit for also rebuilding the cylinder heads with those cars too. Then there are the CV joints and transmission seals on FWD 5 speed gearboxes. Replaced an AC system, compressor and vacuuated and recharged the system. Then there are the clutch systems I've dismantled and replaced. As for frame straightening, well you haven't really tried your hand at it until you've used a pulley cable winch and attached it to a tree and used the car to pull the frame back into position. Particularly proud of that one, a 72 MGB that was in a front end collision, the front end aligned and camber & caster, toe in & out aligned properly after the frame was straightened.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/2-Ton-3-Hooks-Come-Long-Winch-Hoist-Cable-Pulley-Puller-Lever-Hoist-Tools-/00/s/NjAwWDYwMA==/$%28KGrHqJ,!iYE6ZWtPfm0BOtHcen!3!~~60_3.JPG

I mean when Scrod himself tells you he doesn't install loose bearings to avoid dealing with them, tells me a sealed system is a disposable and replaceable component.

Originally Posted by fuji86 (Post 14193672)

That for 99% of most wrenching on a bike I'd hardly call anyone a mechanic. Installing a star nut is hardly rocket science. Not in the sense of what you'd take your car in to a mechanic for.

Originally Posted by Scrodzilla (Post 14193706)

Your ignorance astounds me.

I'm sure you can install a star nut and change a tire but can you rebuild a hydraulic fork or properly re-align a bent frame? How about threading a fork? Do you own the tools to face/chase a BB shell? I'd like to see you work at my shop for one week.

I guess schools like Barnett Bicycle Institute are just a farce. I mean, they're not even really teaching anything, right? What about shops who will only hire certified bike mechanics? What a crock!

Originally Posted by Scrodzilla (Post 14193945)

Another tl;dr courtesy of fuji86.

I guess I'll close my shop because there's no such thing as a "bike mechanic" and it's not like I actually do anything anyway.

Originally Posted by fuji86 (Post 14194077)

BTW, I gave plenty of credit calling out frame builders & wheel builders. So telling me about an institute that trains individuals to repair bikes for something such as that really shouldn't be something that astonishes you for ignorance that is non-existent. Facing the parts that are machined, chasing boogered threads are all done with the right tools. It's basically the same concept of ensuring there is no gap between machined parts. Take a cylinder head, that has to be perfectly flat. Even when putting new pistons & connecting rods in a car's engine, those have to be knurled to tolerances. And you'd certainly want to make sure the bearing shells are properly fitted for a cam, wouldn't want to spin bearings and have those lock up on a few thousand dollars worth of engine rebuild ?

I will tell you that I've worked for General Electric Co., Sparton Electronics, FL, Inc. and Boston Whaler Inc, from the mid 80's to early 90's in their R&D & Production Engineering departments. 2 years with GE, DoD Contractor projects included MCOFT & F16 DRLMS simulators. 2 years at Sparton, that was DoD contracting for both active & passive sonobouy manufacturing (anti-submarine warfare detection devices). The 2 years at Boston Whaler, I developed & maintained their Engineering Bill of Materials for their entire product line from 9-31' boats. That was Central FL. In Jacksonville, FL, I worked at CDI Marine Company and a couple of Logistics companies that you may have heard of GATX & CSX (the RR industry). And the last decade or so, worked for a couple of Healthcare plans. Currently a Microsoft SQL Server developer. That's pretty much the resume.

Originally Posted by Spoonrobot (Post 14193954)

Go ahead and mark all that down under "who gives a ****."

ETA: I'd just like to go ahead and retract that earlier comment up there because I just got done reading this thread.

Now that my stomach hurts from laughing, what I want to say instead is:

That's a lot of text for someone who couldn't figure out why track nuts are appropriate hardware for a fixed gear bicycle. Rebuilding an 8-cyclinder engine ain't got **** on mounting a wheel on a bicycle, apparently.

:lol::lol::lol:

Originally Posted by renton20 (Post 14194100)

I think that I would love to see fuji try and work in a shop for a week. The amount of knowledge and expertise required for an good experienced mechanic is astounding. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that changing a flat is the hardest thing in the world but it's also probably the least difficult part of my days. Stuff like creak tracking, facing and chasing, truing old wheels, building wheels, etc is more difficult than one would imagine. Even simple stuff such a adjusting brakes can be more difficult than one would think. With bicycles, there is very often a way to make things work, at least temporarily, versus doing things correctly so that they will continue to work for a long time. Maybe you have never met an experienced mechanic but just dealt with kids at performance, I don't know. But just because you don't understand the work and expertise involved in a profession does not mean that there is no skill involved.

Also, if you can't achieve correct chain tension without a tensioner, you probably should not talk about working on bikes being easy.

Originally Posted by TejanoTrackie (Post 11317342)

Not nuts and separate lock washers, but nuts with built in floating washers that permit you to tighten the nut without grinding it against the dropout. From Harris Cyclery:

Nuts


Track Nuts $3.95/each

Originally Posted by fuji86 (Post 11320056)

Those are what are on there now. the 3rd one to the left.

Originally Posted by adriano (Post 11331608)

you should have tried new nuts.

Originally Posted by fuji86 (Post 11334800)

Considering the nuts pictured from others were $ 3.95 each, that's $ 8 & change. I paid $ 8.95 for the new chain tensionser(s) and considering the pics I posted in # 24 of this thread of the cheap chain tensioner(s) that were scrap metal that were bent, this was not an issue of bad axle nuts. Those tighten down just fine.