Fear of fixing it yourself

[dyna-ti]

Im a bit of a bike shop hangerabouter so see quite a few coming in for repairs.
Truly shocking the lack of practical skills the general population seems to posses :? .You'd think as cyclists they'd be able to repair these simple jobs as they may have to do it by the side of the road or in the middle of nowhere,miles from a bike shop.

And the lack of road skills pees me off too :evil: .But you cant beat people up for having poor cycling skills.

A Puncture....A PUNCTURE!!! :evil: :evil: :evil: TAKE THAT!!! YA WEE SO AN' SO BA****D!!!.

 

[REKIBorter]

These days technology, bikes included, is getting so complex people don't want to have a go at maintaining their new toy just incase they break it. I hark back to the days when you could dismantle an A-series engine with a pair of 1/2" and 7/16" spanners. Special tools for the simplest of jobs is becoming the norm which puts people off 'having a go'.

 

[Lysander]

................But you cant beat people up for having poor cycling skills.........

Yes you can.


Judge usually takes a dim view of it, though............

 

[retroyetirigid]

People not wanting to fix their bikes, keeps me in my job. :shock:

 

[mountainloz]

People not wanting to fix their bikes, keeps me in my job. :shock:

Me too

 

[Ernie]

People not wanting to fix their bikes, keeps me in my job. :shock:

Me too

"this is the other side of the discussion i suppose..and a very valid one"

Ernie

 

[mountainloz]

Basic stuff like punctures do sometimes surprise me how people can make a complete mess of the job
But if someone has spent a lot on a nice set of hydraulic disc brakes etc. They can either
Have a go themselves and risk expensively messing it up
pay someone with the correct tools and regular knowhow to do it properly
I can understand why people do it

(I personally have a go though, that's how I got to where I am with bikes)

 

[crazy88]

I'm pretty new to bikes really, had a few when i was a kid, but then got out of the loop. I now have a GT which is my blasphemous modern hardtail, and a retro single speed diamond back which I just bought from chrisv40, oh and a crappy road bike which is in the workshop (my spare bedroom) at the moment.

Since owning my bikes i have always wanted to fix them myself. My new favourite evening hobby when the wife goes out is to get the bikes out and play around with them. Last night I was fitting slicks to my single speed as it's my commuter bike, and also decided to check out the spacers on the rear hub as I wasn't convinced that the chain line was perfectly straight.

I've never removed a rear casette/ cog before so watched a you tube video first, and happy to say it all went back together perfectly. No changes made, but at least I now know how it all works.

Personally I love the challenge of learning new things on my bike. If I could, i'd love to work with bikes all day, but it just isn't going to happen unfortunately. Sometimes there's a need for a bike shop; I just had my gt faced for an external BB which I obviously couldn't do myself, but then I fit it all myself and am dead chuffed that it all works perfectly...ish.


People do need to man up and learn things.

 

[silverclaws]

I will do anything that is needed on a bike, even frame repair if I have to, as I have skills in brazing and silver soldering ( soldering is a misnomer in this case) and the materials. If I don't have the tools, I will either get them, make them or otherwise find another way, yeah bodge, but bodge with thought and care.

The only skill missing now, is wheel building, I have yet to get my head around that.

But, from an early age I was always taking things apart, and my first engine was a single cylinder Suffolk Colt petrol lawn mower motor at age 6, unsiezed and got running and there the start of my internal combustion knowlege. A few years later, an old '71 Lambretta with siezed clutch and a few years after that, a Land-Rover Series One dragged out of a field with a cracked engine block and partly collapsed chassis. That thing taught me a lot. But in the meantime, I was fettling bikes, road type bikes with drop handle bars, off roading them and breaking them, my first all terrain bikes, long before the mountain bike wave hit our shores.

I took a lot of interest in the war time make do and mend attitude, the attitude my father and grand father had, where buying parts was considered a sin unless one has first totally buggered up the offending part by trying to fix it oneself with a plethora of hand tools and a bit of thought.

But yeah, I fix all the bikes around here, people know I know my stuff, and I do it for fun and neighbourly good will.

 

[legrandefromage]

I am Pickles secret mechanic.

There, I said it, I'm sorry.