Fixing bikes for others - mechanical neglect

[nickyboy]

I take the view that if you are old enough to propel a mechanical object, then you are also old enough to learn how it works. I've been pulling things to pieces (and sometimes even managing to get them back together again) since I was big enough to open a toolbox and take a spanner out of it. I'd be ashamed of myself if I had to go begging for assistance with something as basic as a bicycle. Aside from the bits involving expensive diagnostic kit, I also do all my own car maintenance and have done since a teenager. Having to get someone else to fix a mechanical object for me, I regard as a failure, and not something to be proud of or excuse away by saying "I'm no good with mechanical stuff".
Some of my bikes might be right at the low-budget end of the spectrum, but they still ride correctly and they don't make grinding & clattering noises as I go down the road.

I haven't got the first idea how to fix my car. I switch it on and it goes. If it doesn't go I get someone to look at it and tell me how to make it go

Same for anything on my bike beyond ultra-basic. I'm just not interested in how a freehub works.

 

[Ajax Bay]

If I can help someone and pass on a teeny bit of that knowledge for the next time that's good

But there's the rub, Tim. No knowledge has been passed on. There wasn't even much interaction between grateful nephew and uncle sfaics.

I would never look down on someone because they cannot or will not perform their own maintenance.

No, likewise, but that doesn't mean I'll do their maintenance for them (unless they are my immediate family in which case the bikes are among the 'n'). Unless they want to bring their bike and be there to learn while I have a go.
I also am reluctant to deal with BSOs, like @User , for the same reasons. Just not worth it if items have to be replaced.

If it doesn't go I'll pay someone to look at it and tell me how to make it go

FTFY

 

[Gixxerman]

But there's the rub, Tim. No knowledge has been passed on. There wasn't even much interaction between grateful nephew and uncle sfaics.FTFY

I have tried many times with other bikes he has owned to give maintenance advice and show how to adjust things. Sadly, he doesn't have the aptitude / inclination to do it. He can't / won't even oil the chain. The mending bit did not bother me that much TBH. What did bother me is that the bike had to get in such a desperate state of repair before the quite obvious faults were noticed. I dunno, maybe I am judging people by my own standards and expecting too much. It is just that such a fault as a freehub being loose to the point of falling off must have been so obvious to have alerted him to something being amis long before it actually fell off.

 

[nickyboy]

But there's the rub, Tim. No knowledge has been passed on. There wasn't even much interaction between grateful nephew and uncle sfaics.

No, likewise, but that doesn't mean I'll do their maintenance for them (unless they are my immediate family in which case the bikes are among the 'n'). Unless they want to bring their bike and be there to learn while I have a go.
I also am reluctant to deal with BSOs, like @User , for the same reasons. Just not worth it if items have to be replaced.

FTFY

Yes I will pay someone. My free time is important to me. I don't want to spend it doing something I don't want to do and have no interest in

 

[Smokin Joe]

I lost the ability to learn new tricks long ago. If it's not described in Richard's Bicycle Book (R Ballantyne 1972) then I'm unlikely to have much of a clue how to fix it. If I did try I'd probably balls it up completely. Modern headset & bottom bracket are bike shop jobs, and they probably need funny tools.

Modern headsets and bottom brackets are a doddle compared to the older ones, especially headsets. You can fit one with a single Allen key and you don't have that knife edge margin between the bearings being too tight or too loose.

 

[snorri]

Back in my schooldays I couldn't understand a friend of mine who told me he had a Meccano set but hadn't been able to build anything because the holes in the metal components never lined up. However he has achieved success in finance, so a lack of aptitude for things mechanical hasn't held him back and has no doubt provided gainful employment for some of the mechanically minded among us.

 

[dantheman]

Yeah, I suppose there must be a "want" to learn these things.... I did do engineering at college, and tbh it was almost all second nature as I was being taught... I don't drive but can strip an engine down and rebuild it, change a clutch or do brakes on a car etc.. Bikes are simple in comparison but if your willing to try, are able to use a torque wrench and can read a Haynes manual (or nowadays an online tutorial) then you'll be able to do most jobs, even if it takes a long time... I've always thought that if someone else can do a job, why can't I? I have 2 hands just like him...

I always remember the clever words from a song by "jazzy Jeff and the fresh prince" which are "if it ain't broke, then don't try to fix it" - and think of all the times as a kid that I took things apart that worked perfectly, and failed to put them back together again haha... So yeah, I think of that verse and disregard it...

I must admit though, my welding is not good, and I don't do plastering or carpet fitting - anything else if fair game... I might think differently if I earned much more than I do, so if you have the money and pay an lbs to do the work then that's good also - it helps them stay in business and I'm sure we would all miss them if they weren't around..

 

[Gixxerman]

I can adjust them, but that's it. Doing any maintenance on them - I go to the LBS. I have no idea what lies inside.

Balls!

 

[Alan O]

Speaking of lack of aptitude, one of the people I go riding with takes out groups of beginners, and one of them recently had a puncture. But he didn't tell anyone and kept riding - until the tyre was partly shredded and needed a roll of gaffer tape to patch up.

 

[DaveReading]

When I volunteered for a bike co-op for a bit, it was disappointing to find that while the proposition was that people would come in and fix their bikes using our tools and equipment, and we would help them with advice and technical expertise, many users weren't the slightest bit interested in learning how to do things themselves and were just looking for a cheaper alternative to their LBS.

 

[fossyant]

Bikes arent complicated. Folk are just too lazy to bother.

 

[fossyant]

My latest was servicing a hydraulic dropper seat post. Never done one before, but paying £20 for a seal kit was a damn site cheaper than the £100 that bike shops charge. Quite simple really

 

[Venod]

But there's the rub, Tim. No knowledge has been passed on.

I sympathise with the ops original post, I have repaired the grand children's bikes is various stages of "how have you managed to ride it" they have no knowledge passed onto them by my son or son in law, that's because they were not interested when I repaired their bikes, I just accept that not everybody is mechanically minded, there were no cars in the household when I was young but mum and dad both rode bikes so I learnt a lot from dad and built my first bike from old bits and a frame from the tip.

 

[lane]

Bikes arent complicated. Folk are just too lazy to bother.

Even ignoring the fact that some people would find if difficult - choosing how you want to spend your leisure time and making a decision that you would rather pay someone else does not necesarily make you lazy.

 

[smutchin]

I remember when I was around 13-14 wanting to take the chain off my bike for some reason. It never occurred to me that there would be a proper method for doing this. Several hours with a blunt hacksaw and pliers did the trick though. I have no idea how I managed to put it back together again, but I must have done somehow.

Looking back on it, I know I should have gone to the LBS - not to get them to do it for me but to ask for advice on how to do it properly.

I find most jobs on the bike pretty easy, but these days I take the time and effort to find out how to do them properly before attempting them for the first time, and make sure I have the appropriate tools.

If other people don't find it easy or aren't interested, that's fair enough - at least they are helping to keep bike shops in business.