Fixing bikes for others - mechanical neglect

[fossyant]

Thing is, paying little attention to how your bike works can leave you in the middle of no-where, especially if you ride off road.

People buy these expensive machines and don't look after them, spoiling the enjoyment when they break and of course costly repairs. I know people that have destroyed expensive mechs because they havent bothered to clean and lube it. Its a part that should last many years, not 6 months.

If you ride off road you really need to look after your bike as one muddy ride can destroy parts if not cleaned and checked (disc brake pads can dissapear on a muddy and gritty ride).

 

[lane]

Yes I agree there are some basic things everyone should learn how to do such as cleaning / lube and being able to replace an inner tube. Also paying attention and knowing when something is not working properly.

 

[NorthernDave]

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

^^^^^ This, every time. I can do enough (usually) to get me home in an emergency, but I've zero interest in anything other than basic maintenance (cleaning / lubricating) to keep things ticking over nicely.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

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

That's the attitude that I find annoying, and don't see why I should bother with helping such people fix stuff. I can respect someone who at least will "have a go", even if they don't ultimately succeed in sorting out whatever is wrong. What I have no time for though is the ones who just can't be bothered to learn - the "I just don't care how it works, I keep using it until it stops working, then I get someone else to fix it for me because my time is far too valuable and I don't like getting my hands dirty anyway" attitude. Not only is it stupid to be totally helpless in life and have to rely on other people all the time, in some cases I also detect an element of arrogance, as though someone whose time is "really valuable" considers it beneath them to work with their hands.

 

[lane]

That's the attitude that I find annoying, and don't see why I should bother with helping such people fix stuff. I can respect someone who at least will "have a go", even if they don't ultimately succeed in sorting out whatever is wrong. What I have no time for though is the ones who just can't be bothered to learn - the "I just don't care how it works, I keep using it until it stops working, then I get someone else to fix it for me because my time is far too valuable and I don't like getting my hands dirty anyway" attitude. Not only is it stupid to be totally helpless in life and have to rely on other people all the time, in some cases I also detect an element of arrogance, as though someone whose time is "really valuable" considers it beneath them to work with their hands.

We live in a society where people specialise. People pay me to do what I do for a living because they can't or don't want to do it and I pay the bike mechanic for the same reason. We are all helpless and we all have to rely on other people all the time - doctor, dentist, coder, chemist, nuclear engineer, accountant, solicitor etc. etc. Why is the bike mechanic different? We can't all learn how to do everything in a complex society so we need to prioritise how we use our time.

It's not arrogant - I pay the bike mechanic because they have mastered a skill that I haven't.

 

[DaveReading]

That's the attitude that I find annoying, and don't see why I should bother with helping such people fix stuff. I can respect someone who at least will "have a go", even if they don't ultimately succeed in sorting out whatever is wrong. What I have no time for though is the ones who just can't be bothered to learn - the "I just don't care how it works, I keep using it until it stops working, then I get someone else to fix it for me because my time is far too valuable and I don't like getting my hands dirty anyway" attitude.

IMHO, most people lie somewhere between those two extremes.

If someone is able and willing to do basic stuff like lubrication, cleaning and pumping their tyres up I'm not about to criticise them for taking anything more complicated to the LBS. Think about it, we all have a vested interest in keeping them in business.

 

[MarkF]

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

I just think some riders are just not interested in mechanical matters, why should they be? Both my sons ride regularly, one is a dancer/acrobat, the other a sports coach, both are absolutely cack handed at everything mechanical and wouldn't know where to begin to try to fix a puncture. They are not interested, I fix 'em they ride 'em.

 

[dantheman]

Anybody who cannot pump a tyre up has no place using the roads..... Cleaning is not important really, and oiling a chain is no harder than putting fuel in a car.. I don't think you can class these things as anything more than what anybody can do, frankly an 8 year old can do them so can hardly be used as evidence of trying to do mechanical work... Just saying... Fair enough saying I don't do it I pay another, but riding an unsafe vehicle around others can cause harm to others, and if you couldn't pump a tyre up then as I said, get off the road...

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Just reply "You best take it down the bike shop then". My time is more valuable than fixing the bikes of people who can't be bothered. I cannot be bothered either.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

. We are all helpless and we all have to rely on other people all the time - doctor, dentist, coder, chemist, nuclear engineer, accountant, solicitor etc. etc. Why is the bike mechanic different? We can't all learn how to do everything in a complex society so we need to prioritise how we use our time..

There's different degrees of complexity. In the scheme of things, bikes are NOT that complicated and no specialist knowledge is required to work on them. Any competent home DIY'er or DIY car owner could easily master anything required to be a bike mechanic. It does require some skill, but let's not try and make out it's rocket science to fix bikes, because it isn't.
I'm certainly not helpless, there are very few tasks I will not do myself, and then only because the cost of the necessary gear isn't justified for a one-off. job. All the plumbing, heating, wiring, and general building work in my house was done by me. I would draw the line at replacing my roof, but that's pretty much the only job I would pay someone else to do rather than do it myself. The younger generation, who appear to be the most generally clueless in all practical matters, are going to be rich pickings for rip-off merchants in the future if they aren't capable, (or are merely too lazy), to do anything for themselves.

 

[gbb]

Mechanical sympathy, knowledge, understanding is a gift...and not everyone is lucky enough to have it and that must cost them dearly through life.
I'll always help if asked and if I can.

 

[Oldfentiger]

Like many upthread, I tinkered with things mechanical as a lad. I was already a part self trained engineer before I started my apprenticeship.
It's a long time since I did anything hands-on for a living, having moved into management and the "joys" that brings. Now I'm back to tinkering, which involves farting about rebuilding old bikes and fettling our newer ones.
I do it because I enjoy it, and because I enjoy it I'm not bad at it.
On the other hand, for example, I don't enjoy gardening and it's just a necessary chore. As a result I don't hunger for gardening knowledge and so I'm a sh1t gardener.
We're not all the same, and that's a good thing.

 

[Globalti]

My cycling buddy (who doesn't frequent thus forum) is a physician with a brain the size of a planet but he's hopeless at mechanical stuff. The first time we rode together I spotted that his forks were well on their way to parting company with the bike but he hadn't a clue anything was wrong. His back door was sticking but he had never thought to do anything until I took it off and planed it for him. Anything that the bike needs, I do for him if he doesn't take it to a shop.

 

[Venod]

I was already a part self trained engineer before I started my apprenticeship

Same here you could say my early bike tinkering shaped my life, I too moved into the management side of things but I never took to it, and by far my most enjoyable working years were on the shop floor.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Well, after all this talk the inevitable happened today.
Out on the Giant as the Pro Carbon is waiting for it's new chain and for the second time in the last 3 rides I got that sinking feeling.
The full tale will appear on 'your ride today', but couldn't get the tyre off the rim at the road side (Park Tools tyre levers indeed...) so had to ring for Mrs ND to do the whole Thunderbird 3 thing.

From the 'Get me home in an emergency' thread:

I can do enough (usually) to get me home in an emergency, but I've zero interest in anything other than basic maintenance (cleaning / lubricating) to keep things ticking over nicely.

Usually, then, unless you get a puncture! Perhaps a little more than 'zero interest' invested in basic maintenance (like changing a tyre/replacing an inner tube, for example) might have allowed you to continue your ride, not inconvenience your kind Thunderbird Lady, and have a justified rather than misplaced sense of self reliance. And gatorskins are b******ds too, btw.