Those little maintenance jobs...

[Globalti]

I'm a maintenance maniac, everything is in tip-top condition. My MTB is always spotless with the chain cleaned and re-lubed after every ride, my road bike gleams like new, my Land Rover is 22 years old and drives like a new car (I've spent £7000 on repairs, upgrades and maintenance in 9 years) and my house always works perfectly, ne'er a dodgy light switch or a door that doesn't shut and latch cleanly. Last weekend I was on the roof rebuilding the cowl. I guess the only thing I don't maintain so well is my marriage, which lurches along by default like so many others.

What does annoy me is the short a lifespan of bicycle components, especially when exposed regularly to abrasive Lancashire grit. No car owner would put up with a transmission, which wears out in a couple of thousand miles or disc brake pads, which are finished in a dozen outings.

 

[NickM]

...I want a fixie

I have one. And I am looking for a good home for it, in exchange for a fairly nominal amount of dosh. PM me if you are that man...

Oh, and all my bikes, and all of MsM's, are always clean and tidy

 

[PrettyboyTim]

What does annoy me is the short a lifespan of bicycle components, especially when exposed regularly to abrasive Lancashire grit. No car owner would put up with a transmission, which wears out in a couple of thousand miles or disc brake pads, which are finished in a dozen outings.

My guess is that you could make a drivetrain that lasts as well as a car one, but it would weigh about 10kg.

 

[trustysteed]

I resorted to cleaning the gaps between every link with a thin cloth.

i used to do that with strips of a J-cloth. kills your fingers every time you hit a sharp toothed cog.

now i just don't ride the road bike in shoot weather and i never clean the commuter!

 

[TheDoctor]

I have one. And I am looking for a good home for it, in exchange for a fairly nominal amount of dosh. PM me if you are that man...

Oh, and all my bikes, and all of MsM's, are always clean and tidy

Oh, god, no, don't. Please don't. If I get any more bikes, domestic unrest may result. I'd have to sleep in the garage, and there isn't room...
I've got most of the bits (in fact, if i stick to a singlespeed rather than a fixie, I've got all the bits) it's just a case of time.

 

[Mac66]

Neglect everything but the bike...and personal hygeine

 

[John the Monkey]

I have one. And I am looking for a good home for it, in exchange for a fairly nominal amount of dosh. PM me if you are that man...

What a lovely looking bike! Kudos on building it yourself too...

 

[ChrisKH]

Any job that needs doing gets done straight away round here. "Never put off 'til tomorrow what you can do today" is my maxim.

*cough*bullshit*cough*

Unemployed then Dom?

 

[ChrisKH]

My bikes are always kept in good mechanical order. It's the rest of my stuff that I neglect as much as I can get away with - the house, the car and most disastrously the garden. It's amazing how few years it takes a sycamore seed to grow into a huge 30ft tree.

Yes, I had this problem. Kept cutting back a tree that just grew even more the next season. So last weekend I cut it down and sawed it up into logs. Logs will get used in my bros. log burner. Mind you, I felt like shite afterwards as I had sawn the whole thing by hand. Took me all day.

 

[trustysteed]

So last weekend I cut it down and sawed it up into logs.

you've just increased the rate of climate change by removing a C02 conversion device from the environment. how very dare you!

 

[NickM]

What a lovely looking bike! Kudos on building it yourself too...

Thank you I couldn't really claim to have built it, just to have had a hand in it - although I did braze the left side seatstay/dropout join, and it hasn't fallen apart yet!

 

[ChrisKH]

you've just increased the rate of climate change by removing a C02 conversion device from the environment. how very dare you!

Trusty I have loads of the buggers. There are 12 others. Eight of them fruit bearing.

 

[trustysteed]

fuck it then, get hacking away!

 

[Twenty Inch]

Oh, god, no, don't. Please don't. If I get any more bikes, domestic unrest may result. I'd have to sleep in the garage, and there isn't room...
I've got most of the bits (in fact, if i stick to a singlespeed rather than a fixie, I've got all the bits) it's just a case of time.

Har har. Mrs TI thinks there's only FOUR bikes in the cellar, not six. My strategy of keeping frames and wheels separate, and moving them around every time I go down there, is working.

Plus I have a sacrificial bike that I will get rid of if she really puts pressure on.

 

[trustysteed]

Plus I have a sacrificial bike that I will get rid of if she really puts pressure on.

she wouldn't really make you dump the mistress, would she? the bitch!