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A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

tegowerk.eu

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Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#11

Post by victorstanciu »

iamthemonster wrote: post #8

Beautifully written, but I couldn't disagree more. Bicycle maintenance is an annoying chore to me that gets in the way of my enjoyment of cycling. I even have good bicycle shops near me that did maintenance far quicker/cheaper/better than I would do. It just all seemed like such a hassle. I finally ended up buying a belt-drive hub-geared hydraulic-brakes medium/fat-tyre bicycle and my maintenance woes appear to be ma…

Interesting point of view, thank you! For me maintenance and repair have enhanced riding rather than diminish it. I find it's similar to how cooking enhances eating, or yard work enhances laying around the yard. Of course I hate having a malfunction while riding as much as the next guy, but I also ride with more confidence because I know I can handle pretty much anything that can go wrong, even on the go.

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#12

Post by mo_42 »

I had a similar experience during the pandemic. I got hold of an old frame for a road bike that I somehow liked. Even the paint was pretty bad so I went all the way of stripping the old paint, cold-setting the rear dropouts (thanks to Sheldon Brown's website) so that it will take the modern wheels, painting the frame, and assembling everything with new parts.

It took me two years because I had to learn a lot how different components fit together and all sorts of specific spacings.

Now, I have a very unique and beautiful bike (people on the street tell me). But above all, I know every detail of that bicycle and how to fix it.

The reason why IT people love this stuff (also woodworking, gardening, etc.) so much is that there's routine. Most of the bikes are very similar. If you've rebuilt one, you have the competency to build another one.

In software, every project is a new challenge. It's more like building a new technical object all the time. I think software development could benefit from rewriting stuff every now and then. Many of my former projects would benefit a lot if I had a couple of week to take apart all the functions and assemble them in a better way that consideres everything I've learned so far.

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#14

Post by ThomasBb »

iamthemonster wrote: post #8

Beautifully written, but I couldn't disagree more. Bicycle maintenance is an annoying chore to me that gets in the way of my enjoyment of cycling. I even have good bicycle shops near me that did maintenance far quicker/cheaper/better than I would do. It just all seemed like such a hassle. I finally ended up buying a belt-drive hub-geared hydraulic-brakes medium/fat-tyre bicycle and my maintenance woes appear to be ma…

You’re on to something here - as a Dutch person, luke any of my friends, I have a ‘ daily driver’ bike with a in-hub set of gears, enclosed chain, drum brakes - and the thing is near indestructible. It spends its days in the street in front of my house chained to a bike rack ans still barely ever needs anything fixed. The typical ‘road bikes’ with derailleurs and rim brakes are fun when performance counts -but if you’re just getting around, who cares?

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#15

Post by xkcd1963 »

But it is true. Most websites concern with companies competing in a market. If you believe a war-industry is good because it provides jobs, but you don't take into consideration that war destroys stuff and lives and just creates misery for most of us, you are shortsighted at best.

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#16

Post by victorstanciu »

xkcd1963 wrote: post #15

But it is true. Most websites concern with companies competing in a market. If you believe a war-industry is good because it provides jobs, but you don't take into consideration that war destroys stuff and lives and just creates misery for most of us, you are shortsighted at best.

Uh, what? Did you reply to the wrong post by any chance?

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#17

Post by et-al »

jstanley wrote: post #10
BrianHenryIE wrote: post #3

Cycling is a joy. When I experience / see people diss cyclists, I'm sad for them. It implies they cannot empathise with others (me). My physical and mental health are better thanks to cycling.

People don't like cyclists because their only interaction with cyclists is when they're holding up traffic.

Eh, drivers don't even like other drivers. Take road rage for example.

Windshield perspective (or myopia) and car brain are both real phenomena:

- https://grist.org/cities/2011-01-25-if-driving-is-so-great-w...

- https://archive.is/umBJv

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#18

Post by kashyapc »

iamthemonster wrote: post #8

Beautifully written, but I couldn't disagree more. Bicycle maintenance is an annoying chore to me that gets in the way of my enjoyment of cycling. I even have good bicycle shops near me that did maintenance far quicker/cheaper/better than I would do. It just all seemed like such a hassle. I finally ended up buying a belt-drive hub-geared hydraulic-brakes medium/fat-tyre bicycle and my maintenance woes appear to be ma…

That's the reason I use a single-speed bike (not to be confused with a "fixie") for commuting. I absolutely love the simplicity of it: no gears to muck around with, much less maintenance, light, and hassle-free. Perfect to deal with the "frequently stop and start" biking in a city.

In a (flat) city for commuting short distances, you simply don't need gears if you're below 50. It's a nice to have.

It also helps that I live in the "Low Lands" (Flanders, Belgium), so no hills around here, and it's a bicycle-first city.

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#19

Post by rafaelmn »

jstanley wrote: post #10
BrianHenryIE wrote: post #3

Cycling is a joy. When I experience / see people diss cyclists, I'm sad for them. It implies they cannot empathise with others (me). My physical and mental health are better thanks to cycling.

People don't like cyclists because their only interaction with cyclists is when they're holding up traffic.

Also they can be very vegan about it.

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#20

Post by leke »

I got into bikes after moving to a cyclists' town. I know the pride of riding something you've fixed up like the author mentioned in the article. Bikes are truly a marvel. My town and bikes have provided me with a higher standard of living and health than I would have had in some other town.

Bikes are for everybody. You can ride a beat up bike for years with just basic knowledge, like changing an inner tube and oiling a chain. General and advanced bike maintenance was a mystery until YouTube came along. Now I get to pass this knowledge directly to my kids.

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