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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

#81

Post by mvanbaak »

whazor wrote: post #70
dailykoder wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Bikes are for everybody. You can ride a beat up bike for years with just basic knowledge, l That is true. But what changed most sceptics, that i met, mind were bikes that actually worked. I understand the fear when people see the price tag and think they could buy a second hand car for that, but once they sit on a good bike they just enjoy it. And if they then learn how to do basic maintenance themselves so that it…

A decent second hand bike costs 80 euros in The Netherlands

'decent' yes. But true, if you get a bike that's not full of electronics and motors and gps and what not, you dont have to spend a fortune. between 100 and 200 euro you ride a solid bike that does not fall apart with every bump in the road and can be repaired at home.

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#82

Post by drdo »

AlunAlun wrote: post #43

I suspect what the author takes joy from is more the satisfaction of learning a new skill. Like many things, bike maintenance eventually becomes a chore. Most of my (many) bikes over the last 30 years have been built from the ground up, including the wheels. And I don’t (or won’t) trust any shop mechanic to touch them. But now, the thought of doing any sort of maintenance fills me with dread - I want to ride my bikes…

This perfectly matches my experience.

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#83

Post by anal_reactor »

whazor wrote: post #70
dailykoder wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Bikes are for everybody. You can ride a beat up bike for years with just basic knowledge, l That is true. But what changed most sceptics, that i met, mind were bikes that actually worked. I understand the fear when people see the price tag and think they could buy a second hand car for that, but once they sit on a good bike they just enjoy it. And if they then learn how to do basic maintenance themselves so that it…

A decent second hand bike costs 80 euros in The Netherlands

In the Netherlands bikes are free if you have an angle grinder lol

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#84

Post by stavros »

UnserMannInK wrote: post #61
dailykoder wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Bikes are for everybody. You can ride a beat up bike for years with just basic knowledge, l That is true. But what changed most sceptics, that i met, mind were bikes that actually worked. I understand the fear when people see the price tag and think they could buy a second hand car for that, but once they sit on a good bike they just enjoy it. And if they then learn how to do basic maintenance themselves so that it…

True, the price tag might buy you a second hand car. But if you factor in the maintenance cost of cars it comes in cheap in comparison. I’ve just had to replace the clutch in my car (~2200€), whereas having the whole transmission (all sprockets and the chain) in a bike fixed is around 250-300€. Less if you do it yourself. And being able to do it myself feels really good, I couldn’t agree more!

Right, but you realize that comparing a bike to a car is a bit ridiculous, right? They're for very different use cases.

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#85

Post by stavros »

dailykoder wrote: post #31
leke wrote: post #20

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 oilin…

>Bikes are for everybody. You can ride a beat up bike for years with just basic knowledge, l That is true. But what changed most sceptics, that i met, mind were bikes that actually worked. I understand the fear when people see the price tag and think they could buy a second hand car for that, but once they sit on a good bike they just enjoy it. And if they then learn how to do basic maintenance themselves so that it…

I have a shitty bike that I bought for 150 € ten years ago. It creaks everywhere, is hard to ride, and a thief once actually moved it out of the way to steal the bike behind it.

I use it every day but I'm not going to get a better one, because I don't want to be constantly worried that someone will steal it. I want to use it as transportation, leave it wherever, and know that it will still be there because it's not worth stealing.

Plus, being hard to ride means I get extra exercise for my fixed-length rides.

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#87

Post by freetime2 »

I love cycling but absolutely hate maintenance. I’d always prefer to be riding my bike than working on it. Two recent enhancements that significantly improved my life are electronic shifting, and wax lube.

I haven’t had to mess around with gear indexing once since I bought a bike with electronic shifting (SRAM Rival) a couple years ago, and it always shifts perfectly. I do have to keep the batteries charged, but one charge a week is more than enough with daily riding - so never had any issues there.

With wax lube (I use Squirt) I spend a lot less time cleaning my chain. What used to be a pretty annoying weekly process of degreasing and lubing my chain now takes a minute or two: use a dry brush to scrape off any excess wax buildup and then apply more wax. Much quicker and much cleaner than the old dry lube I used to use. And the chain is cleaner and quieter too.

Other than that, I basically hose off the bike and wipe it with a towel after every ride, and align/clean the disc brakes occasionally. My ratio of ride time to maintenance time has never been higher.

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#88

Post by getwiththeprog »

UnserMannInK wrote: post #61
dailykoder wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Bikes are for everybody. You can ride a beat up bike for years with just basic knowledge, l That is true. But what changed most sceptics, that i met, mind were bikes that actually worked. I understand the fear when people see the price tag and think they could buy a second hand car for that, but once they sit on a good bike they just enjoy it. And if they then learn how to do basic maintenance themselves so that it…

True, the price tag might buy you a second hand car. But if you factor in the maintenance cost of cars it comes in cheap in comparison. I’ve just had to replace the clutch in my car (~2200€), whereas having the whole transmission (all sprockets and the chain) in a bike fixed is around 250-300€. Less if you do it yourself. And being able to do it myself feels really good, I couldn’t agree more!

For the price of registering a car for one year in Australia, one can buy a really awesome bike new.

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#89

Post by Ringz »

I have a 1993 or 1994 Marin Indian Fire Trail mountain bike that I've been repairing over the past few weeks. I've replaced all the brake and shift cables, new tubes and tires, and performed the usual maintenance on the ball bearings, like cleaning and greasing them. The biggest issue was getting my Shimano XT derailleur, which is integrated with the brake levers, back in working order. Thankfully, I found YouTube videos that alleviated my fear of completely disassembling, cleaning, re-greasing, and reassembling the gear unit. It's a marvel of engineering that reminds me of a simple watch mechanism (a very simple one). Until I found the YouTube video, I thought I definitely had to buy a new derailleur. However, that would have led to many other new parts being needed, like new cogs, new brake levers, etc. Then perhaps other issues because the bike still has old cantilever brakes and so on. After reassembling the derailleur, the bike runs as well as it did on the first day: the gears click and clack so wonderfully that it's a pure joy to shift. Plus, there's the wonderful feeling of having restored a 40-year-old mountain bike to working order with the original parts.

I also have an older road racing bike that is completely equipped with a Shimano 105 groupset. With it, maintenance and getting it running is child's play. The simplicity of a frame shifter makes everything much easier.

Bikes are the best invention since sliced bread.

Re: A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

#90

Post by Quothling »

freetime2 wrote: post #87

I love cycling but absolutely hate maintenance. I’d always prefer to be riding my bike than working on it. Two recent enhancements that significantly improved my life are electronic shifting, and wax lube. I haven’t had to mess around with gear indexing once since I bought a bike with electronic shifting (SRAM Rival) a couple years ago, and it always shifts perfectly. I do have to keep the batteries charged, but one…

I think bike maintenance is one of those things that is similar to how you read about programmers who pick up woodworking here on HN. I know it's a zen thing for me, similar to other "craftmanship" (I'm not sure if this is the right english word for things like machanics, carpenters, plubmers and so on) like home improvement DIY, gardening or even cleaning the damn house.

It's just very zen. Both because it tends to relatively less tasking on your executive functions, is physical and provides tangible results that you can see and "feel" relatively quickly. It may also be because programming is frankly a craftmanship for the most parts. There are a few projects where I'm doing Computer Science, but for the most part I'm a digital plumber.

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