Originally Posted by rydabent

I would have been more than happy to put your chain back on too. I stop to help anyone I can. Im retired, capable, and have the time to help. Plus I carry quite a few tools.

Originally Posted by cyccommute

Why? FB has a point. People have to learn how to do things since they aren't born with knowledge. There are a whole host of things that people ought to "know"...even "old" people... but don't. Things like physics, chemistry, biology, literature, how to fix a bike, how a damned double hung window works and why you shouldn't paint the damned thing shut!, etc. I've seen plenty of people do worse than not how how to put a chain back on. Shaking your head and saying "kids now days!" is just being divisive.



I say more power to the "Internet" generation. They have more information and knowledge available at their fingertips than I've ever had. Even I, who has lots of mechanical experience with bicycle and teach people how to fix their bikes, can appreciate being able to go out the the Internet and look at a video for something that I've never worked with before. Knowledge makes me a better mechanic and a better teacher of bicycle mechanics.

And, frankly, at my weekly volunteer job as a mechanic at my local bicycle co-op, I see lots of people...young and old...who are ignorant of how their bicycle works. I also see lots of "young" people who are whip smart about it too.

Originally Posted by ThermionicScott

Sounds like a couple folks are due for their Geritol and clean diapers.

Originally Posted by Papa Tom

YOWZA! This is powerful! Did you write this, Habilis, or are you quoting someone? I'd like to hang up a copy at work, if you don't mind. I think it might inspire some of the young people I work with.

Originally Posted by rydabent

I would have been more than happy to put your chain back on too. I stop to help anyone I can. Im retired, capable, and have the time to help. Plus I carry quite a few tools.

Originally Posted by habilis

Thanks - I wrote it myself. This what old guys are thinking about when they look like they're sitting around doing nothing.

Originally Posted by habilis

What is the most important, defining attribute of human beings? Many would say it's the human brain; few would say it's the human hand. However, our brains didn't begin to develop rapidly until we became bipedal and our hands were freed to do work.

Our hands are the most versatile and wonderful tools in existence, yet we are (as a society) ashamed of using them. Like the ancient Chinese aristocrats, we are proud of weak, soft hands that prove we have never done manual labor. (The ancient Mandarins grew their fingernails long to show their disdain for manual labor; western women, in particular, emulate that behavior, but men are often similarly preoccupied with manicuring their nails.)

I once overheard a mother telling her son that he must go to college so that "you'll never have to work with your hands." I know what she meant: As a rule, the better-salaried members of our society seldom get their hands dirty. But when we push the importance of hands and handiwork into the background, we are, in fact, denying our humanness. If we never work with our hands, we become less human. We disconnect ourselves from the physical world and wonder why we are so unhappy - why no amount of TV, social networking, or drug use can make us happy.

The decision to raise healthy, self-reliant children should not rest with the individual parent, especially since so many parents were themselves deprived of experience with tools. It is the responsibility of the whole society to provide a balanced education (including familiarity with tools and materials) to every child through the public school system.

Originally Posted by Marcus_Ti

Now now. 95% of adults and kids do not tie their shoes properly. Especially the ones that claim to "know".

Almost everyone ties "granny knots" and not proper shoelace knots, hell both my parents taught me wrong too...which is why everyone resorts to kludges likes "double" knotting to keep their shoes tied-because the base knot is tied wrong. Then I became enlightened due to being a stage hand...

Ian's Shoelace Site - The "Granny Knot"


Once you know what to look for, you can spot improper shoelace knots 20ft away.

Originally Posted by rydabent

Lets get back to the reason for this thread to begin with. Do you really have to be a certified bicycle technician to see the simple fact that a chain has come off the front sprockets?

Originally Posted by FastJake

I wanted to post something like, "dudes, this is way too deep for Bicycle Mechanics."



But posts like this one make it more than worthwhile.

However, I do have a slight counter point to this. When I was growing up my dad would say to me, "you can make a living working with your brain or working with your back." He did not say "hands" and was referring something like construction or any number of manual labor jobs. He pointed out that your back doesn't last very long in some of those jobs. He grew up without money and worked a lot of those. I'm now a mechanical engineer and happy for it. I love getting my hands dirty but I think I'd get tired of it if I had to do it for a living.

Originally Posted by rydabent

Lets get back to the reason for this thread to begin with. Do you really have to be a certified bicycle technician to see the simple fact that a chain has come off the front sprockets?

Originally Posted by rydabent

Lets get back to the reason for this thread to begin with. Do you really have to be a certified bicycle technician to see the simple fact that a chain has come off the front sprockets?

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I thought the reason for this thread was for you to lump all young people into one group defined as ignorant.

No?

Originally Posted by cyccommute

Stereotypes are useless, demeaning and only serve to let the user feel superior to those they are stereotyping.

Originally Posted by rydabent

The question is being told just how bright young people are these days, why couldnt he see his problem?

Originally Posted by cyccommute

Exactly. Shall we now discuss how old people can't use computers? Stereotypes are useless, demeaning and only serve to let the user feel superior to those they are stereotyping.

Originally Posted by cyccommute

Exactly. Shall we now discuss how old people can't use computers? Stereotypes are useless, demeaning and only serve to let the user feel superior to those they are stereotyping.

Originally Posted by Gresp15C

Hear, hear.

Maybe, when this thread has run its course, a couple of questions could be discussed:

1. How do we pass things like mechanical knack and confidence with a wrench, to the next generation? It seems to me that cycling could be a means to an end in this regard, since bike maintenance presents some relatively straightforward problems that kids can learn to solve.

2. How do we advise adult cyclists who have limited mechanical ability for whatever reason? For instance, when I talk to people about bikes, I try to assess their comfort zone for DIY repairs and upgrades before advising them. And I offer to help.

Originally Posted by cyccommute

Exactly. Shall we now discuss how old people can't use computers? Stereotypes are useless, demeaning and only serve to let the user feel superior to those they are stereotyping.

Originally Posted by Gresp15C

Hear, hear.

Maybe, when this thread has run its course, a couple of questions could be discussed:

1. How do we pass things like mechanical knack and confidence with a wrench, to the next generation? It seems to me that cycling could be a means to an end in this regard, since bike maintenance presents some relatively straightforward problems that kids can learn to solve.

2. How do we advise adult cyclists who have limited mechanical ability for whatever reason? For instance, when I talk to people about bikes, I try to assess their comfort zone for DIY repairs and upgrades before advising them. And I offer to help.

Originally Posted by plumberroy

If I have to fix something important and need help I will choose an old guy that knows how to use tools over a young guy that can use a computer every time

Originally Posted by caloso

I go to my 75-year old father in law for anything related to computers. He wrote code to help put Neil and Buzz on the moon and he still knows a thing or two.

Originally Posted by plumberroy

.
the second question I don't know . I do know this I am a plumber. I work maintenance now, there was a time I ran service I had free range with in reason on pricing If you were a healthy adult male. and call for something my 12 year old daughter could fix you paid for it. But some one elderly that could fix it if their health was decent??? a lot five minute jobs were done Gratis .