europa

Why do I enjoy working on bikes so much when I make such a pigs ear of the process

Does it take normal people all do to replace the gear and brake cables (inners and outers), plus new bar tape? I haven't even got to adjusting the things yet.

freedomrider1

I get what you are saying, my bike shop retired two years ago, the guy was like a surgeon. Plus he would let you watch or help. I have to change tires that i keep putting off. i would take them to him for five bucks a tire and he would have a tire changed in about 60 seconds.

Retro Grouch 

It's because you enjoy doing it.

The simplest task becomes progressively more complicated when you are thinking up ways of perfecting it.

DaveQ24

Practice makes perfect - the first time "in the real world" I ever drafted a US Tax Court petition and all the ancillary documents required to file suit against an IRS determination, I took about 2 days on a pretty straightforward matter - could whip out all of it now in 45 minutes with time for a cup of tea and a Belvita.

europa

What universe do you come from and can you get the mind altering substances here

Well, I've now 'adjusted' the rear derailleur and can't get the sodding thing to behave. Once again, I ponder the meaning of the B screw (Park Tools website) as I've never seen it actually change anything. Best I can get is slow shifting in the high gears. I guess I'll have to let the lbs have a look. The dr looks straight enough but I've been known to overlook a bent dr before - this is a very second hand bike I've just bought so anything is possible though I'd have thought that if the dr looks straight, it is.

Nor is this my first go at adjusting indexed systems, I've been doing the sodding things for 14 years, everything from new installations to tarting up old ones. Early on, it was easy but it just seems it's getting progressively harder.

I never have this problem with fixed gear.

Oh, and the rear wheel I carefully built at the beginning of the year (and did little riding on) looks like a chimpanzee got it to stage one. I used to be good at wheels.

At least the bar tape went on well. Yes, I had to swear and drop things and reach for stuff that was 'there just a minute a go', but I can still manage a neat bar tape job. I'll leave fitting the bottle cages till tomorrow, I'd be shattered if I failed at that just now.

Best of all, the Siamese apprentice managed to stay out of the rear wheel though he was most interested and desperately wanted to stick a paw in there to see what it all was

DaveQ24

Well, lately I'm not sure about the first part myself ... but no doubt Australia's version of the US Food and Drug Administration has approved something along tbe same lines - just ask your Dr.

peterws

I have every sympathy with the grumpy old guy. We obviously come from the same planet. The posh end . . . well, that was a porky.
I just don't like getting my hands dirty anymore. I just sold some tools on ebay today; never gonna risk life and limb with a circular saw, or a hydraulic jack ever again.
I'm having far too much fun. I ride bikes. I don't fix em. Somebody else does that.

ironwood

The problem is that Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere and most bicycle parts and instructions for them are produced in the Northern Hemisphere and are upside down or down side up or something like that. You have to adjust for that.

DaveQ24

Is there an English translation for that?

Maybe it means what my neighbor originally from Tennessee means when he says "Ah, don't make no nevermind, we's jus' funnin' y'all"

peterws

Near enough for jazz. But with a serious overtone/undertone. Some folk think differently and raise eyebrows when they say stuff . . .

70sSanO

You can always get a combination square and put it in the dropouts to check if the derailleur hanger is bent. I've done that before and have been able to get everything back straight enough to shift well. Also cables could be all gummed up. That tends to really slow down the shifting.

Unless it is the latest high tech electric shifting ultra narrow chain bike, it is just a bike. We rode them as kids and we ride them now.

John

donheff

I'm with you europa. When I worked at a VW service department 40+ years ago we used to love DIYers who often brought in totally botched repairs. Now I am that guys with my bikes. Sometimes everything goes right and I fell great about whatever I worked on. Other times I just can't get it right no matter how many YouTube videos I consult. I'm just a lousy mechanic. Thank God I didn't rely on those skills at work.

AmFaeEmbra

"porky" is short for porky pie, which is rhyming slang for a lie, or a fib.

We are divided by a common language

qcpmsame 

Put the wrenches down and slowly back away from the workbench, no one needs to get hurt here.......

The mechanics and correct cycling police should be along shortly to tell you exactly what you are doing wrong, and how they expect you to copy them errr, ummmm just put away the spanners mate. Its time for a few pints...

europa

You drink the booze AFTER the work?

qcpmsame 

Actually, I can't and don't drink any alcoholic beverages. Meds for Parkinson's Disease would cause a nasty severe reaction that I want to avoid as much as possible. But you go right ahead and enjoy yourself any time you wish/want.

Bill

skidder

If being +50 means you screw things up, I guess I'm doing to wrong? Replacing cables and bar tape probably takes me 1 hr. Just last night I changed two tires from skinny 700x28's to 700x35's in less than an hour while watching a replay of the day's TdF stage. Went out and did 15 miles on them this morning. It must be a +50 thing, but I do love the nice cushioned feel of 35mm tires over rock-hard 28mm tires; reminds me of the difference between normal and air-ride suspension on a car.

Biker395 

I rarely drink beer at home, but for some reason, when the bike tools come out, so do the brewskis.

qcpmsame 

Actually, I have never liked alcoholic beverages. Nothing that rates being a bother or a troll about for others that do enjoy them. Just please do not drink and drive, pulling a young woman from a burning car, in 1980, after she was hit head on by a drunken driver made me hate those that do. She has had a rough go of it since, and she couldn't bear children due to internal injuries.

carmic0

I know the feeling. I can't even fit a single speed chain on my old Repco (Aussie bike).

europa

Sometimes it's worth using the lbs. I dropped the bike off and he too noted the slow shifting in the high gears. The rear dr looked straight but once he put the alignment tool on it, sure enough, the hanger was bent. A quick bend later and all of a sudden, all gears work as they should... well, once he'd fine tuned the adjustment.

leob1

Now that's just a damn shame.

Biker395 

It was. And it was a Fat Tire too.

Tip: Although your bike stand may have what looks like a bottle holder ... don't.

Ogsarg

Someone that does a task once every year or two is never going to be as fast as someone that does it for a living. Back in the 70's I installed car stereos for a living. I could put in 4 speakers and an in-dash cassette (or 8 track) in an hour on many cars. 10 years or so after I stopped doing that, I put a stereo in a car I bought and it took half the day. It's not like I forgot how, it was just that I had to think about it a lot more and was less confident.

It takes me a long time to do bike repairs also and if I was paying myself a fair wage, it would probably be cheaper to go to a shop.

I enjoy working on my bikes and learning how things work. If you haven't adjusted derailleur before, you'll probably get frustrated but when you're done, you'll feel a lot better for having worked through that and you'll know so much more about how they work and more confident that you can deal with a problem later on.

rumrunn6

OP - you're not alone. my personal challenge is putting everything away when I'm done