Patriot

A few threads have come up recently that kind of get my breifs in a bunch. Specifically an older one where a fella was having a bad time with a Felt he had purchased, and was totally unsatisfied with the quality of the bike. BB's went bad, spokes were broken, lots of blown tires, etc.

As I read through the trouble people have, I get a bit dismayed when I see the sense of helplessness so openly displayed by cyclists who really have no reason to be. Now this may rub a few feathers the wrong way, but please hang with me here as I try to explain.

Women (and Men). Listen carefully. One of the first things every cyclist should purchase with their new bike, is a basic 19 piece tool kit. These cheap $50 kits will literally save you massive amounts of money and gas alone making trips to and from the LBS for basic repairs.
Now granted, women generally (not always), tend to have a tougher time turning wrenches than men. Call it upbringing, call it genetics, call it whatever you want. I don't give a cr@p!!! There's no reason for you gals to feel so helpless. There's no reason why you can't empower yourself a bit, kick a little rearend, and take the initiative to get things done without putting yourself at the mercy of some kid who wants two things from you.
1. Money, for fixing your machine.
2. Sex, after his pubescent eyeballs gawk at you. (Unless of course you like that?)

Believe me, nothing is more satisfying than fixing your own bike, and knowing you just paid for your tool kit twice over.

Now, this is a tough thing to grasp, but fixing bikes is not really all that hard. It's actually quite fun and satisfying once you get the hang of it. If you notice your bars out of alignment, break out the allen wrench to adjust it. If you get alot of flats, get some better tires and tubes, and change them. Don't be so dependent on someone who spends a good portion of his day picking his nose, popping zitts, and trying to figure out why women get a little cranky every 4 weeks. You've got better things to do with your time.

In about 99% of the cases, bicycle repair can be done with one of those basic tool kits. As I said, it takes time to practice, a little patience, and meticulous care not to damgage your bike while working on it. I've made lots of mistakes over my days while fixing my bikes, some even cost me a few dollars. But overall, I am better off than if I had not taken the time to learn to begin with. About the only thing I don't do is build wheels.

Now, in the case of the 195# fella who had a Felt F-60 that he was having trouble with. Well frankly, you get what you pay for.
1. He had alot of spokes breaking.
-Well, the answer is simple, fix the wheels, sell them off, and get some stonger wheels that can handle your weight. DUH!!!
2. He had a bad BB.
-Ok, get a better BB, or maybe a better crank with an integrated BB that will last.
3. His bars were misaligned.
-Get out the freakin' allen wrench and adjust them!!!

Now, there's nothing wrong with coming on here and asking all of us what we think is a better product, or how to replace the BB with your own tools. I do it everyday. I often wonder what spacers I need, or what products perform better than others. That's what sharing all this info is about. Especially when you come on here and ask about how to fix your bike. The worst answer to get, is to get the generally assumed answer because you are a woman, ie "Take it to the LBS." What a load of cr@p!!! I for one, am going to try to stop doing this myself, and start giving the best advice I can on how to DIY.

However, to come on here, especially if you're a MAN, and complain about your bars being slightly misaligned, just flat out boils my blood. What's worse, is saying you spent a good portion of your day, and gas for your car, to take the thing all the way back to the LBS to have them fix it. What the...?


So, with all of my disgruntled whining, and venting, and complaining, and moaning, and groaning, I will finish my rant with this...

1. Ladies, you're alot tougher than you think, and you'd be surprised how a little grease on the fingers can really make your day.

2. Men, get off your freaking ARSE and fix your own dang bike, you whimped out, deballed, metro-sexual, good for nothing, dirt free, grease free, callus free yuppies!!! And I don't give a ***** if you broke a nail.


Ok, rant complete. Phew, I haven't had a good whine like that in a long time. That felt good.

60cycle

what are you getting at?






i once had a girlfriend that was OUTRAGED at the fact that she had to replace the tires on her "new" car (after 70,000 miles)

the same girl was SHOCKED that she needed regular oil changes...

55/Rad

Patriot - we haven't seen this side of you. So forceful and ummm....laced with passion. (edit)

Good thoughts and I certainly agree. It doesn't take much to get started. Like changing a flat. I get a bit boiled when I hear someone isn't able to ride because they haven't taken the wheel to the shop to get the flat fixed.

55/Rad

macca123

I am not sure if ALL men fit into that category but yeah i agree with you about the fat guy i mean felt guy... but anyhoo I am off to the lounge where I am going to watch a whimpy episode of days of our lives playing with my "deballed" balls then i am going to cleanse my grease free, callus free yuppy metro-sexual hands...I hope i dont brake a nail.

serotta

Ha, I haven't taken mine to the shop to fix a flat since I got a few aerosol cans of FlatFix at the local Wally World! (It might fix one car tire, but it's good for about 25-700x23's, 20-700x25's, and 12-2.15x26 MTB tires.)


note: I really like that Campy crank.

SteveE

" 2. Sex, after his pubescent eyeballs gaulk at you. (Unless of course you like that?)"

gaulk = gawk + caulk? interesting juxtaposition of words.

twahl

I agree with Patriot here. There's really not much about a bicycle that is difficult to repair. A couple of tricky parts, like left hand threads on the left pedal and right side of the bottom bracket, but other than that it's not that difficult to make most adjustments or repairs. There are plenty of resources available, like Sheldon's site and the Park site to help you out, and lots of us that can offer advice. Some repairs may be best left to a mechanic still, but the basics aren't that hard, and the best way to become familiar with them is to do your own basic maintenance. If you learn how things look when everything is working well, it's not usually hard to figure out what's wrong when they aren't. Even cleaning your bike regularly can go a long way toward familiarizing yourself with the components.

Patriot

oops.

(fixed it)

SteveE

I dunno -- "gaulk" has a certain je ne sais quois! Prepubescent wide-open eyeballs stuck on young damsel in distress.

60cycle

gaulking cun.

Patriot

Geez Louise!!! One misspelling, and I get run through the ringer. Tough crowd.

blandin

Patriot, I think you mean "misspell" . . .

Patriot

I meant to do that.

Okay, Okay, for the love of God, I'll fix it.

'nother

Well, now you have two The word is misspelling . . . which, along with its brethren, is frequently misspelled.

'nother

I'm sorry, what were we talking about again? Something to do with caulk?

khuon

We all know that Patriot learned to wrench on his own bikes because he's afraid to let someone else touch it for fear they'll jack his 0G brakes.

No Exit

Not to contradict you here but a LOT of the people on these boards seem to think you should support your LBS and buy there for a little more especially if you're new to the sport. Why? Cuz they'll be there to help you out when you happen to run into a problem. So why buy at the bike shop if you're not gonna use them?

Im female and probably own more tools than most men (and know how to use them) so I dont exactly fall into the helpless category... but I think that if these newbs are going to get berated for using the LBS then they shouldnt be encouraged to buy there and pay more money for the availability of service . Not all people are mechanically inclined... and if they didnt support the LBS who would?

Personally, I dont care either way, just think you're being a little hard on these people. Maybe all the big guy needed was someone to explain that he needed sturdier parts. How's he to know if nobody tells him?

Patriot

Well, then he's been told.

Your point is well taken. Some people just don't know. But, when you take your bike in to do something simple, then take it in again for the same thing two weeks later, then yet again a few weeks after that, you'd think it would behouve them to simply learn to fix it on their own, so they don't have to keep wasting their time and money.

Another reason, and I hate to say this (but it is the truth), is people are just plain lazy. Supporting your LBS for simple repairs is understandable in the beginning. But constantly taking your bike to the LBS because you feel "helpless", is no excuse.

I really don't mean to sound like a jerk when I say this, but to put it in simple terms, you don't need to be mechanically inclined to fix a bike. Righty-Tighty, Lefty-Loosey, is pretty easy to remember.

My wife is about the most mechanically incompatible person I know, but even she can do some basic things on her bike, if need be. She only has me do it all because I like to tinker, and she would rather spend her time posing with her nice new jerseys. And she makes no bones about it. Even though she doesn't do any of the repair work, I know she is smart enough to do it, especially if she didn't have me to do it for her, for free.

For example, she needs a differant front der than the one she has. I plan getting a new one in a month or so. I'm going to have her replace it. She shuddered at the thought, but agreed to at least learn how.

RC2

One of my favorite pieces of advice at work -- "we get paid to use our brains" -- applies elsewhere in life. Nice post.

bigbossman 

I agree with the OP to a point. It's one thing if you bought a used bike off of eBay or Craigs List and keep running to the LBS to fix every little thing without making any effort to fix it yourself.

BUT, if you spend good money at a LBS for a new bike, you're also buying the service that goes with it. I can't speak for anyone else, but if I just emptied my wallet at a LBS for a new bike, it better be in reliable riding trim. If it is a POS or even hints at being a problem child, they're gonna have to deal with it - that's part of the deal. They need to know if the bike is crap or misbehaving, if for no other reason than they can drive the issue back to the distributor/manufacturer.

Otherwise, you might as well buy your bike at the next flea market and take your chances. I fix all my own bikes, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna cough up $1-2K on a new bike and then wrench quality/bad parts issues myself. Nope - not going to happen.

0_o

oh man , I agree and disagree. I think everyone should at least make some attempt to fix the simple things on their bikes... If you can't figure out how to fix the flat after a few flat tire problems then give up biking out side and buy an indoor trainer. Women , Kids, and men have no excuse not to try and fix the very minor problems.... i know people like myself are kind of non mech. Which makes me feel weird knowing my step dad and 3 older brothers are grease monkeys/ gear heads ... I have no problems setting up a network , server , doing security crap , and building high end gaming machines... which most of it i can do in the dark... but when it comes to Mech work and non computer stuff i suck at it... but i think if you can't figure it out after trying to fix it quit your crying and go to the LBS. If its that bad and you hate the bike go out and get a frggin new bike ... one more thing before buying the bike read up , do some studying and think hard before buying what you want. I can't stand people who impulse buy and complain later that the item sucks or they wish they had the other product because they did not do their research ...
umm i hope most of that came out right and made sense ... END rank here )

Serpico

This is one of my '06 goals. I think simply knowing you can fix it will be empowering, in and of itself.

I just need to buy some tools and a good book.

You guys do headsets and cranks as well? Those are the only two that would concern me (right now at least), because you have the possibility of damaging the frame.

Patriot

Yes, I made my own headset tool, and also install BB's and cranks, but I don't face the Bb shell, because I just don't have a facing tool to do it with. Most frames come prefaced anyway. At least mine have.

Why spend a good part of your day, and money in gas to drive into town, and have the LBS do some minor adjustment or repair that you can do in a matter of minutes? Like adjusting the bars, saddle, installing new tires, adjusting the ders after cable break-in? That one always made me wonder. If you need to have the ders or brakes adjusted after break-in, why not just tweek it yourself? It takes 5 minutes. If you take it and have them do it, it may be free the first time, but what about the next? If you learn how, then you won't ever need to go back, unless you need a whole new bike.

"Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you feed him for life."

KrisPistofferson

Books, schmooks, you've got THE INTERNET, which is probably the most valuable bike mech resource there is. I purchased a few basic tools, and got an old bike from the eighties, and completely took it apart, just so I could put it back together again,(I'd hate to figure out I cross-threaded or effed something up on a brand new Pinarello, you dig?)

Now I spend double the time working on my bikes as I do riding them, (and I ride them a lot.) I just like to tinker and fine tune in my garage, and I NEVER have problems shifting and such, like a lot of these dudes I know, because everything is fine tuned and my drivetrains don't look like a solid lump of coal.

formulaben

Patriot, I'm right there with ya...I couldn't help but notice the "14 flats" or whatever it was, so I chimed in with some friendly advice. Obviously the dude needs some help, and I think we're just the ones to do it. I've certainly received my fair share here. A BF clinic, perhaps? You gonna do the STP again next year? I still want to finish our conversation we had somewhere around Yelm. Or was it Tenino?