Mad Honk 

+1

Le Mechanic

Yeah, I get pretty long winded, but I don't know how much sense each topic would make without some explanation, but I'll list them out in a bit...

Le Mechanic

Ok, this is the list in a nutshell:
1- The mindset of the inability to think outside the box, working like a robot, unable to be curious and embrace new technologies.
2- Starting at the age of the handle bar then taping drop bars.
3- A wide glob of finishing tape when taping drop bars.
4- Too long or too short brake and shift cable housings, as well as brake hoses.
5- Long inner brake or shift cable excess past the anchor bolt.
6- Missing or wrong grease application
7- The slang word "brifter".
8- Clamping a bike into a bicycle repair stand anywhere other than the seat post.
9- Applying chain lube 1 roller at a time.
10- Truing a wheel in a truing stand with 1 of the caliper arms held out of the way or removed altogether.

Le Mechanic

Ouch!

Chill out man, it's not like I asked you to retire your Shimano 7700 brifters!

I'm sorry the video was insufferable to you, but let me explain. I like making videos, I'm not great at it, but I'm trying to get better. Generally the bike related videos I make are in more of a shop type setting. However, the past few weeks have been extremely busy at the shop where I work, so I haven't had much opportunity to make any.

A couple hours+ of my day is commuting by bike to work, so in my mind, I thought the idiotic setting would be a great idea! You know, riding my bike while simultaneously making a video! Genius is what I originally thought.

I admit, the execution is pretty bad (poor audio at times and nausea inducing shakiness), but I feel like the topic is worthwhile.

Anyway, I appreciate the feedback.

AnkleWork

I don't how you managed to get all that into only twenty minutes.

WizardOfBoz

I'm a consultant. If I don't address my client's interests within the first 15 seconds of a presentation, I lose my job.

One of my first bosses in consulting, Sam, was our CEO. I put together a presentation and he asked to see it. He'd only known me for 2 week. "That's the worst thing I've ever seen you do" was his comment. He then was kind enough to work with me on the thing for several hours to improve it. So my criticism wasn't meant to be cruel (although I did kind if get into making overly acerbic comments - sorry). It was meant to be critically useful.

One key thing I'd suggest you consider is whether your motivation or interest in making a video is relevant to the viewer's interest. "I've been thinking about making a video for a long time" is uninteresting and irrelevant with respect to the 10 top peeves in your title. The other thing is that you promise 10 top peeves, but your video starts out with several minutes (I don't know how many, I lost interest and stopped watching) of stuff that has nothing to do with 10 top peeves. This is bait and switch, and, to be blunt, is stealing your reader's time. That several minutes are minutes that viewers won't ever get back. So make every second of your video on-topic and interesting.

The great British historian Paul Johnson had a great pattern. 1) State a broad thesis about something in extremely clear, concise terms. 2) Give general, definitive data to support the thesis, and 3) Give interesting anecdotes. Something along those lines, where every sentence is either stating a peeve ("they always charger full price!"), or giving data ("Comparing twenty different items, the average price at my LBS was 24% higher for consumables and 17% higher for parts". ) , or anecdotes ("I bought a tire for $47 at the bike shop, and found it online for $37. I asked my LBS for a discount, and they wouldn't take anything off.").

A good video is NOT stream of consciousness. And a stream of consciousness video is not good and, as I state above, is incredibly inconsiderate and selfish - it steals my time. Plan your video out. Figure out your best venue (probably is not good to take the video on your bike, but if you must, edit it by adding screens of text and removing rambling verbiage). Script it. Edit the Script. Rehearse with a practice video. Get friends to critique it. Review that video to see where you can improve it. The re-record with all you've learned. Then you'll have a video that folks find useful and additive.

The guys at GCN make (IMHO) very good videos. Watch a few and get some ideas.

Hope this helps.

Dan Burkhart 

As Bill Shakespeare said, brevity is the soul of wit. I get the struggle to compress everything you want to put across into a couple of short minutes, but that is what it takes to keep viewers engaged.
Some of my own videos run on much longer than I would like, but I try to keep it moving along.
Youtube creators have lots of tools at our disposal in the analytics program, and you can monitor, among other things, what percentage of viewers stay engaged, and for how long.
If the video is packed with info all the way through, viewers will return to pick up where they left off, but if you don't engage them in the first few seconds, they are gone for good.

Lemond1985

Yep, you want your best, most compelling stuff right at the beginning, use that to hook your viewer. Because if you save it for last, the viewer may no longer be around to see it. Maybe have something good saved for the end, but definitely not your best.

Also, I would suggest bullet points for organization of ideas into distinct topics.

Phil_gretz

The OP could have begun with a brief, tightly edited written list of professional peeves, AND THEN scripted, blocked out, and filmed a video to illustrate these things. That would have been good content.

I cannot see the video (thankfully) and offer the suggestion that this original post was meant to obtain "views" on the video platform. A form of click baiting.

My list of mechanical peeves:
- original assembly that is scant on bearing grease
- fiddly inexpensive mechanical disc calipers that resist alignment
- factory cabling cut too short
- modern inexpensive replacement derailleurs on otherwise original vintage bikes

Anyway, it's a short list. This is because bicycle mechanics is the art of problem solving. What would it be without problems? Routine? That sounds like no fun.

Bill Kapaun

Due to the waste of bandwith & time, you made my ignore list.
How's that for a review?

Le Mechanic

It took a lot of editing!

elcraft

I have one "peeve" about the OP's video. While I agree that using the seatpost as the clamping point for stands is the ideal, but what about situations where this isn't possible? Say a vintage steel frame where the seat post is more slammed into the frame ( i.e., the rider is using the "French Fit" approach) where are you going to clamp? Or if you have a more modern CF frame ( like a Trek Madone) that uses a NON-round, proprietary CF seat post? Are you supposed to have a race style stand (that holds by front dropouts and Bottom Bracket) as well as athe more standard clamp type stand? There are always situations where one is forced to use the less than ideal approaches.....

Moe Zhoost

Thanks for the condensed text version. Here are some of my comments:

Agree with this. Curiosity is a great teacher. I would expect that the decision to embrace new technologies is objective and they are not "embraced" just because they are new. There were a few new things (like the Shimano Front Freewheel system, that thankfully died a quick death.

I assume you mean at the end of the bar. I've taped both ways, but for the past few decades only tape from the end. My preference is based on preventing the tape from curling from hand pressure. I don't use tape at the tops. Instead I use some thick whipping cord. This provides a nice clean finish. In any case, bar taping is not something that I stress much about.

Yes, I agree. Nicely routed and sized cable housing makes a big difference. A bit of excess cable is always nice, but more than 35-40mm is too much.

Yes, don't much like the term either. I use "integrated brake/shifter" or STI if talking about a Shimano product. I'd add "cockpit" to the list. Makes me cringe when I hear it.

My preference as well, but not always possible.

I would do it no other way than 1 link at a time. This takes a bit more time, but results in a cleaner application with less mess.

I'm not sure why this would bother you, unless the reason is a poorly set up truing stand. Then I would be irritated by the laziness of the mechanic. I have a older Park TS2 that can be adjusted to center the arms. This does not eliminate the need for a dishing tool completely, though. I do reckon that there may be some wheels that are so out of dish that you may want to hold one of the arms out of the way, but in that case I would probably just move the whole caliper arm out of the way until I got it closer to centered.


Cheers