gearbasher

For the past forty years, I've always worked on my own bikes. I've never had anything "professionally" done. I used to be able to strip, clean and reassemble a bike in one day. Now it takes me two weeks. I used to look forward to doing the work. Now I dread it. I just retired after 33 years as a conveyor mechanic and I figured I would find a renewed love for working on my bikes. Here I am with my winter bike stripped down (took me two days to do that) and in dire need of a cleaning and a Campy ergo shifter rebuild. So, what am I doing? Sitting here on my computer browsing bike, car and guitar forums, dreading taking apart the ergo shifter.

Has anyone else lost their love of working on bikes?

BTW: My loss of ambition also carried over to working on my house and car. I'd rather just ride.

Edit:
Oh, and it's raining. If it wasn't, I'd be out riding instead of writing this.

USAZorro

I get a bit burned out every now and then. Some time away always seems to help.

In the past, when I've lost interest in things, it was a carryover from the rest of life falling into a rut. Not attempting to suggest that's what you're going through, but my own personal observation for whatever it might be worth.

FullGas

still like to tinker with my bikes...

but, as a reformed gear-head, I HATE working on cars. about the only things I'll consent to do these days is check the oil, tire pressures, and add wiper fluid.

anything else is done by a shop...

PedalingWalrus

If I have the money and time I enjoy letting my LBS work on my bike. It makes several people happy. Usually in the spring during the high volume of work at LBS I do not bring anything in but I do bring stuff in during the off season or during the slower seasons like towards the tail end of traditional biking season.

Wildwood 

Rebuilding an Ergo lever, is something worthy of dreading - especially if you have never done it. Don't worry it will get done, or not. All's well in retirement - take a month to rebuild, you've got a spare (probably).

Riding is always preferable to wrenching. Just do it.

Numbskull

I think this is may be more about retirement and motivation than loss of interest.
I'm going through something a bit similar.
What I think is happening is that during a working career (and much of our lives) all day there are things you HAVE to do. This even carries over to our free time. Since it is so limited there is strong motivation to get things done in order to have opportunity to do what we enjoy.
This all changes with retirement. Suddenly you have loads of time to do whatever we want. Thing is, without the time pressure to motivate us, it is easy to waste time and do little or nothing.

I retired 8 months ago. I had a million projects in mind to start once I'd organized the cellar. Unfortunately, my cellar is more disorganized now than when I retired. Whatever, I'll get to them someday, or not. Doesn't matter to anyone but myself (and my patient, understanding wife).

Homebrew01

Yup, I do the bare minimum these days. Partly tired of working on bikes, and other things I'd rather do, or are more important.

jefnvk

My time is not that valuable to me, and my money is. There is almost nothing I find worthwhile to pay someone else to do, if I can competently do it for less money. I generally don't find that I would be doing something more worthwhile when I am instead working on any of my projects, whether it be a bike, my cars, or something like brewing beer or building a shelf from scratch.

Then again, I'm a young guy, maybe someday I'll reach your point. I did decide to pay $9 to park in a parking deck at a hockey game last weekend, over my usual driving around in circles looking for a free street spot, for the first time ever

OTS 

This is it in a nutshell for me as well.
I am in month 4 of semi-retirement and getting absolutely NOTHING DONE.
Perhaps it will change but............who knows.

artclone

Username checks out.

exmechanic89

I'm the same way OP. I just do the basics to keep things running well, but definitely dont go on all-day wrenching binges. I think time is part of it, I'd rather use my spare time to actually ride. I still enjoy doing the work I do on the bikes - it saves a lot of money and there is satisfaction doing it yourself - but I do a lot less of it than I did when I was young.

trailangel

I guess it's time to lie down and die

fender1

Just get some down tube shifters and save yourself the agony of the rebuild.

gearbasher

Hey, thanks for all the theories, encouragement and jokes. I don't want to quote everyone, so you should know if I'm responding to your post.

Yes, retirement has a lot to do with it. I'm still in the mindset that I have to go to work. Then it dawns on me that I don't. So, I sit down for 10 min. Click on the tube and that ten minutes turns into a 3 hour movie.

As far as farming out work. I can't see paying someone to do something I can do myself. And there pretty much isn't anything I can't do myself.

Finally, "time to lay down and die". I consider that the ultimate form of retirement. Hell, you don't even have to breath anymore.

I got off my @ss and the ergo shifter is done. Broken spring carrier. Off to lunch.

ramzilla

You need to go the local charity and donate some time helping teach kids how to wrench on bikes. Give a couple bikes away. Be a better man. Then, reward yourself with a nice cold brew!

elboGreaze

I'm getting tired of wrenching , too . Used to knock out a flip bike in a couple days, now I just putt along . Have one that I have been slowly working on, been at it a few weeks now.

nlerner

I used to buy bikes to fix up and flip, but then got tired of working on other people's bikes. When I'm considering working on my own bikes, it's always related to what I would need to do in order to ride (e.g., fix something not quite working right). So riding trumps wrenching.

If it's a possibility, why not go and wrench in a community bike shop or co-op?

rando_couche

After 40+ years at it, I still enjoy wrenching. Now if I only had time and my back would allow it...

SP
OC, OR

John E

I am not really tired of wrenching cars, bicycles, or home appliances, but, with a full-time job, I do not always have time. I still do all of my own bike work and appliance work (I own a much-maligned Whirlpool Cabrio high efficiency washer and a Bissell Revolution Lift-Off vacuum cleaner, so I have to do my own work to keep these running and affordable), as well as any car work that does not require a lift or a specialized tool beyond the ones I own (my sons and I drive 1996 to 2002 Audi A4/S4s, and my wife has a 2001 Passat wagon, so we have to do a certain amount of our own work to keep these running and affordable).

noobinsf 

For me, the enthusiasm comes from learning something new -- and most everything in the world of bike wrenching is new to me at this point. Is there anything you can think of that you've wanted to deeply dive into that you had to leave aside due to time? There's nothing wrong with reserving your bike mechanic time to maintenance as needed and immersing yourself into something new, challenging, and potentially a little scary. Now is the time...

Velocivixen

I wrench as part of a hobby, and my desire for wrenching runs hot & cold. If it's something like today I'm adding tire liners to Mr. V's commuter bike. This = mundane & boring. Now if I just bought a Sturmey Archer dyno hub or similar = heart palpitating enthusiasm.

If I'm excited about the bike then I get excited about wrenching. If it's just..."Eh", then it's more of a chore.

SJX426 

I resemble many of the remarks. It took nearly two years to get around to cleaning up the Botty! Nearing the end of it but running out of steam. Sometimes it is indecision, do I use the old Campy brake set or the Universal 61's? I don't like cleaning chains. In fact I am tires of cleaning! Wish everything was clean and ready to go. Then it is enjoyable due to accomplishing something.

fietsbob

Off to the LBS , My summer part time Gig.. Project: Touring cyclist's bike shipped in and marked the carton 'Please Assemble' .

davester

That's exactly my attitude. I don't particularly enjoy wrenching, although I do enjoy the satisfaction of having done something myself. Also, since bikes are soooo simple to work on compared to cars and other machinery it is often less hassle and quicker to do things myself than use an LBS. In addition, LBSs that can do quality work on vintage bikes are getting few and far between.

Right now I'm in the middle of an unusual amount of wrenching, restoring two bikes at the same time. I've just completed one and when I get the next one done I will switch into minor maintenance only mode (on bikes that is). I still have an Austin Healey that's in pieces. That will take an awful lot of wrenching to get it roadworthy.

cyclotoine

trust me, it will change, you're time will only increase in value as you age. I pay someone to clean my house, I pay someone to deliver my firewood, I pay people to work on my car. I pay people to do my mountain bike suspension, not because I can't do it or learn how to do it but because I would rather ride. I can take care of the basics on my bikes (everything but suspension basically).


I can relate to what the OP is feeling. All my wrenching is necessity maintenance which can be draining. The backlog of project is considerable, some have been waiting years. I have had mavic 500 series hubs and MA40 rims waiting to be assembled for well over 5 years, thing is they aren't for a daily rider, just a spare set of wheels to swap with the tubulars. I just find there are more immediate things that need to be done and I can't find the good time chunks like at a minimum a couple hours to make big gains on projects. I end up spending half the time sorting stuff of cleaning a spare derailleur because the big jobs are too daunting. The best thing to do is set small goals and you will feel good each time you go into the shop. I have a complete rebuild in the stand right now for a gift to a friend. I might set a goal for today like "clean the brake calipers, assemble and install them with new pads on frame". I'll feel a sense of completion because I made that goal rather than aimlessly thinking about the end product and not really using my time effectively. If I did that I might end up cleaning some parts and getting side tracked with some of the other dirty spares on the bench that aren't important to the job at hand.