CliffordK

Precisely.

And the reason why a 1970's department store bike might be able to be resurrected for the cost of a tube of grease and a few tires, but no shop wants to touch it.

CliffordK

Don't you have a shed out back?

bboy314

One thing about being a mechanic in a shop is that your job is to do repairs within a specific budget and other parameters. My job would be very different if I got to give every bike in the stand the treatment I feel is best, but most customers are budget minded, especially commuters and those with used, well worn bicycles. So a lot of the job ends up being triage, or figuring out how to best prioritize needed work based on a budget (or time frame, parts availability, etc.).

zandoval 

HEY! I Resemble That Remark...

cyccommute 

A 70s department store bike should have been recycled about 20 years ago…even for the home enthusiast. There are 70s bikes that might be worth resurrecting but something that Sears sold out of the garden shop isn’t one of those. In other words, it’s not worth the tube of grease nor the tires.

CliffordK

Perhaps.

But there are plenty of non-racing bikes from bygone eras that make great commuter bikes, errand bikes, and etc. Potentially better bikes than one can get from Walmart today. Except they just need a little TLC.

droppedandlost 

I don't want to be a faster mechanic. Working on bikes is a cathartic/zen thing for me and I want it to take a while.

Andy_K 

It was evitable that everyone would understand.

clubman 

This reminds me of markk900 's Supercycle from ~'74. Decent Motobecanes in department store livery. Very nice gaspipe.

Drillium Dude 

Seen this remark a couple times at least in this thread, but don't understand its context. Can somebody shed some light on the difficulties of building a kid's bike?

DD

Andy_K 

The quality of components is just awful. Thinking back to a Toys'R'Us Kent "mountain bike" I bought for my daughter, trying to get the twist shifters and front derailleur to work together was quite a challenge.

jonwvara 

That kills me.

CliffordK

This is Bike Forums. Some people overstand. Some standover. Some rederstand, and some just derstand.

CliffordK

One sees it every day in the subforum:
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...th-appraisals/

For every $1000 racing bike survivor from the 70's and 80's, there must be 100, or perhaps 1000 low to mid range bikes sold. Many haven't withstood the test of time, but some have.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...1247002-w.html

And another one that popped up today.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...gh-sprite.html

They do have a niche. But, not as a collector's bike (although there are some Schwinn collectors).

And, unfortunately, to do them justice, after a half century, even in a garage, they should be completely stripped and rebuilt which is exactly what is not economical for most bike shops.

A good bike co-op might do a good rebuild, but I have no doubt they also cut corners with inexperienced staff.

Polaris OBark

I'm not sure if that is the right word, either.

My guess is "ept" is supposed to be the opposite of "inept", but the dictionary says the word "ept" doesn't exist.

Not knowing for certain the OP's intent, I would guess the best word might be "competent."

wrk101

I consider myself pretty good at the era bikes I choose to work on and reasonably fast. Most of the LBS mechanics I have known are not as knowledgeable. But it’s just the opposite on the modern stuff! Disc hydraulic brakes, tubeless tires, suspensions, etc., the mechanics at the LBS beat me hands down!! Since a lot of their customer base is the latter category, they win. But on the old stuff, they will sometimes call me in.

i also won’t do superficial work, so if someone wants a $75 “tune up” on a bike that needs a full teardown, I pass. One advantage of being retired is I can work on the stuff I want to work on.

old's'cool

I didn't read the whole thread, so I apologize if it's been mentioned already; I do recommend reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for anyone seeking higher gratification for working on machines (or anything for that matter), or for an explanation of why it can be so gratifying.
My own nuance is I like doing mechanical work of all kinds as long as I don't have a gun to my head to finish it by a certain time or below a certain cost.

Andy_K 

That's such a great book. I'm trying to get a couple of software engineers I work with to read it so they'll understand why just the fact that something makes a problem go away doesn't mean you've fixed it.

jonwvara 

Thanks for mentioning that book--I well remember reading it for the first time in the summer of 1972, and have often thought about it since. It suspect that it might be worth dipping back into it.

EDIT: Oops, I guess it wasn't 1972, since I see that it wasn't published until 1974. I might have membered that at one time, but I didn't remember it until just now.

dedhed

I'm kind of a Ope mechanic.

Like, "Ope", that's not right.

squirtdad

like most, I have never been a pro, the closest to that I have done is doing repairs at a bike charity, where clients and wait for the fix, but we hand multiple really good people and the shop took a pragmatic approach, i.e if a twist shifter was broken, take it off put a thumbshifter and new grips on

personally I am slow, but don't care. I have been working on my own bikes since i was 9 or 10 when my dad showed be how to clean, grease and adjust hubs and said it was my job after that

with the exception of facing, retreading, and reaming, and alignment, I think I have done close to everything there is with up to 11speed mechanical tech.

i am not afraid or opposed to electronic or hydraulic, just haven't had an occasion to work with that tech

Wheel building has been hit or miss, going to try one more time, just because I want to get it solid

Have not built a frame, but it is on my list, have done some copper pipe soldering, silver smith and brazing

so more or less the average C&V person

cyccommute 

Yup. But department store bikes have never fit in the “potentially better bikes” category.

cyccommute 

That bike is more a low end bike store bike then a typical “department store” bike. Forged dropouts, lugs, and the components weren’t typical of “department bike” which usually had smashed chain and seat stays that were spot welded to a cutout dropout. Huffy didn’t get the reputation that it did by making “good” bikes.

There are far too many really good bikes out in the world to spend any time on a bike that was sold by Sears, Montgomery Ward, etc. Gods, I hope people don’t go gaga over Pacific bikes 30 years from now.

bikingshearer 

I am . . . adequate. Not great. Not terrible. Adequate.

Pretty much everything I know comes from having to figure out how to do my own work as a teenager out of financial necessity. I can and still do perform most of the work on my bikes, including building standard 32 or 36 spoke wheels but not including working on frames. I'm really glad I am able to do this, and admiring the final result feels pretty good, but I don't exactly love the process when I'm in the middle of it. As my wife can confirm, a common mantra from me while I'm working on bike stuff is "Just work, damn it," and I do not have a smile on my face when I say it.

Germany_chris

I think I’d be able to do the work in a shop but I simply don’t want to be around people enough anymore to want to work retail.