My Dirty Secret
I have a confession. I really don’t know that much about bikes. I just like to ride them. For me it’s more about lifestyle.
So when it comes to bike repairs sometimes I get myself into situations. It’s not that I don’t have the ability fix a bike, I just don’t have any experience. But still, how hard can it be? I once changed the spark plugs on my old car to save a few bucks. That worked out fine… the mechanic never actually said that was the reason it died.
But I’m not scared of getting my hands dirty (and luckily bikes don’t have engines.) I like to do things myself when I can. Things usually start out like this:
So I set aside afternoon to spend it with my bike, a couple wrenches, and a romantic comedy (Richard Gere helps me think about gears):
However then things don’t go exactly as expected… parts don’t fit, directions are unclear, the project changes scope. It’s really hard to ask a YouTube video questions.
And eventually I end up going to the bike shop where one of these guys save the day:
I find it’s best to learn by experience, and to figure things out by trying. Even if you don’t know 100% at the start, you’ll learn a lot by digging in and wrenching — just be sure what you’ve got in mind won’t make your bike unsafe in the end… tip: Practice on non-essential bikes/parts first. What you may need is a friendly environment where you can work on your bike with a bunch of bike folks, where you can bounce ideas and questions off some who know what they’re doing (and some who don’t but are willing to learn…). You’re invited to come by Open Shop at Commonwheels on Tuesday nights — http://www.commonwheels.org — in Allston (temperature dependent at this point however). We have some of the tools you’ll likely need, and a bunch of used parts (literally, as in bunched together in piles all over the place) to fit or retrofit pieces of your bike.
Learn a bit of mechanics — how stuff works — and you’ll learn a lot about how your bike functions in the world, not just how the world functions around your bike (which you’ve got a great handle on already!)
Love the thought bubbles!
You are much braver than I am. At least you attempt the repairs. I’d just bring mine straight to the bike shop. My skills regarding bikes are to ride them and to put air into the tires. My biggest fear used to be what if I break down during a ride. What would I do? How would I get home? Now that I have a folding bike my fears have disappeared…all I need to do is to fold it up and hail a taxi if anything should happen. It would be good to be handy with repairs though.
My logic exactly, substituting cake for various other sweet and salty snacks, and youtube videos for repair manuals, plus being plastered in bike grease.
Don’t forget that there are ladies who work at bike shops. Ladies who don’t have beards (usually).
I know, unfortunately I don’t think any ladies work at my particular bike shop- or not on the shift I’m usually there for.
Great post! I tend to do the same thing but luckily I do it in my bike workshop, it’s a nonprofit bicycle repair educational organization, run by volunteers. There is always someone ready to help me.
I don’t know if they exist in Boston. In Los Angeles there is http://www.bicyclekitchen.com/ – In San Francisco http://www.bikekitchen.org/ – In NY http://www.recycleabicycle.org/
Asking your LBS to show you what they are doing would be annoying for them, instead people at bike workshops are eager to help you improve your knowledge.