I’m quite adept at bike building..the last one was my Yeti ASRC which I loveingly added every single component from scratch, even bled the brakes..

So why, when presented with an old raleigh ladies bike that I’m trying to fix up for my mate do I not have a clue..I shit you not when I say I’m struggling to work out how the back wheel fits into the drop outs..

her being a female I was obviously keen to impress..’hey don’t take it to the local shop, I can fix it up for you no problem, save you some cash…..yeah thats right I’ve got many man skills you didn’t know about’…

Damn those pesky friction shifters, canti brakes and lack of QRs…gonna be a long night ahead..

gonna be a long night ahead..

Is she picking it up tonight? 😆

Ha, massive difference between the ease of working on shiny new stuff and utterly ruined 30yr old bikes.
Fit one new part and it’ll never work again!

Clean new parts are easy to work with! Rotten old junk is a nightmare.

Sucker! Lesson learnt.

Exactly how I got to know Mrs TiRed, many years ago. Wait till you need to take the cranks off! 😈 Sturmey Archer 3 speed? Forward facing sliding drop outs.

YouTube is your friend 😆

Ha, massive difference between the ease of working on shiny new stuff and utterly ruined 30yr old bikes.

Yep. Often this is where a good bike shop earns their keep. The ability to know how to, and to do, both.

I remember the sense of loss with quick release and vertical drop outs. I felt like Mrs Doyle “What about those of us that like the misery of tea making” or a hand weaver looking at the first power loom

Something I had treasured as a skill was no longer needed. The hard bit was keeping the wheel aligned in two places and not letting the force you applied to the spanner shift the wheel in the drop out

Wait till you need to take the cranks off

Euphemism of the evening?

Not one person asked for pics yet… You guys are losing your edge..

When I first worked in a bike shop I thought I was a great mechanic because I could maintain my own bikes.

I very quickly learnt that you can pretty much cover Deore level upwards parts in glue and throw them at a frame and they’ll work. However getting a 20 year old Suntour rear mech to work properly is where the skill really is.

Now I work for a bike charity where we refurbish scrap bikes. Most days are spent recovering loose bearing bottom brackets, 30 year old screw on freewheels and matching cotter pins to the BB axles. Last week I rebuilt a full rod brake system including making some of the parts. I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw a wheel with cartridge bearings, even cartridge headsets are rare.

I love it, most days I end up making custom parts to replace things that are no longer available. Not sure I could go back to just building new stuff or bolting new bits on to modern bikes.

Put together an old housemate’s ‘bike from a catalogue’ once…

All bolts made of cheese.

Faffed around for a couple of hours, wobbly everything and rounded bits everywhere, eventually told her to take it to bike shop 😳

It’s no fun assembling a BSO.

This. X1000

I now say no. The number of evenings I’ve lost ‘having a look’ at someone from work’s bike.

Nothing fits, nothing works first time, it’s all filthy and it’s all total shit you shouldn’t be wasting your time on.

I don’t envy local bike shops, I really don’t.

The new young lad at work can’t quickly service the older low end bikes that make up a good chunk of our income.

Give him di2 or a set of discs to service and he’s spot on. It’s very funny to watch.

This weeks lesson was that 1″ threaded headset are not all the same size and that my dusty yellow Sutherlands tech manual still has its place

I must be a similar age to boriselbrus. Who else knows what a cotter pin is without googling? 🙂

Who else knows what a cotter pin is without googling?

Hateful pieces of junk.

Who else knows what a cotter pin is without googling?

Holds up hand 🙂

Yeh, I used to think I was a great bike mechanic until I agreed to look after a fleet of campsite bikes. Nowadays I dread getting asked to look at an issue with someone’s BSO.

Similar to taking a “quick look” at someone’s PC.

Once you finally sort it, then rid it off all the viruses and other junk you just become free tech support for years to come.

Also magically responsible in some ever so politely implied way if the PSU or hard drive fails 6 months later! 😀

Been married 24 years. So yes I know what a cotter pin is. And they mercifully didn’t need replacing on that bike.

bruceonabike – Member
Who else knows what a cotter pin is without googling?

Holds up hand

Guilty

Cotter pins, Split pins, Woodruff keys, tapers, etc. All the work of the devil! And not just on bikes

BSOs normally cost more to fix that replace. BB invariably shot, then all cables and chain rusted to bits, tyres petrifying and split, hubs and headset wobbly, few spokes broken and rest rusted, grips ripped and falling off, chainrings and cassette worn and one piece crank and chainring plus new brake pads and the old brakes need replaced tbh. So on a fifty pound bike that would be about £100+ if you get the cheapest stuff and undercharged for labour and it’ll still be a piece of chit.

It’s not even old old bikes, we’ve had a few friends’ late 90s MTBs to look at because ‘the gears are funny’* or ‘my pedals are loose’**.

* 3 x 8 and everything, and I mean everything, was worn out. They’d been on from new in the late 90s. Front didn’t shift or when it did the chain either dropped off the front or the back and the rear was all over the shop. The fella had ‘had a go’ himself.

** Loose ball BB was knackered. Aaaaaargh! Boil the kettle. Get the blowtorch on it. Clamp it in the vice. Swear, lots. Get the cups out. What should be grease is rusty water…

But, it’s hard to say no to friends and explaining that it’s cheaper to buy a new/good used bike than refurb a properly worn out and knackered old one is tricky.

Made the mistake of helping out a local weirdo with his BSO. He’s also very ill and it’s his only means of transport.

Cursed and swore for a day or two then lent him an old Kona whilst I continued fettling his Falcon Xtreme or whatever.

Next time I saw him, his arm was in plaster and he wasn’t happy. Turned out the headset adapter in my old Kona had loosened off resulting in an OTB which broke his arm.

Told him to take his bike to the shop eventually…