I’m still owed about £100 for fixing up a “mate’s” bike last year. He professed surprise when I gave him the cost of bits from CRC, but said he’d give me the cash. Funnily enough I haven’t seen him since! With mates like that…..etc.

Best bike I ever worked on was a 1940s Rudge. A friend had bought it at a car boot for about £25, it had rod brakes, and was a fixed gear. Set of new brake pads and a bit of grease and it was ready for another 60 odd years 😀

Do you wear a shirt that says ” stop me and I’ll build one for you ?”

I remember working in a bike shop many years ago. Quality mtb’s came out of the box, straighten bars, tighten stem, put in pedals, maybe top up tyre pressure – done.
Cheap Universal bikes…buckled wheels, wheels with no spoke tension, gears don’t work, brakes don’t work, cranks twisted, pedal threads on cranks at weird angles…the list just goes on. I reckon every 10th bike was fully stripped to enable the other 9 to be sold.
Bugs me seeing kids without helmets…or tipped right back on their heads. Combine that with bikes that don’t work & it is very worrying.

Strangely for being well known as somebody who does bikes and computers I don’t get all that much of this – though I do live in a nice middle class area where people will pay for work to be done, and I suppose I have suggested to some of the people I know well enough that I don’t like to let it be known I have these skills so that people don’t ask me to do stuff (though actually they’re mostly the people I would happily do work for). Also plenty of iPads and similar which only tend to require you showing them how to do something.

I did spend quite a bit of time making next doors’ kids bikes (the ones belonging to kids mine play with) work as well as I possibly could and was happy to do so, but have now influenced them enough that they own proper bikes 🙂 Next door on the other side have an Islabike, and I was more than happy to help sort out the rebuild their 18yo was doing on a nice Bianchi (with proper 105 level stuff) – which reminds me, I promised to go round and help index his gears and haven’t made it.