12 ms·

A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair

219 points by victorstanciu 2y ago

__mharrison__ 2y ago
Sadly, many parts of modern mountain bikes seem to be less durable and not repairable. For most of the stuff I can't or don't want/have time to do, I take into the shop. And generally, they throw up their hands and say it needs to be replaced. Did that with two dropper posts this week. (One needed a rebuild that would cost more than replacement. The other had a (luckily under warranty) faulty cartridge). I will also say that e-bikes are much more fun than I would have thought. And not very serviceable.
- Onavo 2y ago
  You have to factor in labor costs. The marvel of modern logistics is that it's often cheaper to ship a new part over from across the Pacific than it is to do a proper repair where the faulty part is taken apart and hand repaired. Take a look at the local rate of machinists and mechanical engineers and then decide whether you truly want to have your bike part "repaired".
- gsora 2y ago
  One should choose their bike components carefully. I have been able to service every single component on my mountain bike, excluding suspension since that requires knowledge and time I don’t have time to acquire (yet!). As a general rule choosing mechanical components instead of electronic ones has been rewarding on the longevity and repairability fronts. That said some components are consumable, like the dropper post cartridge you mentioned, but to arrive at the point it requires replacement you either used it a lot (I’m jealous!) or it was simply faulty :-/ Might also be a good idea looking for other bike shops in your area. Mine is always trying to recycle and repair components.
- petre 2y ago
  Dropper posts are notorious for beaking. Just choose something with a replaceable cartridge.
BrianHenryIE 2y ago
Cycling is a joy. When I experience / see people diss cyclists, I'm sad for them. It implies they cannot empathise with others (me). My physical and mental health are better thanks to cycling.
- rozenmd 2y ago
  When it's broken, fix your bike - because when you're broken, your bike will fix you.
- jstanley 2y ago
  People don't like cyclists because their only interaction with cyclists is when they're holding up traffic.
  - et-al 2y ago
    Eh, drivers don't even like other drivers. Take road rage for example. Windshield perspective (or myopia) and car brain are both real phenomena: - https://grist.org/cities/2011-01-25-if-driving-is-so-great-why-are-you-so-mad-at-the-people-walking/ https://grist.org/cities/2011-01-25-if-driving-is-so-great-w... - https://archive.is/umBJv https://archive.is/umBJv
  - rafaelmn 2y ago
    Also they can be very vegan about it.
  - wpm 2y ago
    Read: making someone drive slower to the next red light 100 feet ahead. At least that’s my experience in Chicago.
    - dailykoder 2y ago
      We should all just look out for each other. Mostly follow the rules, but don't let common sense go abroad. There are so many cyclists in berlin that just go in front of all the cars at a red light, even it's just one car in front of them. I know that this car can accelerate way faster than me and drives way faster, why would I want to block it and make the driver mad? Yes, if the road is congested I might pass the cars too, because I realize I am faster, but everything else just doesn't make sense to me.
ThomasBb 2y ago
Thankful I learned to fix a flat tire at 5 and steadily built experience in bike repair since, from where my first moped and car repairs felt like basic extensions… The blog comes very close to quoting ‘zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance’ -I wonder if the author read that…
- victorstanciu 2y ago
  > The blog comes very close to quoting ‘zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance’ -I wonder if the author read that… I did! But I did so long before I started with bike repair, so at that time I couldn't really connect with it. Thank you for reminding me that I should give it a second read!
iamthemonster 2y ago
Beautifully written, but I couldn't disagree more. Bicycle maintenance is an annoying chore to me that gets in the way of my enjoyment of cycling. I even have good bicycle shops near me that did maintenance far quicker/cheaper/better than I would do. It just all seemed like such a hassle. I finally ended up buying a belt-drive hub-geared hydraulic-brakes medium/fat-tyre bicycle and my maintenance woes appear to be massively reduced. I love the concept of bicycles that are deliberately built to be low maintenance.
- jamesdepp 2y ago
  Priority Continuum Onyx by any chance? Those things are absolute beasts. Fantastic commuter bikes.
- victorstanciu 2y ago
  Interesting point of view, thank you! For me maintenance and repair have enhanced riding rather than diminish it. I find it's similar to how cooking enhances eating, or yard work enhances laying around the yard. Of course I hate having a malfunction while riding as much as the next guy, but I also ride with more confidence because I know I can handle pretty much anything that can go wrong, even on the go.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - TeMPOraL 2y ago
    I'm strongly with GP on this. I wonder if this isn't some kind of broader difference between people, because I also disagree with the excellent examples you used. Cooking and yard work don't enhance my subsequent enjoyment of a good meal or relaxation - rather, I experience both to be annoying bullshit chores (ABC!) that, more often than not, I can't get myself to engage in, which means they deny the experience altogether instead of enhancing it. Makes me think of the old, well-known saying, that you should focus on the journey rather than destination. In my mind, it does not compute. I often wonder if I'm broken somehow.
- 2y ago
mo_42 2y ago
I had a similar experience during the pandemic. I got hold of an old frame for a road bike that I somehow liked. Even the paint was pretty bad so I went all the way of stripping the old paint, cold-setting the rear dropouts (thanks to Sheldon Brown's website) so that it will take the modern wheels, painting the frame, and assembling everything with new parts. It took me two years because I had to learn a lot how different components fit together and all sorts of specific spacings. Now, I have a very unique and beautiful bike (people on the street tell me). But above all, I know every detail of that bicycle and how to fix it. The reason why IT people love this stuff (also woodworking, gardening, etc.) so much is that there's routine. Most of the bikes are very similar. If you've rebuilt one, you have the competency to build another one. In software, every project is a new challenge. It's more like building a new technical object all the time. I think software development could benefit from rewriting stuff every now and then. Many of my former projects would benefit a lot if I had a couple of week to take apart all the functions and assemble them in a better way that consideres everything I've learned so far.
- victorstanciu 2y ago
  > Now, I have a very unique and beautiful bike (people on the street tell me). Well you can't just entice us like that without posting a photo! Here's one I painted that I am really proud of how it came out: https://tegowerk.eu/posts/nakamura-shadow-city-bike/ https://tegowerk.eu/posts/nakamura-shadow-city-bike/
  - mo_42 2y ago
    True, thanks for sharing. Here's the one: https://imgur.com/a/SsdVhCT https://imgur.com/a/SsdVhCT
    - victorstanciu 2y ago
      Beautiful!
    - enneff 2y ago
      These are both really lovely bikes.
sourcecodeplz 2y ago
Working on the bike for me is therapeutic. It’s like trimming the plants/trees.
xkcd1963 2y ago
But it is true. Most websites concern with companies competing in a market. If you believe a war-industry is good because it provides jobs, but you don't take into consideration that war destroys stuff and lives and just creates misery for most of us, you are shortsighted at best.
- victorstanciu 2y ago
  Uh, what? Did you reply to the wrong post by any chance?
  - WA 2y ago
    I think it relates to the last section of the post about building websites.
    - xkcd1963 2y ago
      yes I only had time to read the last paragraph.
- WA 2y ago
  That's quite a stretch. Competition is good for the market. The problem are the big tech quasi-monopolies and they usually don't hire small web agencies to build their website. Or to stay in your analogy: if your country is at war, you apparently see every manufacturing business as part of this war-industry. Even the bakery around the corner.
leke 2y ago
I got into bikes after moving to a cyclists' town. I know the pride of riding something you've fixed up like the author mentioned in the article. Bikes are truly a marvel. My town and bikes have provided me with a higher standard of living and health than I would have had in some other town. Bikes are for everybody. You can ride a beat up bike for years with just basic knowledge, like changing an inner tube and oiling a chain. General and advanced bike maintenance was a mystery until YouTube came along. Now I get to pass this knowledge directly to my kids.
- dailykoder 2y ago
  >Bikes are for everybody. You can ride a beat up bike for years with just basic knowledge, l That is true. But what changed most sceptics, that i met, mind were bikes that actually worked. I understand the fear when people see the price tag and think they could buy a second hand car for that, but once they sit on a good bike they just enjoy it. And if they then learn how to do basic maintenance themselves so that it just stays good and doesn't creak all the time, they fall in love with them. I love bikes.
  - UnserMannInK 2y ago
    True, the price tag might buy you a second hand car. But if you factor in the maintenance cost of cars it comes in cheap in comparison. I’ve just had to replace the clutch in my car (~2200€), whereas having the whole transmission (all sprockets and the chain) in a bike fixed is around 250-300€. Less if you do it yourself. And being able to do it myself feels really good, I couldn’t agree more!
    - enneff 2y ago
      Not to mention fuel.
    - drdo 2y ago
      Do you have some exotic luxury car? What kind of clutch costs 2.2k euro?
silisili 2y ago
There's a certain zen that comes with maintenance or building of everything, from bikes to radios to cars. I'm not sure if it comes from experience or age, but when it happens it changes how you think of things. Finding that zen leads to faster and better quality work. Maybe it's just an exercise in patience that feels zen like. My back's not got much in it these days, so I've mostly been supervising my wife who stubbornly wants to learn it all. It's funny watching her go through the same hot head, cuss, throw your tools experience I did years ago. I tried to explain my zen theory, but she sure wasn't having it, so I'm leaning towards experience.
- randcraw 2y ago
  Zen and the art of bicycle maintenance... a la Pirsig? Maybe, as she works, you could read her passages from the book about bringing quality to life through wrenching bikes, of all kinds?
  - slovette 2y ago
    This is how marriages end in divorce. Haha.
pelorat 2y ago
During the pandemic I decided I wanted to build a bike too, the idea came to me after watching Berm Peak and Park Tools on YouTube, similar to what happened to this person. So being stuck working from home, I bought parts and tools to build a brand new full suspension mountain bike. Like this person it took longer than I wanted because I was missing some specialized tools (bearing and bearing press for the rear suspension) and parts I didn't know I needed. But it all worked out in the end. When the project was finished took apart my old off-the-shelf mountain bike, now all that remains of it is a frame with the paint stripped off. I plan to convert it to internal cable routing, paint it (I've been watching Etoe on YouTube) and then turn it into an e-bike. As a side effect of buying all the tools you need to build and repair bikes, I've also repaired my almost two decades sold exercise bike, which had trashed ball bearings. It also made me realize that most people would have thrown it away and bought a brand new one.
- victorstanciu 2y ago
  Martin (ETOE) is awesome, his channel is where I learned to paint bikes from too.
- petre 2y ago
  I've been building a new bike every year since 2018 or 2019. This year I took apart the alloy bike assembled in 2019 and moved the parts to a new steel Surly frame. During the pandemic I've built a steel hardtail.
AlunAlun 2y ago
I suspect what the author takes joy from is more the satisfaction of learning a new skill. Like many things, bike maintenance eventually becomes a chore. Most of my (many) bikes over the last 30 years have been built from the ground up, including the wheels. And I don’t (or won’t) trust any shop mechanic to touch them. But now, the thought of doing any sort of maintenance fills me with dread - I want to ride my bikes, not spend hours fiddling with brake hydraulics and suspension seals!
- drdo 2y ago
  This perfectly matches my experience.
- david-gpu 2y ago
  > I want to ride my bikes, not spend hours fiddling with brake hydraulics and suspension seals! Not a problem! Why not... > I don’t (or won’t) trust any shop mechanic to touch them Oh. That explains it. Have you considered reverting to simpler bicycles that require less frequent and simpler maintenance. Rigid frame, cable-actuated brakes, possibly a gearbox?
matsemann 2y ago
Back in time as a student, I had to stay in the student city over summer due to an internship. Everyone else left, so the evenings were quite free. I ended up buying a cheap old bikes and refurbish it completely. Like, take every single piece apart, clean, sand and possibly paint. It gave me an admiration for the cleverness but also the simplicity of the design. Truing the wheels felt like an art, and I got so interested in the concept that I ended up writing my thesis around lacing patterns for the spokes on the wheels. It actually got posted to HN at the time https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10410813 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10410813 I do all maintenance on my bikes now. Always a good excuse to buy some new gadget, right? This other week I applied new bar tape and bled my brakes. I originally wanted some repair shop to do it, but that would mean bike there, get to work somehow, then get back there and then be able to bike home. Seemed more hassle than just fixing it myself, given I'm dependent on my bike.
Luc 2y ago
I was just thinking it would be neat to use an LLM to study how comments on a post change in tone as the sun rises over different countries and cultures. Also what articles make it to the front page etc. At the moment the US is asleep, and I’m getting more of a European vibe from the comments.
- ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
  I think you're right about the U.S. not getting involved yet. They suffer a lot from motonormativity and consider cyclists to be the bane of civilisation.
zeristor 2y ago
Monty Python’s Mr Bicycle repairman. https://youtu.be/Tq_xTeWiv6I https://youtu.be/Tq_xTeWiv6I I remember first seeing this and thinking in some way it is more than funny, a more equal world.
ultrablack 2y ago
Zen, and the art of bicycle maintenance?
- lotsoweiners 2y ago
  https://www.bigandtallbike.com/zinn-the-art-of-mountain-bike-maintenance-6th-edit.html https://www.bigandtallbike.com/zinn-the-art-of-mountain-bike...
lqet 2y ago
Maintaining a personal collection of 7 Peugeot bikes from the 70ies (they are used daily) is my way of getting a relaxed Saturday afternoon out of the software engineering / childcare grind every few weeks. Maintaining your primary mode of transportation completely yourself is very satisfying. Most of our bikes were incredibly cheap (sometimes < 20 EUR) because you couldn't ride them anymore, and restoring them was quite relaxing. For example, I restored one with a mint-condition frame, using mostly original parts. Originally, it cost 70 EUR. It now looks exactly like this (minus the pannier and with the original gearshift): https://old.reddit.com/r/bikecommuting/comments/uxt0tb/new_bike_day_with_this_stunning_vintage_peugeot/ https://old.reddit.com/r/bikecommuting/comments/uxt0tb/new_b... My wife uses it daily. In my opinion, these bikes have a beauty and elegance which modern bikes simply do not have. I have made some valuable contacts over the years. For example, I know an eccentric local guy who literally has a 3 meter mountain of old bikes behind his workshop and has every original spare part of pre-2000 bikes imaginable in his cellar. I also know someone on the internet who manufactures pulleys (the little plastic gears) for old Simplex derailleurs at home (they are hard to replace, as modern pulleys don't fit). My basic rule of thumb of buying an old bike: if the frame is OK, you can restore it for under 200 EUR. Most of the time, it's trivial things like a broken chain, broken brakes, missing spokes, etc. Once the bike is restored, maintenance is usually painless. The typical wearing parts (chain, bowden cables, tires, brakes) can be replaced with modern standard parts which you can get everywhere.
wruza 2y ago
I had a few bikes when I was a kid and a teenager (backpedal braking era). Each one costed like dirt and could be rebuilt/repaired in a couple hours with a bag of instruments hanging below the seat. Then I rode it few months without service. Most of my bikes died due to fatal injuries or were stolen. Modern bikes is something I don’t understand. Complex aggregates, systems and subsystems, spaceship furniture, etc. And the cost of a low-end car, sometimes mid. Plus all the “niceties” of the modern market, like planned obsolescence, milking the customer, necessary extras and so on. Feels like you’re meant to more touch yourself about how much of a cyclist you are than to ride. Say that these bikes are softer, easier, cadence friendly. Doesn’t matter, all off this is bs to me. Yet another area defiled by marketing, scammers and those who charge 5x on top of that for being “honest”.
- getwiththeprog 2y ago
  A very good bike is AUD$1000, a great bike is AUD$2000, and a super-duper over the top bike is AUD$3000. Anything more is potlatch https://www.britannica.com/topic/potlatch https://www.britannica.com/topic/potlatch I'm sorry to say I do understand all these above pricing categories short of potlatch.
SebFender 2y ago
"You’ll never hear a baker say their job is bullshit." Disconnection from our work and results in general is a people killer - It always surprises me more aren't sensitive to this great truth of life...
ServiceNigga 2y ago
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freetime2 2y ago
I love cycling but absolutely hate maintenance. I’d always prefer to be riding my bike than working on it. Two recent enhancements that significantly improved my life are electronic shifting, and wax lube. I haven’t had to mess around with gear indexing once since I bought a bike with electronic shifting (SRAM Rival) a couple years ago, and it always shifts perfectly. I do have to keep the batteries charged, but one charge a week is more than enough with daily riding - so never had any issues there. With wax lube (I use Squirt) I spend a lot less time cleaning my chain. What used to be a pretty annoying weekly process of degreasing and lubing my chain now takes a minute or two: use a dry brush to scrape off any excess wax buildup and then apply more wax. Much quicker and much cleaner than the old dry lube I used to use. And the chain is cleaner and quieter too. Other than that, I basically hose off the bike and wipe it with a towel after every ride, and align/clean the disc brakes occasionally. My ratio of ride time to maintenance time has never been higher.
- Quothling 2y ago
  I think bike maintenance is one of those things that is similar to how you read about programmers who pick up woodworking here on HN. I know it's a zen thing for me, similar to other "craftmanship" (I'm not sure if this is the right english word for things like machanics, carpenters, plubmers and so on) like home improvement DIY, gardening or even cleaning the damn house. It's just very zen. Both because it tends to relatively less tasking on your executive functions, is physical and provides tangible results that you can see and "feel" relatively quickly. It may also be because programming is frankly a craftmanship for the most parts. There are a few projects where I'm doing Computer Science, but for the most part I'm a digital plumber.
  - freetime2 2y ago
    I think I could enjoy it if I had more time to spend on it. It’s certainly satisfying when you’ve got everything clean and lubed and dialed in just right. But for me it always just feels like a chore - something I need to get done before tomorrow morning or else I have to listen to some dreadful sound for the entire ride.
Ringz 2y ago
I have a 1993 or 1994 Marin Indian Fire Trail mountain bike that I've been repairing over the past few weeks. I've replaced all the brake and shift cables, new tubes and tires, and performed the usual maintenance on the ball bearings, like cleaning and greasing them. The biggest issue was getting my Shimano XT derailleur, which is integrated with the brake levers, back in working order. Thankfully, I found YouTube videos that alleviated my fear of completely disassembling, cleaning, re-greasing, and reassembling the gear unit. It's a marvel of engineering that reminds me of a simple watch mechanism (a very simple one). Until I found the YouTube video, I thought I definitely had to buy a new derailleur. However, that would have led to many other new parts being needed, like new cogs, new brake levers, etc. Then perhaps other issues because the bike still has old cantilever brakes and so on. After reassembling the derailleur, the bike runs as well as it did on the first day: the gears click and clack so wonderfully that it's a pure joy to shift. Plus, there's the wonderful feeling of having restored a 40-year-old mountain bike to working order with the original parts. I also have an older road racing bike that is completely equipped with a Shimano 105 groupset. With it, maintenance and getting it running is child's play. The simplicity of a frame shifter makes everything much easier. Bikes are the best invention since sliced bread.
Helmut10001 2y ago
I still use my aluminum mountain bike from 1997. At 27 years now, it still drives like a new bike. I invest about 300 Eur every two years for repairs. Use it 10-20 km daily. No need for a car!
globular-toast 2y ago
The modern bicycle is the pinnacle of personal transport technology. It's yet to be surpassed. Unfortunately unbridled consumption of fossil fuels has made cars economical enough that you can't cycle anywhere any more. I heard people are getting into gravel biking now because the road is too unpleasant. I maintain a small but shrinking amount of hope that we might be able to get rid of cars. Sometimes I think it's getting better, but then I remember how much had already been ceded to them in just my lifetime. Maybe when I'm old it will be possible to cycle around safely and young people will know true freedom. Repairing bicycles is part of that freedom really. You don't a lot of space or super expensive tools. There's no toxic liquids to deal with. I rebuilt a bike from the frame up around 2006 without any help from YouTube. I realised later I did a lot of it wrong as I was essentially guessing, but I still rode it for many hundreds of miles.
- tim333 2y ago
  In London things have got quite a lot better of cycling over the last decade or so - more cycle routes and more car restrictions. So it can trend the other way. Also ebikes help.
jpgvm 2y ago
Wrenching on a motorcycle is similarly rewarding/zen. A little more complex than a bicycle and sometimes requiring some more specialist tools but otherwise pretty much the same thing. Especially older, carbureted motorcycles with minimal electronics. You can often work everything out and get them going like new again with just some elbow grease and replacing perishables like fluids, seals, gaskets, etc. Not to mention it's fun riding a bike that previously didn't even kick over before it came into your hands.
parasti 2y ago
Thanks, this was a good read. To me, this puts a finger on a fear of mine that probably many programmers have. How do you show someone else the thing that you've built, how do you show them the work that you do and the value that it creates? To an observer, say, your own child, you're just sitting in front of a screen. There's layers upon layers of cruft that you need to first learn to understand what your parent is doing there. A physical thing is easy - you can just show them that thing that you made.
thread_id 2y ago
For me personally, I cannot overstate the value I get from solving problems in the physical space and how that transends into my work as a software engineer. However, that being said I really enjoy the dynamic of software development that allows the ability to hack: start building without a clear plan, try, prototype, tear down, throw out, start again.
- p3rls 2y ago
  Ha that's why the trades have the motto: we do it nice, we do it twice :)
deleted 2y ago
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me2too 2y ago
Good read, thanks. I found myself in this article having started to repair an old bicycle and bringing it back to life. I always thought that manual labor is more satisfactory than mental labor because you can immediately see the outcome and the value produced. Being a computer engineer I feel the need to disconnect myself from what I call "the abstract world" and get in touch with something real. Something I can touch.
TacticalCoder 2y ago
How timely: my bicycle's rear tire is a goner. My brother changes it by himself but I only have the skill to take the wheel off and bring it to the shop! > and the greater the chance they’ll conclude they’re working in a bullshit job. OK but you guys all know how many software have been involved in the creation and shipping of that bicycle and all its material? It's software all the way. The 3D modelling, the logistics, all the payment processing making buying/shipping the materials, etc. I won't comment on taxes (on revenues for all the companies involved and on their employees too and on the sale etc.) and all the software that implicates and all the bureaucracy that it allows to thrive because, to me, that is the real bullshit that should be decimated (not reduced to zero but decimated). But anyway many things we enjoy and take for granted exists thanks to and because of software. Put it this way: even if they're similar in that they both have two wheels, I'm not trading an early 20th century for my Specialized (californian company btw even though I'm in the EU) full carbon S-Works (S-Works is the top end from Specialized) bicycle. Thank you very much, software devs, for having made the creation of that wonderful bicycle possible.
theoleksii 2y ago
I can totally relate to that! But in my case it's airplane ownership and maintenance. One day I'm staring at my IDE, and find myself thinking about how I'm going to fix that nasty fuel smell in the cockpit. And when it's all done after a day on the apron—that's the high point! And small airplane maintenance isn't that complex actually. Modern cars are way more complex.
erie 2y ago
When you balance your ride in the back seat of a bicycle driven by a tiny teenager half your weight, it means you truly know how a bicycle goes. I think the Danes are the top cyclists nation, I remember when I offered the principal of orphan school girls, to make an international call from my house instead of waiting for hours at the post office of my town in Syria back in the 70's, she encouraged me to ride my bicycle and not to worry about her riding behind me, I was scared from the imbalance but there was none, the looks and whistle of some people were a many though. The sight of 15 year old me pedaling while a big blond woman sitting behind me was amazing.
agumonkey 2y ago
Since I tried to learn bike mechanics, my bike is now operating worse :) I need some full tutorials.
TomMasz 2y ago
I'm not a mechanic by any means but I can change tires and lube the chain, the two most common tasks. But modern derailleurs and disc brakes I'm happy to have a pro work on.
scott_w 2y ago
Just a small thing about bikes being “harder” to maintain than they used to be. I really think they’re not! I tried to take the back wheel off a friend’s old mountain bike and realised it’s waaaay more complicated to take apart than a modern QR skewer or thru-axle. The only real fiddly bit is if you bought internal cable routing but that’s only really on mid-to-upper tier bikes. Even then, a modern frame is easier to route than a 10-year-old frame (speaking from experience!) Don’t be deterred from learning it for yourself!

219 points by victorstanciu 2y ago

Sadly, many parts of modern mountain bikes seem to be less durable and not repairable. For most of the stuff I can't or don't want/have time to do, I take into the shop. And generally, they throw up their hands and say it needs to be replaced. Did that with two dropper posts this week. (One needed a rebuild that would cost more than replacement. The other had a (luckily under warranty) faulty cartridge). I will also say that e-bikes are much more fun than I would have thought. And not very serviceable.

Onavo 2y ago
You have to factor in labor costs. The marvel of modern logistics is that it's often cheaper to ship a new part over from across the Pacific than it is to do a proper repair where the faulty part is taken apart and hand repaired. Take a look at the local rate of machinists and mechanical engineers and then decide whether you truly want to have your bike part "repaired".
gsora 2y ago
One should choose their bike components carefully. I have been able to service every single component on my mountain bike, excluding suspension since that requires knowledge and time I don’t have time to acquire (yet!). As a general rule choosing mechanical components instead of electronic ones has been rewarding on the longevity and repairability fronts. That said some components are consumable, like the dropper post cartridge you mentioned, but to arrive at the point it requires replacement you either used it a lot (I’m jealous!) or it was simply faulty :-/ Might also be a good idea looking for other bike shops in your area. Mine is always trying to recycle and repair components.
petre 2y ago
Dropper posts are notorious for beaking. Just choose something with a replaceable cartridge.

BrianHenryIE 2y ago

Cycling is a joy. When I experience / see people diss cyclists, I'm sad for them. It implies they cannot empathise with others (me). My physical and mental health are better thanks to cycling.

rozenmd 2y ago
When it's broken, fix your bike - because when you're broken, your bike will fix you.
jstanley 2y ago
People don't like cyclists because their only interaction with cyclists is when they're holding up traffic.
- et-al 2y ago
  Eh, drivers don't even like other drivers. Take road rage for example. Windshield perspective (or myopia) and car brain are both real phenomena: - https://grist.org/cities/2011-01-25-if-driving-is-so-great-why-are-you-so-mad-at-the-people-walking/ https://grist.org/cities/2011-01-25-if-driving-is-so-great-w... - https://archive.is/umBJv https://archive.is/umBJv
- rafaelmn 2y ago
  Also they can be very vegan about it.
- wpm 2y ago
  Read: making someone drive slower to the next red light 100 feet ahead. At least that’s my experience in Chicago.
  - dailykoder 2y ago
    We should all just look out for each other. Mostly follow the rules, but don't let common sense go abroad. There are so many cyclists in berlin that just go in front of all the cars at a red light, even it's just one car in front of them. I know that this car can accelerate way faster than me and drives way faster, why would I want to block it and make the driver mad? Yes, if the road is congested I might pass the cars too, because I realize I am faster, but everything else just doesn't make sense to me.

ThomasBb 2y ago

Thankful I learned to fix a flat tire at 5 and steadily built experience in bike repair since, from where my first moped and car repairs felt like basic extensions… The blog comes very close to quoting ‘zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance’ -I wonder if the author read that…

victorstanciu 2y ago
> The blog comes very close to quoting ‘zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance’ -I wonder if the author read that… I did! But I did so long before I started with bike repair, so at that time I couldn't really connect with it. Thank you for reminding me that I should give it a second read!

iamthemonster 2y ago

Beautifully written, but I couldn't disagree more. Bicycle maintenance is an annoying chore to me that gets in the way of my enjoyment of cycling. I even have good bicycle shops near me that did maintenance far quicker/cheaper/better than I would do. It just all seemed like such a hassle. I finally ended up buying a belt-drive hub-geared hydraulic-brakes medium/fat-tyre bicycle and my maintenance woes appear to be massively reduced. I love the concept of bicycles that are deliberately built to be low maintenance.

jamesdepp 2y ago
Priority Continuum Onyx by any chance? Those things are absolute beasts. Fantastic commuter bikes.
victorstanciu 2y ago
Interesting point of view, thank you! For me maintenance and repair have enhanced riding rather than diminish it. I find it's similar to how cooking enhances eating, or yard work enhances laying around the yard. Of course I hate having a malfunction while riding as much as the next guy, but I also ride with more confidence because I know I can handle pretty much anything that can go wrong, even on the go.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  I'm strongly with GP on this. I wonder if this isn't some kind of broader difference between people, because I also disagree with the excellent examples you used. Cooking and yard work don't enhance my subsequent enjoyment of a good meal or relaxation - rather, I experience both to be annoying bullshit chores (ABC!) that, more often than not, I can't get myself to engage in, which means they deny the experience altogether instead of enhancing it. Makes me think of the old, well-known saying, that you should focus on the journey rather than destination. In my mind, it does not compute. I often wonder if I'm broken somehow.
2y ago

mo_42 2y ago

I had a similar experience during the pandemic. I got hold of an old frame for a road bike that I somehow liked. Even the paint was pretty bad so I went all the way of stripping the old paint, cold-setting the rear dropouts (thanks to Sheldon Brown's website) so that it will take the modern wheels, painting the frame, and assembling everything with new parts. It took me two years because I had to learn a lot how different components fit together and all sorts of specific spacings. Now, I have a very unique and beautiful bike (people on the street tell me). But above all, I know every detail of that bicycle and how to fix it. The reason why IT people love this stuff (also woodworking, gardening, etc.) so much is that there's routine. Most of the bikes are very similar. If you've rebuilt one, you have the competency to build another one. In software, every project is a new challenge. It's more like building a new technical object all the time. I think software development could benefit from rewriting stuff every now and then. Many of my former projects would benefit a lot if I had a couple of week to take apart all the functions and assemble them in a better way that consideres everything I've learned so far.

victorstanciu 2y ago
> Now, I have a very unique and beautiful bike (people on the street tell me). Well you can't just entice us like that without posting a photo! Here's one I painted that I am really proud of how it came out: https://tegowerk.eu/posts/nakamura-shadow-city-bike/ https://tegowerk.eu/posts/nakamura-shadow-city-bike/
- mo_42 2y ago
  True, thanks for sharing. Here's the one: https://imgur.com/a/SsdVhCT https://imgur.com/a/SsdVhCT
  - victorstanciu 2y ago
    Beautiful!
  - enneff 2y ago
    These are both really lovely bikes.

sourcecodeplz 2y ago

Working on the bike for me is therapeutic. It’s like trimming the plants/trees.

xkcd1963 2y ago

But it is true. Most websites concern with companies competing in a market. If you believe a war-industry is good because it provides jobs, but you don't take into consideration that war destroys stuff and lives and just creates misery for most of us, you are shortsighted at best.

victorstanciu 2y ago
Uh, what? Did you reply to the wrong post by any chance?
- WA 2y ago
  I think it relates to the last section of the post about building websites.
  - xkcd1963 2y ago
    yes I only had time to read the last paragraph.
WA 2y ago
That's quite a stretch. Competition is good for the market. The problem are the big tech quasi-monopolies and they usually don't hire small web agencies to build their website. Or to stay in your analogy: if your country is at war, you apparently see every manufacturing business as part of this war-industry. Even the bakery around the corner.

leke 2y ago

I got into bikes after moving to a cyclists' town. I know the pride of riding something you've fixed up like the author mentioned in the article. Bikes are truly a marvel. My town and bikes have provided me with a higher standard of living and health than I would have had in some other town. Bikes are for everybody. You can ride a beat up bike for years with just basic knowledge, like changing an inner tube and oiling a chain. General and advanced bike maintenance was a mystery until YouTube came along. Now I get to pass this knowledge directly to my kids.

dailykoder 2y ago
>Bikes are for everybody. You can ride a beat up bike for years with just basic knowledge, l That is true. But what changed most sceptics, that i met, mind were bikes that actually worked. I understand the fear when people see the price tag and think they could buy a second hand car for that, but once they sit on a good bike they just enjoy it. And if they then learn how to do basic maintenance themselves so that it just stays good and doesn't creak all the time, they fall in love with them. I love bikes.
- UnserMannInK 2y ago
  True, the price tag might buy you a second hand car. But if you factor in the maintenance cost of cars it comes in cheap in comparison. I’ve just had to replace the clutch in my car (~2200€), whereas having the whole transmission (all sprockets and the chain) in a bike fixed is around 250-300€. Less if you do it yourself. And being able to do it myself feels really good, I couldn’t agree more!
  - enneff 2y ago
    Not to mention fuel.
  - drdo 2y ago
    Do you have some exotic luxury car? What kind of clutch costs 2.2k euro?

silisili 2y ago

There's a certain zen that comes with maintenance or building of everything, from bikes to radios to cars. I'm not sure if it comes from experience or age, but when it happens it changes how you think of things. Finding that zen leads to faster and better quality work. Maybe it's just an exercise in patience that feels zen like. My back's not got much in it these days, so I've mostly been supervising my wife who stubbornly wants to learn it all. It's funny watching her go through the same hot head, cuss, throw your tools experience I did years ago. I tried to explain my zen theory, but she sure wasn't having it, so I'm leaning towards experience.

randcraw 2y ago
Zen and the art of bicycle maintenance... a la Pirsig? Maybe, as she works, you could read her passages from the book about bringing quality to life through wrenching bikes, of all kinds?
- slovette 2y ago
  This is how marriages end in divorce. Haha.

pelorat 2y ago

During the pandemic I decided I wanted to build a bike too, the idea came to me after watching Berm Peak and Park Tools on YouTube, similar to what happened to this person. So being stuck working from home, I bought parts and tools to build a brand new full suspension mountain bike. Like this person it took longer than I wanted because I was missing some specialized tools (bearing and bearing press for the rear suspension) and parts I didn't know I needed. But it all worked out in the end. When the project was finished took apart my old off-the-shelf mountain bike, now all that remains of it is a frame with the paint stripped off. I plan to convert it to internal cable routing, paint it (I've been watching Etoe on YouTube) and then turn it into an e-bike. As a side effect of buying all the tools you need to build and repair bikes, I've also repaired my almost two decades sold exercise bike, which had trashed ball bearings. It also made me realize that most people would have thrown it away and bought a brand new one.

victorstanciu 2y ago
Martin (ETOE) is awesome, his channel is where I learned to paint bikes from too.
petre 2y ago
I've been building a new bike every year since 2018 or 2019. This year I took apart the alloy bike assembled in 2019 and moved the parts to a new steel Surly frame. During the pandemic I've built a steel hardtail.

AlunAlun 2y ago

I suspect what the author takes joy from is more the satisfaction of learning a new skill. Like many things, bike maintenance eventually becomes a chore. Most of my (many) bikes over the last 30 years have been built from the ground up, including the wheels. And I don’t (or won’t) trust any shop mechanic to touch them. But now, the thought of doing any sort of maintenance fills me with dread - I want to ride my bikes, not spend hours fiddling with brake hydraulics and suspension seals!

drdo 2y ago
This perfectly matches my experience.
david-gpu 2y ago
> I want to ride my bikes, not spend hours fiddling with brake hydraulics and suspension seals! Not a problem! Why not... > I don’t (or won’t) trust any shop mechanic to touch them Oh. That explains it. Have you considered reverting to simpler bicycles that require less frequent and simpler maintenance. Rigid frame, cable-actuated brakes, possibly a gearbox?

matsemann 2y ago

Back in time as a student, I had to stay in the student city over summer due to an internship. Everyone else left, so the evenings were quite free. I ended up buying a cheap old bikes and refurbish it completely. Like, take every single piece apart, clean, sand and possibly paint. It gave me an admiration for the cleverness but also the simplicity of the design. Truing the wheels felt like an art, and I got so interested in the concept that I ended up writing my thesis around lacing patterns for the spokes on the wheels. It actually got posted to HN at the time https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10410813 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10410813 I do all maintenance on my bikes now. Always a good excuse to buy some new gadget, right? This other week I applied new bar tape and bled my brakes. I originally wanted some repair shop to do it, but that would mean bike there, get to work somehow, then get back there and then be able to bike home. Seemed more hassle than just fixing it myself, given I'm dependent on my bike.

Luc 2y ago

I was just thinking it would be neat to use an LLM to study how comments on a post change in tone as the sun rises over different countries and cultures. Also what articles make it to the front page etc. At the moment the US is asleep, and I’m getting more of a European vibe from the comments.

ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
I think you're right about the U.S. not getting involved yet. They suffer a lot from motonormativity and consider cyclists to be the bane of civilisation.

zeristor 2y ago

Monty Python’s Mr Bicycle repairman. https://youtu.be/Tq_xTeWiv6I https://youtu.be/Tq_xTeWiv6I I remember first seeing this and thinking in some way it is more than funny, a more equal world.

ultrablack 2y ago

Zen, and the art of bicycle maintenance?

lotsoweiners 2y ago
https://www.bigandtallbike.com/zinn-the-art-of-mountain-bike-maintenance-6th-edit.html https://www.bigandtallbike.com/zinn-the-art-of-mountain-bike...

lqet 2y ago

Maintaining a personal collection of 7 Peugeot bikes from the 70ies (they are used daily) is my way of getting a relaxed Saturday afternoon out of the software engineering / childcare grind every few weeks. Maintaining your primary mode of transportation completely yourself is very satisfying. Most of our bikes were incredibly cheap (sometimes < 20 EUR) because you couldn't ride them anymore, and restoring them was quite relaxing. For example, I restored one with a mint-condition frame, using mostly original parts. Originally, it cost 70 EUR. It now looks exactly like this (minus the pannier and with the original gearshift): https://old.reddit.com/r/bikecommuting/comments/uxt0tb/new_bike_day_with_this_stunning_vintage_peugeot/ https://old.reddit.com/r/bikecommuting/comments/uxt0tb/new_b... My wife uses it daily. In my opinion, these bikes have a beauty and elegance which modern bikes simply do not have. I have made some valuable contacts over the years. For example, I know an eccentric local guy who literally has a 3 meter mountain of old bikes behind his workshop and has every original spare part of pre-2000 bikes imaginable in his cellar. I also know someone on the internet who manufactures pulleys (the little plastic gears) for old Simplex derailleurs at home (they are hard to replace, as modern pulleys don't fit). My basic rule of thumb of buying an old bike: if the frame is OK, you can restore it for under 200 EUR. Most of the time, it's trivial things like a broken chain, broken brakes, missing spokes, etc. Once the bike is restored, maintenance is usually painless. The typical wearing parts (chain, bowden cables, tires, brakes) can be replaced with modern standard parts which you can get everywhere.

wruza 2y ago

I had a few bikes when I was a kid and a teenager (backpedal braking era). Each one costed like dirt and could be rebuilt/repaired in a couple hours with a bag of instruments hanging below the seat. Then I rode it few months without service. Most of my bikes died due to fatal injuries or were stolen. Modern bikes is something I don’t understand. Complex aggregates, systems and subsystems, spaceship furniture, etc. And the cost of a low-end car, sometimes mid. Plus all the “niceties” of the modern market, like planned obsolescence, milking the customer, necessary extras and so on. Feels like you’re meant to more touch yourself about how much of a cyclist you are than to ride. Say that these bikes are softer, easier, cadence friendly. Doesn’t matter, all off this is bs to me. Yet another area defiled by marketing, scammers and those who charge 5x on top of that for being “honest”.

getwiththeprog 2y ago
A very good bike is AUD$1000, a great bike is AUD$2000, and a super-duper over the top bike is AUD$3000. Anything more is potlatch https://www.britannica.com/topic/potlatch https://www.britannica.com/topic/potlatch I'm sorry to say I do understand all these above pricing categories short of potlatch.

SebFender 2y ago

"You’ll never hear a baker say their job is bullshit." Disconnection from our work and results in general is a people killer - It always surprises me more aren't sensitive to this great truth of life...

ServiceNigga 2y ago

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freetime2 2y ago

I love cycling but absolutely hate maintenance. I’d always prefer to be riding my bike than working on it. Two recent enhancements that significantly improved my life are electronic shifting, and wax lube. I haven’t had to mess around with gear indexing once since I bought a bike with electronic shifting (SRAM Rival) a couple years ago, and it always shifts perfectly. I do have to keep the batteries charged, but one charge a week is more than enough with daily riding - so never had any issues there. With wax lube (I use Squirt) I spend a lot less time cleaning my chain. What used to be a pretty annoying weekly process of degreasing and lubing my chain now takes a minute or two: use a dry brush to scrape off any excess wax buildup and then apply more wax. Much quicker and much cleaner than the old dry lube I used to use. And the chain is cleaner and quieter too. Other than that, I basically hose off the bike and wipe it with a towel after every ride, and align/clean the disc brakes occasionally. My ratio of ride time to maintenance time has never been higher.

Quothling 2y ago
I think bike maintenance is one of those things that is similar to how you read about programmers who pick up woodworking here on HN. I know it's a zen thing for me, similar to other "craftmanship" (I'm not sure if this is the right english word for things like machanics, carpenters, plubmers and so on) like home improvement DIY, gardening or even cleaning the damn house. It's just very zen. Both because it tends to relatively less tasking on your executive functions, is physical and provides tangible results that you can see and "feel" relatively quickly. It may also be because programming is frankly a craftmanship for the most parts. There are a few projects where I'm doing Computer Science, but for the most part I'm a digital plumber.
- freetime2 2y ago
  I think I could enjoy it if I had more time to spend on it. It’s certainly satisfying when you’ve got everything clean and lubed and dialed in just right. But for me it always just feels like a chore - something I need to get done before tomorrow morning or else I have to listen to some dreadful sound for the entire ride.

Ringz 2y ago

I have a 1993 or 1994 Marin Indian Fire Trail mountain bike that I've been repairing over the past few weeks. I've replaced all the brake and shift cables, new tubes and tires, and performed the usual maintenance on the ball bearings, like cleaning and greasing them. The biggest issue was getting my Shimano XT derailleur, which is integrated with the brake levers, back in working order. Thankfully, I found YouTube videos that alleviated my fear of completely disassembling, cleaning, re-greasing, and reassembling the gear unit. It's a marvel of engineering that reminds me of a simple watch mechanism (a very simple one). Until I found the YouTube video, I thought I definitely had to buy a new derailleur. However, that would have led to many other new parts being needed, like new cogs, new brake levers, etc. Then perhaps other issues because the bike still has old cantilever brakes and so on. After reassembling the derailleur, the bike runs as well as it did on the first day: the gears click and clack so wonderfully that it's a pure joy to shift. Plus, there's the wonderful feeling of having restored a 40-year-old mountain bike to working order with the original parts. I also have an older road racing bike that is completely equipped with a Shimano 105 groupset. With it, maintenance and getting it running is child's play. The simplicity of a frame shifter makes everything much easier. Bikes are the best invention since sliced bread.

Helmut10001 2y ago

I still use my aluminum mountain bike from 1997. At 27 years now, it still drives like a new bike. I invest about 300 Eur every two years for repairs. Use it 10-20 km daily. No need for a car!

globular-toast 2y ago

The modern bicycle is the pinnacle of personal transport technology. It's yet to be surpassed. Unfortunately unbridled consumption of fossil fuels has made cars economical enough that you can't cycle anywhere any more. I heard people are getting into gravel biking now because the road is too unpleasant. I maintain a small but shrinking amount of hope that we might be able to get rid of cars. Sometimes I think it's getting better, but then I remember how much had already been ceded to them in just my lifetime. Maybe when I'm old it will be possible to cycle around safely and young people will know true freedom. Repairing bicycles is part of that freedom really. You don't a lot of space or super expensive tools. There's no toxic liquids to deal with. I rebuilt a bike from the frame up around 2006 without any help from YouTube. I realised later I did a lot of it wrong as I was essentially guessing, but I still rode it for many hundreds of miles.

tim333 2y ago
In London things have got quite a lot better of cycling over the last decade or so - more cycle routes and more car restrictions. So it can trend the other way. Also ebikes help.

jpgvm 2y ago

Wrenching on a motorcycle is similarly rewarding/zen. A little more complex than a bicycle and sometimes requiring some more specialist tools but otherwise pretty much the same thing. Especially older, carbureted motorcycles with minimal electronics. You can often work everything out and get them going like new again with just some elbow grease and replacing perishables like fluids, seals, gaskets, etc. Not to mention it's fun riding a bike that previously didn't even kick over before it came into your hands.

parasti 2y ago

Thanks, this was a good read. To me, this puts a finger on a fear of mine that probably many programmers have. How do you show someone else the thing that you've built, how do you show them the work that you do and the value that it creates? To an observer, say, your own child, you're just sitting in front of a screen. There's layers upon layers of cruft that you need to first learn to understand what your parent is doing there. A physical thing is easy - you can just show them that thing that you made.

thread_id 2y ago

For me personally, I cannot overstate the value I get from solving problems in the physical space and how that transends into my work as a software engineer. However, that being said I really enjoy the dynamic of software development that allows the ability to hack: start building without a clear plan, try, prototype, tear down, throw out, start again.

p3rls 2y ago
Ha that's why the trades have the motto: we do it nice, we do it twice :)

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

me2too 2y ago

Good read, thanks. I found myself in this article having started to repair an old bicycle and bringing it back to life. I always thought that manual labor is more satisfactory than mental labor because you can immediately see the outcome and the value produced. Being a computer engineer I feel the need to disconnect myself from what I call "the abstract world" and get in touch with something real. Something I can touch.

TacticalCoder 2y ago

How timely: my bicycle's rear tire is a goner. My brother changes it by himself but I only have the skill to take the wheel off and bring it to the shop! > and the greater the chance they’ll conclude they’re working in a bullshit job. OK but you guys all know how many software have been involved in the creation and shipping of that bicycle and all its material? It's software all the way. The 3D modelling, the logistics, all the payment processing making buying/shipping the materials, etc. I won't comment on taxes (on revenues for all the companies involved and on their employees too and on the sale etc.) and all the software that implicates and all the bureaucracy that it allows to thrive because, to me, that is the real bullshit that should be decimated (not reduced to zero but decimated). But anyway many things we enjoy and take for granted exists thanks to and because of software. Put it this way: even if they're similar in that they both have two wheels, I'm not trading an early 20th century for my Specialized (californian company btw even though I'm in the EU) full carbon S-Works (S-Works is the top end from Specialized) bicycle. Thank you very much, software devs, for having made the creation of that wonderful bicycle possible.

theoleksii 2y ago

I can totally relate to that! But in my case it's airplane ownership and maintenance. One day I'm staring at my IDE, and find myself thinking about how I'm going to fix that nasty fuel smell in the cockpit. And when it's all done after a day on the apron—that's the high point! And small airplane maintenance isn't that complex actually. Modern cars are way more complex.

erie 2y ago

When you balance your ride in the back seat of a bicycle driven by a tiny teenager half your weight, it means you truly know how a bicycle goes. I think the Danes are the top cyclists nation, I remember when I offered the principal of orphan school girls, to make an international call from my house instead of waiting for hours at the post office of my town in Syria back in the 70's, she encouraged me to ride my bicycle and not to worry about her riding behind me, I was scared from the imbalance but there was none, the looks and whistle of some people were a many though. The sight of 15 year old me pedaling while a big blond woman sitting behind me was amazing.

agumonkey 2y ago

Since I tried to learn bike mechanics, my bike is now operating worse :) I need some full tutorials.

TomMasz 2y ago

I'm not a mechanic by any means but I can change tires and lube the chain, the two most common tasks. But modern derailleurs and disc brakes I'm happy to have a pro work on.

scott_w 2y ago

Just a small thing about bikes being “harder” to maintain than they used to be. I really think they’re not! I tried to take the back wheel off a friend’s old mountain bike and realised it’s waaaay more complicated to take apart than a modern QR skewer or thru-axle. The only real fiddly bit is if you bought internal cable routing but that’s only really on mid-to-upper tier bikes. Even then, a modern frame is easier to route than a 10-year-old frame (speaking from experience!) Don’t be deterred from learning it for yourself!