RANT! GIVE ME A FREAKING BREAK HERE! RANT!

"Frank Grimes" (FrankGrimes)
05/14/2014 at 11:23 • Filed to: None

What kind of person rides a bike but does not know how to fix it? How hard is it to carry a patch kit and know how to use it? SO you beat angry birds or fallout or titanfall or some such crap why cant you learn to change a tire on your car or on your bike? What if the chain falls off you gonna call AAA?

Men who do this need to be shamed so fierce they actually make some changes.

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DISCUSSION (29)

Reigntastic > Frank Grimes
05/14/2014 at 11:25

DAE NOT GOOD WITH BASIC MACHINERY

For Sweden > Frank Grimes
05/14/2014 at 11:25

What kind of person rides a bike but does not know how to fix it?

Probably about the same number of people who drive their car but don't know how to fix it.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Frank Grimes
05/14/2014 at 11:27

I'm guilty of not carrying a puncture kit on my commute, I should probably address that...

Frank Grimes > For Sweden
05/14/2014 at 11:27

bikes are a bit easier.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Frank Grimes
05/14/2014 at 11:28

A LOT easier.

Squid > Reigntastic
05/14/2014 at 11:28

YOU SPELT MASHINURRY RONG!

thebigbossyboss > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
05/14/2014 at 11:29

Of course. An allen key will fix pretty much everything but the tires.

JGrabowMSt > Frank Grimes
05/14/2014 at 11:29

well, i dont carry a patch kit myself, so i just call for a ride home. Simplify, then add lightness of course.

that said, i recently added a saddle bag and will be adding a patch kit to it for the future.

thebigbossyboss > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
05/14/2014 at 11:29

I am too, but if I get a flat I know how to walk.

Nibbles > Frank Grimes
05/14/2014 at 11:30

Priorities, man. Priorities.

twochevrons > Frank Grimes
05/14/2014 at 11:31

I dunno, I can see some use for it. I hit a pothole and bent a wheel while out riding a while back. If I'd have known about that, it would have been nice to get a ride home rather than having to carry my bike for several miles.

I bet that's part of the appeal to AAA – it sounds like a great "going the extra mile" type service, but it actually entails very little work on their part.

Frank Grimes > thebigbossyboss
05/14/2014 at 11:32

THIS! I undestand how AAA is helpful with a car I actually have AAA but thats because I would rather be towed somewhere because I cant push my car. and I have never been stranded on a bike 300 miles from home on the side of a highway.

Squid > Frank Grimes
05/14/2014 at 11:35

If you ride long distance you should carry a patch kit with you. But if you are riding long distance you should probably have some idea of what you are doing before you set off to ride 30 miles. I ride my bike pretty much everywhere now that I live in a smaller town and it is easier to ride a bike around town than drive.

Weird shit can happen when riding but people don't really have any common sense when it comes to anything mechanical. There are plenty nice bikes out there waiting to be ridden but will sit forgotten about because they popped an innertube or never lubed the chain so it is now super squeaky.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > thebigbossyboss
05/14/2014 at 11:38

I did that once, but on a heavy steel cheapo supermarket bike. I couldn't carry it so i rolled it home on the rim. That wheel was never straight again...

Jeff-God-of-Biscuits > Frank Grimes
05/14/2014 at 11:56

A friend and I were biking down the C & O Canal towpath once, and were probably about 25 miles out from start. I have no idea what he drove over, and we couldn't find it, whatever it was put 27 holes in his tire! We used my patch kit, his patch kit, ran out of patches, then gave up trying to fix it and counted the holes. We got lucky and bought a tube off of a passerby with a spare. Of course, portable phones then still needed the briefcase thingie at the time so it might not have been as helpful then either

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Jeff-God-of-Biscuits
05/14/2014 at 11:59

27 holes? That's insane.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Reigntastic
05/14/2014 at 11:59

Crap.. Reddit is leaking.. RUN AWAY. :)

Jeff-God-of-Biscuits > BaconSandwich is tasty.
05/14/2014 at 12:06

It was, we saved the tube and double checked when we got home. On the trail, we had only found about 20.

BoulderZ > Frank Grimes
05/14/2014 at 12:14

I spent a couple of years as the Service Manager, head mechanic at a busy bike shop here in Boulder in the late 90s. I loved the job, but you could only barely make rent doing it. I was always surprised at the volume of flat repairs we did. Labor charge was $5, tubes were about $4 at the time. Gluing tubulars was $15, I think. Sometimes it was kind of understandable, e.g. someone just wants to go out on the group ride, would rather go get a coffee than screw with the mess of changing their rear tube, etc. Maybe it was worth the $5 to them that morning. But not carrying a spare and patch kit, or not knowing how to fix it yourself out on a ride, maybe 30+ miles from a town? That's kinda dumb, maybe dangerous. I guess I could see the coverage for real total failures, like one of those damn pins Shimano uses on their chains giving it up under a loaded downshift to the granny cog, and the derailleur getting in to the spokes, ripping off the dropout. That's a pretty rare thing to worry about covering though. I've been riding, racing, and commuting for 28 years and only ever catastrophically spoke-shifted once. Even then, you could use your chain tool to shorten things up and limp back with a singlespeed. Multitools are cheap, and it beats walking.

BoulderZ > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
05/14/2014 at 12:16

Ran out of tubes and patches on a trail ride once (bramble/thornbush run-in). Stuffed the tire full of grass and made it the 8 or so miles back to my truck at the trailhead. The sidewall of the tire was done, but the rim was still okay.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > BoulderZ
05/14/2014 at 12:32

Yeah I've heard that trick before, I was only a mile from home though so just walked it thinking it wouldn't be that bad. Wheel is trashed, got sick of fixing that heap anyway so bought a slightly nicer bike in the end.

BoulderZ > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
05/14/2014 at 12:36

Same, but my commute is three miles. I can just walk to house/office, whichever is closer. And trying to have a secure way to carry kits/tools, where you don't have to take them with you when locking up outside in a university town is challenging. I'm thinking about getting locking moto-trunk and bolting it to the rear rack for secure, weatherproof carrying capacity.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > BoulderZ
05/14/2014 at 12:41

Everything I carry has to go in a back pack, I commute to uni so I can't even leave my helmet locked to my bike safely. Not much room for tools and stuff. A trunk aint a bad idea.

colorfulyawn > Frank Grimes
05/14/2014 at 12:47

Knowing how to fix something and being able to fix something are two different things. I know how to fix my car, but I don't do it myself because I don't have anywhere near the patience required to work on mechanical things. I strip fasteners, get pissed off, and the process devolves into me making the problem worse and paying someone else to fix it anyway.

Every time my car breaks, I'm tempted to smash it into nothingness with a sledgehammer.

BoulderZ > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
05/14/2014 at 12:51

Too true. What pack are you using, and do you like it? If you got a new one, what would it be? I've been doing the shoulder-strap-briefcase-like thing, which is fine until I have to carry my craptastic 8 lb work laptop, or try to fit lunch in it (has to be flat food, or it will become flat). Looking for a better solution.

Spoon II > BoulderZ
05/14/2014 at 13:34

My friends and I went a step further, we had spare tubes in our backpacks, as during a period of time, our bikes were our only method of transportation.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > BoulderZ
05/14/2014 at 14:28

It's just a crappy off brand backpack I picked up a few years ago. Not sure what I'd use besides that I only use it to carry books and my locks, depends what you need to carry. I'm the kinda person who cheaps out on everything haha.

BoulderZ > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
05/14/2014 at 14:30

Nothing wrong with that! Cheap now = rich later. Only downside is some care must be taken that "later" doesn't turn in to "dead" or "too old to enjoy it". Good luck at uni!

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > BoulderZ
05/14/2014 at 14:32

Thanks man