Age and technical ability.

[screenman]

I was brought up in the sixties I am now 56, in those days we stripped and fettled bikes from I suppose 10 years old, I can certainly remember building a tandem when I was 11.

So my point is are the younger one's missing something or is it not age related, we seem to have a lot of people asking very simple or to me it seems questions that I would have known the answer too from a very early age. Have these people been bought up in a world where they did not get grease under their nails, or was it due to my very working class background that I had to learn or go without.

I hope this post does not cause upset, it is certainly not meant to, I am sure, no certain that many of those lacking basic mechanical skills have others that I do not possess.

Please discuss.

 

[Gareth]

I agree with you. I've just hit 50 and what I did with bikes as a kid sometimes beggers belief. My son is now 25 years and was bought up around his old man constantly tinkering with bicycles (vintage cars, lawnmowers, tractors, and loads of other stuff), and to his detriment I did all the repairs and maintenance so that even now he can barely fix a puncture let alone service his own bicycle.

I sometimes volunteer at a local bicycle recycling project aimed at getting people on bikes with no cost using a multitude various parts from scrapped bikes to build one up, and soon as there is any kind of real effort required or difficulty in assembling their bicycle they disappear until the volunteers have got it finished. Alas, the project leaders allow this situation to arise and continue so that the recipient (God forbid) is not offended in anyway.

 

[youngoldbloke]

I suspect Meccano had a lot to do with it ........

 

[al78]

I was brought up in the sixties I am now 56, in those days we stripped and fettled bikes from I suppose 10 years old, I can certainly remember building a tandem when I was 11.

So my point is are the younger one's missing something or is it not age related, we seem to have a lot of people asking very simple or to me it seems questions that I would have known the answer too from a very early age. Have these people been bought up in a world where they did not get grease under their nails, or was it due to my very working class background that I had to learn or go without.

I hope this post does not cause upset, it is certainly not meant to, I am sure, no certain that many of those lacking basic mechanical skills have others that I do not possess.

Please discuss.

I'm not sure it is really a generational thing. I've come across cyclists in their 50's who can't fix a puncture or change brake blocks. I've only fairly recently learnt how to do things like change cables, replace a bottom bracket and build and true a wheel. I guess we all have to start somewhere, just that some start earlier than others. It also depends on how interested a person is in machines and repairs/maintenance, some might prefer to take their bike to the bike shop and spend a couple of hours with their family instead.

I don't know what bikes were like in the 60's but it seems that these days if you want to get to the stage of being able to strip and rebuild a bike you need quite a lot of specialist tools if you don't want to risk wrecking things and those tools can be a substantial investment in themselves. Then there is the vast array of different components, which you have to work out whether they are compatible or not with whatever you have on your bike. I went to buy a pair of jockey wheels last week and had to take the rear derailleur into the shop as there are so many different sizes it is impossible to deduce which are the right size even using the manufacturers name. I can understand people thinking it is all too much hassle.

 

[tyred]

I'm 33 and will tackle virtually anything myself. I used to wonder about the type of people who would call an electrician to change a light bulb, but I've grown to realise that not everyone shares my passion for understanding how things work or the fact that I would rather be in the garage fettling something than sitting in front of Eastenders.

 

[compo]

I blame credit cards. To hell with the expense, bung it into the LBS.

I agree with Screenman. I could strip and rebuild a SA 3 speed before I was a teen. Bottom brackets I could do with my eyes shut. Many people now don't even know how to even adjust a three speed never mind strip one.

I disagree you need to spend a fortune on tools to maintain modern bikes. I can strip my bike to it's component parts and I only have three special tools plus two I made myself. The whole lot didn't cost more than £20. I have a workstand, but that's a luxury not a necessity. I do agree one of the biggest problems is sorting out compatibility issues if not replacing like with like.

 

[numbnuts]

you are missing one thing, the money was not around years ago like it is today, then it was "make do or mend"

 

[gary in derby]

you are missing one thing, the money was not around years ago like it is today, then it was "make do or mend"

think we have gone full circle? no money about today either. I am also of the opinion that if you have to fix it yourself you are more likely to look after it more. so maybe these days of austerity could after all have a silver lining.

 

[sidevalve]

I could not agree more with the OP. As a kid we fixed our bikes 'cos we had to, couldn't just "drop it into the LBS" [couldn't afford it]. As for "a vast array of different components" we aint going back to the days of the penny farthing here, there were single speed,three speed, five speed [hub and derailler] and ten speed gear set ups. The exotic foreign bikes were there two [for those with cash]. Some of the questions people have to ask on this forum are amazing, nothing wrong with asking of course, the point is years ago EVERYONE had had or used a bike. You could ask yer dad, yer uncle even yer mum. Sadly I feel there is a generation [with a few fine exeptions I'm sure] growing up who've never had to "fix it" and the skill base is being lost.

 

[fossyant]

It depends. My dad is from a mechanical background, so despite me being a desk jockey, I was always tinkering with my bikes from a small child. I had a very good road bike from 16. Certainly didn't have much spare cash of my own, so yes I did tend to look after my purchases. I am more inclined to repair stuff than chuck away.

My 11 year old son is very much wanting to learn how to sort his bike out. He can change and repair a puncture on his own. The only bit he got stuck on recently was the fact he's picked the standard patches up - "dad these don't stick", me "Ah you need glue with those", him "What ?".

We have friends of a similar age to us and neither can do anything practical, even decorating, never mind fixing a puncture (bike ends up at our house).

 

[fossyant]

Oh and one thing I found out recently, my dad had a fixie when yonger, no brakes and used to skid stop it everywhere. So now't new, he was doing it 50 years ago

 

[gavroche]

I think a lot of today's generation ( not all of them mind you) have a very laid back attitude and expect things to be done for them as they can't be bothered. They much prefer the "easy way out " by letting someone else get their hands dirty ( musn't get those £100 trainers be dirty).
I don't really believe it is their fault as such as we, as a society, have let them become complacent by making their lives so easy by constantly providing with all they require. Looking around me, very few teenagers these days can cook, wash dishes, tidy their rooms and so on , but they are very good on computers, mobile phones, know all the latest pop singers and so called stars.

 

[Night Train]

When I was a kid I was building bikes, building wheels and repairing hub gears to keep my bikes on the road. A part of it was money and a part of it was was having the type of education that allows kids to get their hands dirty doing practical things. Also stuff was simpler in those days.

Likewise I grew up servicing and fixing my own cars and then building 4x4 and 6x6 competition trucks for fun and now I am building an electric car and have just built an electric tractor, both from scratch using scrap.

I rebuilt a broken KMX when I wanted, but couldn't afford, a recumbent trike, did likewise with a worn out Brompton and still have plans for a scratch built recumbent trike when the parts present themselves.

Education seemed to go through a period of pure academic and theoretical study that suited the academic but not the practical learners. I think a lot of younger people may have lost out on the chance to build on their non academic strengths and to get the chance to learn about hands on practical work from the start and develop a good foundation for understanding how things work.

I was never taught to build bikes, nor wheels, but I was taught to have an inquiring mind and the ability to understand what I saw and then to get on with it.

 

[TheJDog]

The only thing I ever asked my bike shop to do as a kid was install a new set of forks that needed quite a bit of cutting down to fit. I probably should have been able to do myself.

Last year I threw my hybrid into Cycle Surgery to get a new BB because I didn't have the tools. A few phone calls and £170 later it had a new bb, chain, cassette, and cabling, which seemed fairly extortionate at the time. I feel stupid thinking about it. Especially because I don't think they did all that great a job. Though my last car service makes me feel even more stupid and angry.

 

[Crackle]

I never understand these threads except as a vague series of reminisces about how it was all better in my day and how the youth of today just don't get it.

In fact they do get it and a lot more that our generation don't get and what they all have in common is an ability to take in and learn. Changing a tyre, building a wheel, they could do that if they tried, most of them are too busy hacking ipods, modding xboxes/nerf guns etc...

Face it. You lot have had your day, time to turn over to a new generation you helped bring up.