Lack of Curiosity

[gaijintendo]

I keep thinking about this, but my colleague loves cycling, but never seems to stop to consider the issues he has.

He snapped a pedal off and tried to ignore it, riding a stub. I replaced it, and the other is gone now.


Two bearings escaped this torment

His brakes were completely ineffectual. WHY DIDN'T HE CONSIDER THIS IMPORTANT?

I bought him a chain to replace at the right time, and it sat in his drawer until it was a pointless gesture.

He overthinks everything. Movies, relationships, emails. How are these things, related to something he loves, and his own safety ....*Breathes*... completely ignorable?

Is this common? You see it every day, yeah?

Uff.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

Total lack of mechanical understanding?

This isn't mine. I was asked to fix something else on the bike!

 

[DCLane]

Simple: you're doing it for him. It's just a tool for him at the moment and the bike he's using needs to be personal to him.

At some point, usually painful, he'll learn. Then he can ask ...

 

[migrantwing]

Over the last few years, I have slowly weaned myself off of trying to help people as much. It's a difficult thing to do if you are that way inclined, but I have found that most people a) don't appreciate it and b) carry on doing stupid/annoying/carefree things anyway. If they don't 'get it', just leave them be, else it will drive you crazy. Some people just don't have a capacity for certain things.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Sometimes it's because people feel stupid or inadequate for not 'understanding' or having the confidence to try, or fear of making a mistake, the last one being is the main thing a lot of people learn in school

So they ignore the problem, because getting it fixed just makes them feel worse.

My approach with my own kids is often to say "That's pretty simple to sort out, and it's pretty hard to get it wrong. I can show you how if you want" And then let them do the work, make mistakes and helping them sort them out -obviously before they use the bike or thread a pedal backwards.

I've done this for several years with Elder Son and he's now an apprentice bike mechanic with a great trainer, learning welding and all kinds of cool stuff. Only problem is that he now tells me what to do.

 

[Cycleops]

I bought my brother in law a rather nice BSA West Coast recently and he was very pleased with it. He cane round on it the other day saying there was a clanking noise. The rear carrier has vibrated off its fixing bolts bar one when I looked.
Some people just don't have the inclination to sort or even look to solve any problems.

I posted this recently, at least the guy attempted a remedy:

 

[rogerzilla]

The lowlifes that ride MTBs around the pedestrianised town centre never seem to have the brakes connected. One probable factor is that you can buy a BSO for next to nothing but having it serviced would cost twice that.

 

[midlife]

Reminded me of this Larson cartoon..

 

[gbb]

Mechanical sympathy, interest, understanding....some folk are simply either not that way inclined or simply not interested, as simple as that. Just as I couldn't care less about the nuts and bolts of computer software, understanding it, trying to figure why the heck it won't work (Just an example)
In a similar vein to Ops, a guy at my former workplace commuted every day by bike but glaringly never took any care of his bike, nothing. When I suggested even a bit of oil now and then would help and lengthen the life of expensive components, he replied...,
'Nah, not bothered mate, it's still cheaper to replace the chain and cassette etc once a year than paying bus fares'
And so he ran his bike, quite happily, into the ground.

 

[palinurus]

'Nah, not bothered mate, it's still cheaper to replace the chain and cassette etc once a year than paying bus fares'
And so he ran his bike, quite happily, into the ground.

That's not unreasonable, despite having the mechanical skills to build up a bike (but lacking the space to work on it at the time) I had a similar approach to my everyday bike (until the early 2000s I only ran one bike). I'd ride it- mostly to work- until the transmission was pretty well worn then hand it to the shop to sort out. Usually I'd have all cables replaced, chain & cassette and ask them to do a judgement call on the chainrings. Back then it was about £1000/ year to go to work on public transport, less than £200 for a comprehensive rebuild at the LBS after a nice filthy winter (I'd clean it before I took it in, I'm not a psychopath)

I work on my bikes more often these days, that's partly because the LBS closed and the next nearest is 15 minutes ride away rather then a short walk and partly because I got into the habit of tweaking more often during the few years while I raced. Back to only commuting now.

 

[palinurus]

Many years ago I had a colleague with a longer commute than me- about 15 miles- who had an unusual approach to maintenance. He worked in the engineering department in the days when we had a lot of manufacturing equipment on site (all now moved elsewhere). Proper dirty engineering, lots of grease. And grease seemed to be what he used on his transmission, quite liberally, the way you might lubricate a traction engine.

Looked awful but seemed to work well-enough. He also eschewed handlebar grips, instead wearing padded builders gloves all year round.

 

[fossyant]

You just have to accept some folk are good in some things and not others. My mum and dad were/are practical, but it only really passed onto me, and a little to my youngest sister (she married a joiner/site manager). My bro is a dentist, and despite being very good with little tiny drills, isn't with a big drill. His wife is more practical. My slightly younger sister, and her husband are useless for anything DIY - it's usually ask my dad to decorate (in his 70's) or get the brother in-law in (aka the joiner). They don't ask me as I'm busy with 'kids' and other crap.

I can fix my car, sort the boiler, do DIY, fix bikes to professional standards. Thats just me, I hate paying good money out for something I can do. That said, it's become much more difficult since breaking my back, so things like renovating the bathroom can't be done now - I was lucky I'd just finished it before breaking my back. Some of my gardening jobs I can't do, but anything not too heavy, I still do.

Bikes are really simple machines. even the full suspension, hydraulic braked stuff with dropper posts and new fangled stuff. It's not complicated to service those parts. I'd never bled a bike brake (done cars) but it was dead simple following the instructions. Servicing a dropper post, again, follow the instructions, check and double check.

 

[ianbarton]

Over the last few years, I have slowly weaned myself off of trying to help people as much. It's a difficult thing to do if you are that way inclined, but I have found that most people a) don't appreciate it and b) carry on doing stupid/annoying/carefree things anyway. If they don't 'get it', just leave them be, else it will drive you crazy. Some people just don't have a capacity for certain things.

I used to enjoy helping people, usually, IT/Computer related things. However, I got fed up of people who won't make any effort to try and solve their own problem and expect you to drop everything at 9:00pm on a weekend to help them.

Nowadays I either say "I only use Linux and don't understand Windows", or if it's an Apple product "It just works, so it doesn't need fixing".

 

[Old jon]

Reminded me of this Larson cartoon..

View attachment 433831

Portuguese label on door, mayhap?

 

[C R]

Portuguese label on door, mayhap?

. The meaning of puxar caught me out, and I speak Galician which is really close to Portuguese, but the same word means the opposite!