Thanks son...thanks a bunch

[gbb]

Dont know whether to laugh, cry or be happy

Trek 7100FX, cost me £375 when they first came out i think. Never really got on with it, hardy ever used it (until this year funnily enough)
Last year my son borrowed it for a while to get to work....i let him VERY grudgingly, he always abused his bikes as a kid.

Well, nothings changed...within a couple of months it looked like a bomb had hit it...both wheels buckled, rear derailleur and hanger out of alignment, both brakes disconnected and cables frayed, seat completely muvvered and the rapidfire shifters scratched to buggery

[insert Homer Simpson voice] Why you little...[/insert Homer Simpson voice]

Sat in the shed for a year rotting...got fed up of seeing it there...got some cheap wheels, spent a few days sorting it, and ive quite enjoyed using it since.

I still let him borrow it...he's older and a bit wiser now...(cue maniacal laugh )

He phoned me up Saturday...
errr sorry dad, ive had an accident on your bike.
Whatcha done...
Crashed into a lamppost while he was looking behind him. Damage report as follows...
Bent the chainrings. New crankset required
Smacked one of the already scratched brake/shifters..broke off a piece of the cosmetic plastic.
Not sure about the BB...the whole things a bit 'clanky and grindy'

Mercifully light damage compared with the last time he buggered it.
I'm happy he didnt hurt himsef too much (lovely gravel rash on his backside where he came off though )
Gutted hes gone and done it again.
Laughing to myself..what a plonker

Sorry, back again...had some bids to sort on ebay.

Surely i'm not the ony one with destructive kids....any stories of destruction and dismay out there ???

 

[vbc]

There's a lot to be said for contraception.

 

[Twenty Inch]

I did that to my bike - once.

My dad took it off me for a month, and made me earn the repairs with extra chores around the house and the small-holding.

 

[stevenb]

Sounds nasty...poor bike
My Dad would have said 'serves you right' and should no sympathy

 

[gbb]

There's a lot to be said for contraception.

Ahh, you have met my son then...

To be fair...hes a good son in most other respects....just his mentality toward bikes leaves a little to be desired

 

[yenrod]

Ahh, you have met my son then...

To be fair...hes a good son in most other respects....just his mentality toward bikes leaves a little to be desired

He aint a trainnee petrol ed is he ?

 

[Dave5N]

It's difficult. I like bikes and look after them. To my son, they are just means to an end. Tools to be raced and replaced. I spend more time and money on his bikes than mine. And he's 8. Christ knows what the bill will be when he's 18.

 

[Keith Oates]

My son is fourteen and still doesn't repair or clean up bikes and the like. He also 'loses' mobiles with frequent monotony but this time I've not replaced the last one which went missing three months ago. I hope that when I do he will take more care, but I doubt it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[summerdays]

My daughter just got a new mobile today (her b'day), to replace the one she broke ages ago. She has previously broken them by dropping two, and having a water fight with one in her pocket. We did make her last for 6 months of the last phone not working properly.

She has been warned that she will pay for the next one.... WHEN she destroys this one.

 

[redfox]

You have my sympathy gbb! Similar thing with my kids, though persuading them to even ride their bikes is tough enough, as for putting them away when done with.

Not much about their apathy enrages me as much as the lack care for their bikes.

I think it stems from my own childhood when my folks didn't have the money for luxuries such as bikes, so I had to build my own from old frames reclaimed from the local scrap heap and parts bought peace meal from the LBS.

We lived in a crappy area and all the bikes I built were eventually stolen by local toe rags whose parents were similarly poor but seemed not to care where their offspring's latest acquisition came from. A heartache I still feel today if I think back.

However, the brief periods I got to use each bike meant a freedom to explore that I had all but forgotten about until my mid-life crisis return to bike touring.

Kids have it easy these days (or at least mine do!) The bike sits in the garage serving mainly as a means of not having to walk down to the local shops.

Oops, went off on one a bit there!

 

[domtyler]

Ultimately bikes are only pieces of metal and plastic, pretty worthless if you look at it like that. However, it might be an idea to get them to have a hand in paying up for the repairs and replacements, learn a bit of responsibility, actions --> consequences etc.

 

[Tetedelacourse]

How in God's name do you get from Hannibal Lecter to Igglepiggle?

My dog ate my stereo remote control once. other than that, I can't relate.

 

[domtyler]

How in God's name do you get from Hannibal Lecter to Igglepiggle?

My dog ate my stereo remote control once. other than that, I can't relate.

That's not Iggle Piggle, it's his evil twin Derek

 

[LordoftheTeapot]

With my oldest son it was a matter of the cycle(s) being stolen before he had a chance to reck 'em!

With my youngest son... His cycle was never repaired after a pu*c**re because he had no road scence and his balance was not much better.

 

[Saddle bum]

That's the thing about kids - you think, "All those millions of sperm and you had to make it first!!"

After wrecking his own bike, sonny wants to borrow mine. "What part of NO don't you understand". The Memsahib and me fell out over that, but there was SFA way he was going to take mine out and bend/lose/scratch or generally FUBAR it.