The importance of maintenance
- Thread starter levad
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
Sad. Those pavement cycling chavs you see, braking with their feet because their brakes are disconnected, they never seem to come to grief.
Interesting, she'd been told not to use the bike, but to have got that bad must have taken months. Why didn't the parents get it fixed for her, if she was so keen to cycle?
Interesting, she'd been told not to use the bike, but to have got that bad must have taken months. Why didn't the parents get it fixed for her, if she was so keen to cycle?
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
I've mentioned this type of thing to our local cub scouts......getting the kids to bring bikes in for a check, and a list sending home - if they would like them repaired then to bring back another week....
Crankarm
Guru
- Location
- Nr Cambridge
Can I just say it is important to keep your rims and brake blocks clean in this weather to ensure longevity, difficult I know, as the quickest way to wear them out is to allow a fine abrasive grey black paste of crud and salt to build up on them so when you actually brake it is like having a cutting agent on them. Also stopping distance is reduced and dirty rims and blocks make an awful noise.
Sheffield_Tiger
Guru
Hmm...reminds me of my first "proper bike"
It was a blue Raleigh Traveller - 3 speed gents bike with a "proper saddle and a cover for the chain" and bought not from a bike shop but from a 2nd hand shop for the princely sum of £30
My first foray into cycle maintenance was after the handlebars suddenly turned and the stem twisted in my hand, depositing me on the floor on a dual carriageway. The helpful "steptoe" character had raised the handlebars for me - an inch above the limit mark.
Shortly afterwards I learned how to set up SA gears so the 2nd gear wasn't "ride a bit then slip into neutral"
Next (within a couple of weeks) riding through town I suddenly heard an almighty scraping noise as I skidded along a busy City Centre road - the mudguard had become detached from the mounting and gone right around under my back wheel.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" - well, the bike didn't kill me but I started a saturday job as a cycle mechanic about 18 months later, having been thoroughly self-taught as a necessity. My mates used to laugh at me when we went off for rides - I'd have a little plastic cantilever tool box strapped to the rear rack - and I ALWAYS needed to open it at some point.
Its scary to think that bike of mine was sold to be ridden on a road by a 14 year old lad - at the time of buying neither my mum nor I had any idea what a death trap the bike was
It was a blue Raleigh Traveller - 3 speed gents bike with a "proper saddle and a cover for the chain" and bought not from a bike shop but from a 2nd hand shop for the princely sum of £30
My first foray into cycle maintenance was after the handlebars suddenly turned and the stem twisted in my hand, depositing me on the floor on a dual carriageway. The helpful "steptoe" character had raised the handlebars for me - an inch above the limit mark.
Shortly afterwards I learned how to set up SA gears so the 2nd gear wasn't "ride a bit then slip into neutral"
Next (within a couple of weeks) riding through town I suddenly heard an almighty scraping noise as I skidded along a busy City Centre road - the mudguard had become detached from the mounting and gone right around under my back wheel.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" - well, the bike didn't kill me but I started a saturday job as a cycle mechanic about 18 months later, having been thoroughly self-taught as a necessity. My mates used to laugh at me when we went off for rides - I'd have a little plastic cantilever tool box strapped to the rear rack - and I ALWAYS needed to open it at some point.
Its scary to think that bike of mine was sold to be ridden on a road by a 14 year old lad - at the time of buying neither my mum nor I had any idea what a death trap the bike was
BentMikey
Rider of Seolferwulf
- Location
- South London
...check both brakes at the start of every ride. Someone on here posted about heading down a massive hill with the brakes not working IIRC?
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
My niece's boyfriend is dropping his 'Green Beast' (as he calls it) round tomorrow for me to look at..... it's a proper home made/painted BSO and I'd said I'd look at the rear wheel (all spray painted)..... I said I'll see what can be done (after a shed load of beers)...doh.....
PS his brakes don't work and he made it 2 miles to my house the other night, and home.........
Hence why I think to do this at the cub scouts (PS I'm a parent helper)....
Even sorted a friends kids two bikes in summer - a few families met for lunch in a park, I just happened to be off (so tagged along with my wife)....friends son's brakes didn't work, and daughters forks were back to front....... my Crank Bros multi tool sorted them (TBH the blooming tool was probably more than the bikes....)...
PS his brakes don't work and he made it 2 miles to my house the other night, and home.........
Hence why I think to do this at the cub scouts (PS I'm a parent helper)....
Even sorted a friends kids two bikes in summer - a few families met for lunch in a park, I just happened to be off (so tagged along with my wife)....friends son's brakes didn't work, and daughters forks were back to front....... my Crank Bros multi tool sorted them (TBH the blooming tool was probably more than the bikes....)...
Dreadful. But you see bikes in that condition all too often. A better example of why keeping your bike in good shape is important would be hard to imagine.
But there was one line there that makes me shiver. This one:
I wonder how close the lorry was passing to her. I've always been of the opinion that the correct passing distance is far enough such that you don't squash the cyclist falling off. Seems I'm in a small minority.
But there was one line there that makes me shiver. This one:
I wonder how close the lorry was passing to her. I've always been of the opinion that the correct passing distance is far enough such that you don't squash the cyclist falling off. Seems I'm in a small minority.
Crankarm
Guru
- Location
- Nr Cambridge
Seems a bit odd that the condition of the items described would throw her into the path of a van ................... even if the brakes didn't work and the wheels wobbled a bit that doesn't mean it would have caused her to fall into the path of a van..... Something doesn't add up here ......... such as the van being too close.......
.
.
summerdays
Cycling in the sun
- Location
- Bristol
Sadly many kids ride bikes with that level of maintenance - or lack of it. Last time I helped at a Bike Breakfast at school - my role was to quickly identify all the kids who needed to be jumped to the front of the queue to see the Dr Bike. Missing 1 or 2 brakes wasn't uncommon, or the occasional child whose wheel was held on with nothing more than a prayer.
That is tragic, it does amaze me what people put up with, I see bikes in the bike sheds that I know do some distance with knackered typres, gunked up or dry chains and various bits falling off.
When I was a kid I made a point of keeping mine roadworthy, I liked it running well, still do, a bit of effort in maintenance saves effort when riding it or effort pushing it.
I keep an eye on my kids bikes as they are utterly useless and will ride with the tyres flat, am trying to get it across and this really puts it into focus how important it really is.
When I was a kid I made a point of keeping mine roadworthy, I liked it running well, still do, a bit of effort in maintenance saves effort when riding it or effort pushing it.
I keep an eye on my kids bikes as they are utterly useless and will ride with the tyres flat, am trying to get it across and this really puts it into focus how important it really is.
BentMikey
Rider of Seolferwulf
- Location
- South London
It's amusing to listen to the bikes going past in Hyde Park - many have very noisy/dry/rusted chains!
Davidc
Guru
- Location
- Somerset UK
I saw Crankarm's question answered just before the snow came. It was a chav type, on a bike with both V brakes disconnected and sticking out sideways, turning right at a major junction when the right turn lights went green.
The back wheel flipped sideways and he came off, sideways the other side. My car brakes were in better condition than his bike ones so I didn't squash him. As he picked himself up I could see the back wheel just floating around, presumably with no bearings in it. I did open the window and quietly suggest he got his bike mended, for which I was told to f*** off.
If this girl's bike was similar she could have been thrown under a van whether on the road or the pavement. If on the road the van should allow her enough room, but if she was on the pavement she would lose any space she would otherwise have had.
It's terribly sad that the girl died and her family's lives are prermanently blighted all for the lack of £10 worth of parts and a few hours of repair time.
The back wheel flipped sideways and he came off, sideways the other side. My car brakes were in better condition than his bike ones so I didn't squash him. As he picked himself up I could see the back wheel just floating around, presumably with no bearings in it. I did open the window and quietly suggest he got his bike mended, for which I was told to f*** off.
If this girl's bike was similar she could have been thrown under a van whether on the road or the pavement. If on the road the van should allow her enough room, but if she was on the pavement she would lose any space she would otherwise have had.
It's terribly sad that the girl died and her family's lives are prermanently blighted all for the lack of £10 worth of parts and a few hours of repair time.
Similar threads
