Globalti
Legendary Member
A pal asked me if I would mind sorting out the gears on his mountain bike, which I don't as he's done me a couple of favours. He dropped it off and I was pretty shocked at the condition of the bike and the obvious neglect. I've sorted the loose headset, straightened the controls, bent the brake lever straight, pressurised the forks, pumped the tyres and given it a thorough clean and now I feel ready to test ride it and see what's wrong with the gears. Given the state of neglect I expect to find a sticky cable at the rear derailleur, which is sorted in five minutes.
It's depressing though when prople don't have the time, the ability or the inclination to keep on top of maintenance. Owning a mountain bike is a bit like owning a Land Rover which gets used properly, off road - you've got to keep on top of lubrication, cleaning and giving it a weekly coat of "looking over" to check for early signs of problems, which could turn costly. Road bikes need less of this but mine is still fettled, inspected and adjusted to within an inch of its life so that I can ride a long way from home reasonably confident that it won't let me down.
All cyclists could do with reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence, which is a philosophy book about quality in the context or running and maintaining an old motorcycle. Maybe I'll reproduce a few passages on here when I have time to type them out.
It's depressing though when prople don't have the time, the ability or the inclination to keep on top of maintenance. Owning a mountain bike is a bit like owning a Land Rover which gets used properly, off road - you've got to keep on top of lubrication, cleaning and giving it a weekly coat of "looking over" to check for early signs of problems, which could turn costly. Road bikes need less of this but mine is still fettled, inspected and adjusted to within an inch of its life so that I can ride a long way from home reasonably confident that it won't let me down.
All cyclists could do with reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence, which is a philosophy book about quality in the context or running and maintaining an old motorcycle. Maybe I'll reproduce a few passages on here when I have time to type them out.