Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Wrenching

Some people hate working on their bikes, some don't have the ability to do it, some don't have the time. Others like myself enjoy working on their rides. I will perform nearly every maintenance item on them with the exception of a few things like truing wheels or reuilding shocks & forks. Everything else is fair game to me.

I have always tinkered with mechanical things, I'm good with my hands and I like figuring out what makes things work and what makes them not work. When you ride as much as I do and you don't have a professional mechanic to work on your bikes then you learn to do it yourself. It also saves you a ton of money and down time waiting on a shop to do something simple. However, making a mistake can cost you as well... Usually, you only make that mistake once.

One of the beauties of doing my own work is that I know everything about the bikes, I know every sound, click and whirr. The bikes all have 'personalities', each is different. It also makes a big difference when something goes wrong on a ride... and if it can be fixed on the spot then I know how to fix it in the field... I don't like to walk, besides pushing your bike for 15 miles back to the truck is just plain no fun.

A while back 3 of us were starting on a ride and one of the bikes brakes wouldn't work. These are hydraulic disc brakes that normally work flawlessly. Between the 3 of us we improvised the tools, gadgets and fittings needed to extract brake fluid from my truck and get it into the bike brake cylinder. Long story short, we did a full brake bleed job in the parking lot and it only shorted our ride by about 15 minutes.

Wrenching is a 4 letter word to some, to me it's a necessary but fun aspect of being an avid rider.

Life is Short... Enjoy the Ride

1 comment:

Matt said...

self sufficiency: its becoming too rare!