Your bike hides no secrets: A mechanic's desire to see well loved bikes

After turning the wrench on bike after bike you begin to notice patterns and anomalies in the sort of lives that bicycles live.  They start speaking to you in differing ways as you nurture them in the stand, attempting to fulfill the love they are so often crying to receive.  Its something that I imagine paralleling a therapist listening to story after story while attempting to navigate the tribulations, secrets, aspirations and difficulties of various patients.  Servicing  peoples bicycles is like having a door opened to the deeper realities of these little machines.  Its as if we mechanics have been granted an intimate tour that tells us of the love and attention or neglect and carelessness that said bikes have experienced.  From severe cases of reoccurring trauma and abuse to paranoia induced cleanliness indicative of overbearing love, we see it all as the bike hides nothing in its varying states.  To the mechanics eyes, ears and hands your bike bears no secret.

Riding on a flat tire to get back home is one of the quickest ways
to throw your wheels seriously out of whack.  Getting a ride or walking
will save you a headache down the road

Your bike wants to be loved

Numerous are the occasion that my soul has been crushed as bike after bike arrives in my stand to share with me their all to often harsh realities.  Skipping gears, bent derailleurs, broken spokes, bald tires, bent handlebars, indexed bottom brackets and headsets: you name it, these are the more obvious first signs that often foreshadow much deeper neglect.  From overambitious and "beyond the intended use" of the bicycle to blatant misuse, I see bikes in states that absolutely amaze me.  Often times I have pondered wide eyed with my peers as we contemplate and imagine the stories behind these bikes.

It seems that basic education, riding technique and simple bike care are often the missing aspects that underscore the varying states of countless bicycles that I and thousands of other mechanics have rehabilitated.  The lack of pre-ride once overs, post ride tlc, post crash inspection, fines in bike handling and the employment of gentle shifting techniques become glaringly obvious as we scan through the aftermath.  Even the best mechanics in the world (no I am not one of them) need your help with preventive maintenance and good riding technique if we are to help keep the gears going as you expect to see a return on the life expectancy of the beautiful bicycle(s) you worked so hard to acquire.

Cyclocross rider Katie Kompton finessing her way through the rough stuff
by letting her body weight off the saddle and her limbs act as suspension

Be gentle and you shall be rewarded

If there is one big drawback (there are many) that modern racing has on recreational and commuter cyclists (no i am not anti racing) its the deeply ingrained mentality that we often have to "mash" and "go hard" at mostly any cost when riding "seriously".  We feel the need to take big risks, push our bodies and gear to their absolute threshold and in turn write off any adverse side effects that incur to our gear as necessary casualties.  "Yeah man.. I totally broke my pedal while I was crushing down that rock garden" is the kind of stuff I hear regularly as some cyclists almost seem to boast about their suffering bikes.  Its as if getting gnarly is directly proportional to how much you can manage to fuck your bike up throughout a season.  Hearing things like "My drive train is totally blown.. I mean I put in so many miles this month on that new cassette" as said rider fails to recognize that shifting under 100% load on uphill pushes will make short use of any cassette/freewheel regardless of how well the shift ramps seem to function is not uncommon.  This is the mentality of a culture that is dominated not only by a hyper disposable/throwaway approach to cycling but by a gear smashing, getting rad at all cost attitude and is reverberated throughout the adverts and rhetoric of the racing world.  The bottom line is that regardless of whether you consider yourself a casual/recreational cyclist or a serious/sporty rider, there is so much that can be done to prevent us from wasting our way through unnecessary amounts of gear by being realistic, riding safely and understanding basic mechanics.

getting aero sometimes means getting air tho....right?

 

  Experiment, watch, listen, learn

As a developing and learning cyclists (and veteran cyclists too for that matter) there should be no shame in asking questions, watching tutorials, attempting to get your hands dirty with basic tune ups and watching experienced cyclists ride.  Learning starts as soon as we open up the doors to criticism, engaging in trial and error and become ready to try new things.  From riding techniques to mechanical advice, there are people out there in the cycling community who want to help you out in any way they can: Forums, local bike shops, group rides and bloggers/vloggers to name just a few.  There is a sea of resource out there to help you give your bike the love it needs in all the good ways you can.  Education is what firstly predicates the subjects discussed in this post and I hope the doors of curiosity and question asking will be the byproduct of my words here.  Please ask! Please help us mechanics take care of your bike as we want nothing more than to see it in a healthy state of being!