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> How many of us go into a bike shop and ask them to change a flat?
I wouldn't mind asking the local bike shop to do the maintenance and repairs, but from my perspective, I generally can do a cleaner if not better job of it. In the culture where I live, young people have become extremely inept at using their hands for much other than manipulating their chopsticks and pushing the buttons on their cellular phones. Fixing a flat would be big mystery, and most kids never play out of doors anymore. Apply this to the manual trades here, which at one point were where the level of skills were about tops in the world, now words have crept into the vocabulary describing these same occupations as unpleasant, dirty, and severe, and they are considered jobs to be definitely avoided. That is fine, but I like to remind them that they were so damn good at it. There is some truth in what they say, but the concepts of achievement and pride have been left out of the summation. During the summers, I often used to see young boys and girls riding their full loaded tourers on their way to destinations in far away Hokaido, something of a right of passage for many youth entering adulthood, but not anymore. As Ann discusses in her excellent post, it has become a different mind set on matters of self reliance and adventure. Call it old fashioned, but I see it as a sad change, as well as a little dangerous.
Dennis Young have never shaved my legs in Hotaka, Japan
> Ya'all are both "right..."
>
> I read a lot of bike magazines to stay on top of what is new and cool and
> is sold to my customers. Since the only steel road bikes we carry in the
> store are women's Terrys and one lone modern Raleigh International, (and
> nothing is lugged) I have to be as enthusiastic and knowledgeable about
> plastic at work, as I am about steel at home : )
>
> The thing that impressed me the most after reading that 1970s pile of
> bicycle magazines I got ahold of, was the difference between the attitude
> of modern cyclists and the bike boom cyclist. Sure both modern and 1970s
> magazines have reviews on new bikes, books, reports on racing, stories of
> epic rides and cycling techniques. However, the 1970s magazines had a
> whole slant towards individuality and self reliance evidenced by the number
> of articles with do it yourself themes, cycling advocacy, self supported
> touring, little upgrades and tweaks and outright component mixing to make
> the bicycle perform better...
>
> When Peter Johnson spoke at Cirque he talked a lot about that time and the
> do it yourself spirit that led people like him to just make their own
> frames and modify components. It brought back memories of being 14 and
> learning how the high-low adjustment screws on my derailleur worked when I
> replaced it with a better quality model. My chain came off a few times in
> the process and it never occurred to me that my bicycle was devalued
> because it no longer was correct. It shifted a lot better under load though!
>
> The new bikes and new bike culture do not lend themselves to modifying and
> improving at all. I cannot remember the last article I saw in a cycling
> magazine with a topic on replacing an underspec'd brake part or drilling
> anything out. Lots of articles on how to ride faster and improve your
> fitness with heart rate monitors and product comparisons for home altitude
> tents and ads for *new cars.* I cannot believe the number of customers who
> come in the shop, totally unable to change a flat on their 2500.00 road
> machine - and with no interest in learning how to do so. They mostly just
> get unhappy that they cannot get us to do it instantly and stand around and
> sigh in their matching lycra, concerned that the hair might be growing out
> on their legs and reducing their aerodynamic advantage if they have to wait
> any longer.
>
> How many of us go into a bike shop and ask them to change a flat?
>
> Note the discussions here on finding "O" rings at the hardware store to
> replace the ones on those campy brake adjusters and all the little tricks
> discussed in getting an era bike to run low enough gears to be ridden by
> mortal humans.
>
> IMHO there is some room for interpretation in regards to what is period
> "correct" within the group, within the guidelines defined by the
> organizer. I feel confident in saying that we all do have an interest in
> cycling and bicycles that has more in common with the self sufficient
> enthusiasts of the past then the cyclists of current times. That is the
> thing that brings me the most pleasure in my association with the CR gang.
>
> Ann Phillips, Atlanta GA
> Who doubts the CR police will arrest me for not using the paint to match
> Silca pump that goes on the Monte, but the Co2 charger in the seat bag : )