<mark@re-cycles.ca>

And let's not forget
 that most dept. store bike assembly people are  
paid per bike.  I've heard some fun stories of bikes with cranks out  
of alignment with each other, forks in backward, and terrible cable  
routing (so bad the bike cannot shift or brake properly) but hey, the  
bike got "assembled" and so that person got paid and the sales staff 

can deal with the resulting issues...

Mark

On 30-May-08, at 4:18 PM, Sherief wrote:

> This sounds alright.  However saying wal-mart bikes are fine if  
> properly dis-and-reassembled effectively doesn't count.  Nobody  
> besides bike mechanics/enthusiasts/whatever knows that, so until  
> that information is readily accessible and the means to do so are  
> accessable to those would be riders, the point is unfortunately  
> moot and that person is riding a bike that is destroying itself.   
> This is I think the biggest issue, beyond the
 wild-eyed dream of  
> doing a competing commuter bike to the department store bike.  I  
> respect the labor of Chinese laborers to be sure, but that doesn't  
> mean that that 'honest' labor is similarly exploited by those  
> department stores just as they're effectively exploiting those  
> people who can't afford more on a new bike.  We coops/collectives  
> whatnot do recycling older bicycles best, and there's no doubt that  
> this is one of the silver bullets that can be shot out against  
> department store bikes.  But is there not more?  I'm not trying to  
> evangelize, I'm not trying to get people on bicycles per se, but  
> there are a lot of people out there who ride bikes but don't know  
> what they're riding and shouldn't be forced by what they don't
know  
> to be riding a P.O.S.
>
> I think that there's a fair distinction, though one that's often 

> blurred, between a criticism of the bikes and those who ride them.   
> The snobby, gear-head that dwells in the black part of all our  
> hearts might be doing the latter, but we need to find the former  
> aspect and find ways to discourage and do away with those awful  
> bikes so that the people who most need bikes, whether students,  
> invisible riders, or people who just can't afford gas anymore, can  
> ride without worry and not have to buy the obsolescence of their  
> bicycle as a hidden cost over the $150/200.  Until we hit that  
> magic solution, we should keep recycling, keep reaching out to the  
> communities we're in and involved with, and keep doing repairs on  
> whatever comes into the shop.
>
> -sherief
>
>
> On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 5:52 PM, james thompson  
> <jtexconsult@gmail.com> wrote:
> Low-End Bike Soap Box: 
 A Mechanic's Perspective
>
> Some credentials: I trained as an apprentice mechanic under the one
> (good) eye of a master craftsman named Peter Kerezman in Kingsville,
> TX from 1983-89.  I have managed two repair-oriented neighborhood
> stores for a total of about three years, and worked in several others.
>  My favorite bike shop tool is the electric grinder, second favorite,
> a head-tube "finisher" which makes pressed cups right and
headsets
> last.  Third favorite, the old blue Wheelsmith repair manual, with 2-
> and 3-speed hub breakdowns and lucid wheel-building instructions and
> theory.
>
> Yes, I own a two-thousand dollar road bike (with twelve-year-old
> Dura-Ace/Ultegra), and I'm biased towards repair stands vs. home
> repair when available.
>
> My opinion: Wal-mart bikes are just fine if they are properly dis- and
> re-assembled.  And I
 respect the Chinese sweat that went into them
> just like I do the well-paid welding or carbon-fiber work of an
> American craftsperson.  I respect even more the people who pedal them
> around town, and I always defer to their grace while spinning
> effortlessly up a hill on my sub-20 pounder.
>
> Shamefully, Wal-mart bikes are, or are strongly perceived to be, THE
> most affordable ready-to-ride geared bikes for the working poor, bar
> none.  What they need is our help selecting them and putting them
> together if they insist on buying one.
>
> Recommendation Uno:  no suspension, especially soft-tails.  It's heavy
> and it's cheap and it breaks.  People think it looks cool, convince
> them otherwise.  If you can't argue for the elegance and
> weight-savings of a full-hard, just ask someone the dessert island
> question:  would you rather be stuck with a cane pole
 or the latest
> tackle gadgetry?
>
> Numero Dos: Explain to folk that they should buy it in the box and
> take it to you and help put it together with love.  Wal-mart/Etc.
> don't pay their employees enough to grease your cables and all the
> metal-to-metal contacts, to properly torque the crankarm bolts, to
> tweak and (typically as needed) tighten the spokes and true the
> wheels, to remove the wheels and adjust the cones, or even to properly
> center the stem and inflate the tires.  We need some non-commercial
> version of the Pete Kerezman special (ca. 1985): bring us the box and
> we'll build it right for cheap.
>
> Some other things you can do if you are more ambitious:  unpack and
> regrease the bottom bracket.  The quality of grease is typically low
> from the factory.  I only recommend this for high-precipitation
> environments.  Also, you can
 usually trim the cable housing to a more
> reasonable length for better braking and derailleur performance.
>
> I think the bias here is largely from (ahem . . . commercial
> mechanic's soapbox) those who have assembled very few boxed bikes, or
> from those commercial mechanics who aspire to work in the rare PRO
> shop.  It is ironic that most older pro mechanics I know will cuss and
> steam, but then confess that low-end is fine if assemble d properly
> and suspension avoided.
>
> The point is don't be a Surly-Campy-Orbea gear-head, dance with the
> folk, and think of the worst bikes as One Less Car.
>
> Solidarity,
>
> James Thompson
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