I miss fixing bikes, David! Message #13 Posted by Michael Meyer on 6 Aug 2003, 9:57 p.m., in response to message #12 by David Smith
That's sad. Gone the way of HP quality....
I spent three years at a shop in high school, then 4 years as a pro mechanic at a place called Turin Cyclery in Evanston, IL. Our shop was ranked the number 2 in the country, and I was one of the three "head mechanics." I once stripped a bike down to the bearings (no sealed ones then except a few popping up), repack, recable, and re-rubber,etc. in 60 minutes. I was the best. I lived with bicycle racers. Bikes got the good spots-- we sat on the floor.
There are few things I could ever say I was "the best" at. I'm proud of this. I could listen to the sounds of a bike bouncing on the floor and tell how it was adjusted...I was lucky to work at a store that even rebuilt the bikes that were sold as new.
Of course, it was now almost 25 years ago. As my wife would say, "yeah, yeah; nobody gives a sh*t..."
I actually tried to work at a shop during medical school in Kansas City, but few stores cared about quality. "We'll fix it if it comes back" was pretty much the rule.
I suspect finding a shop with quality as a priority is hard to do. And it does take some natural talent; we hired college students for the summer who knew what to do, good kids-- but never had the feel for how to tighten something to the point of, but not past metal fatique, etc. They did it by rote, not by the art. I might break a bolt now and then, not several a day...
I quess there's a strong connection to the restoration of calculators. Making something look and work the way it is "supposed to"... is a spiritual thing. "Zen and the art of calculator maintenance?"
That's why I like this group and this forum... there IS an appreciation of these values and quality calculators.
Michael
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