A good diagnostician may be helped by a poor work ethic.
The other day, a mechanic with an excellent work ethic missed critical factors when diagnosing a front shifting problem.
Did I mention he has an excellent work ethic? Both techs on duty that day hate to be idle. They want to move work through the shop on a conveyor belt, and they don't want to sit and muse.
Unfortunately, time and money get wasted by this seemingly productive style when overlooked details render the whole repair useless.
I love to ponder. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know everything. I'm happy to let the modern wonders of bike componentry sicken and die in massive numbers until they evolve into something truly sustainable. I hate hydraulics. Full suspension mountain bikes strike me as an expensive and complex way to spoil what was once a pleasant, challenging hike. So at times I have to force myself to care.
I may rapidly conclude that what really ails a bike was built into it at the factory. But against that limitation I will still try to get it working as well as it can.
All this involves a lot of sitting and staring, coffee-drinking and doodling, or rummaging around among the nuts and bolts. It requires looking at the bike from many angles. Did I mention coffee drinking? I will flip through back issues of the Quality Bicycle Products catalog to trace the lineage of drive train parts. At some point I can find where one branch split from another, to see if they can be grafted back together. I have to correlate all kinds of dimensions, availability and prices.
It doesn't look like work. But we're not just shoveling sand here. I think a lot of engineers in the bike industry can go pound sand, but that's another matter entirely.
At day's end I hop on the fixed gear or one of two road bike variants with friction shifting and ride peacefully home. People have to discover true value and happiness for themselves.
The other day, a mechanic with an excellent work ethic missed critical factors when diagnosing a front shifting problem.
Did I mention he has an excellent work ethic? Both techs on duty that day hate to be idle. They want to move work through the shop on a conveyor belt, and they don't want to sit and muse.
Unfortunately, time and money get wasted by this seemingly productive style when overlooked details render the whole repair useless.
I love to ponder. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know everything. I'm happy to let the modern wonders of bike componentry sicken and die in massive numbers until they evolve into something truly sustainable. I hate hydraulics. Full suspension mountain bikes strike me as an expensive and complex way to spoil what was once a pleasant, challenging hike. So at times I have to force myself to care.
I may rapidly conclude that what really ails a bike was built into it at the factory. But against that limitation I will still try to get it working as well as it can.
All this involves a lot of sitting and staring, coffee-drinking and doodling, or rummaging around among the nuts and bolts. It requires looking at the bike from many angles. Did I mention coffee drinking? I will flip through back issues of the Quality Bicycle Products catalog to trace the lineage of drive train parts. At some point I can find where one branch split from another, to see if they can be grafted back together. I have to correlate all kinds of dimensions, availability and prices.
It doesn't look like work. But we're not just shoveling sand here. I think a lot of engineers in the bike industry can go pound sand, but that's another matter entirely.
At day's end I hop on the fixed gear or one of two road bike variants with friction shifting and ride peacefully home. People have to discover true value and happiness for themselves.
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