27 replies to this topic

[cbstdscott]

Over the weekend I rebuilt an old bicycle for my son to take to college. I replaced the tires and inner tubes, tuned up the derailers and trued the wheels.

I have not worked on a bicycle in maybe 40 years, but all the moves came right back to me. It was like... riding a bicycle. Once you learn how, you never forget.

It occurred to to me that my very first projects with a wrench in my hand were devoted to fixing/improving my bicycles as kid. I had BMX bikes back before the term was coined (we called them Stingrays, even if they were not made by Schwinn) and eventually graduated to 10 speeds. I put a lot of miles on my bikes but nearly never touched another bike once I got my driver's license.

I wonder how many people on this board started by messing with bicycles or maybe minibikes/trail bikes? Or do young people today even know what a bicycle is?

Scott

[bobdragster]

I was cought somewhere... all over the place.

Started with Lego's, but that's not really mechanical.
I kind of tinkered with bikes, but only when a tire went flat, or the chain fell off. I did ride bikes a lot up until I was about 12 when I movved away from the neighborhood I grew up in. Since then it was taking apart and messing with computers, took apart my xbox a few times, and now my car and still computers.

Edited by bobdragster, 17 September 2007 - 08:32 PM.

[badpenny]

I took apart stuff in the garage, before I even rode a bicycle. Toasters, blenders, drills (yeah, my dad loved me for that), radial arm saw thought to be broken (parents, don't go lying to your kid, they just might turn on that radial arm saw and give Grams a reason to wet herself), attic fan and lawn mowers ( back then these were cool, $3 at the junkyard and 15 cents to fix)

[Omega Mugen]

My first bike was a Huffy. Back in the early '80s the movie ET made BMX trendy again. My second was a hodgepodge of parts BMX bike--Mongoose frame, Redline fork, CW bars, Tuff Neck, Aero seat (can't remember who made those), Suntour rims--whatever my older brother would give/sell to me. I assembled it myself, most of it anyway. I got stuck, and mom helped me take it to the bike shop to get finished. I then got into skateboarding and didn't really ride it much after that.

[dkyk25]

my first was the clock radio. one that the numbers flip like a rolodex.

[cbstdscott]

I then got into skateboarding and didn't really ride it much after that.

Ah, skateboarding. I am so old... how old are you Scott? I am so old that I am of the very first generation of skateboarders. We started by nailing shoe skates to a 2x4 and nailing an orange crate to that to make a scooter. Eventually the orange crate fell off and we were left with a pair of skates nailed to a 2x4 which we used to ride. That evolved into a skateboard with steel wheels. The great jump in technology was the move to ceramic wheels from professional skates on our skate boards. The polyuerathane wheels came along much later and completely revolutionized skateboarding. But back in the day, ceramic wheels was the real revolution in skateboarding.

Did you ever see the movie "Lords of Dogtown?" Those kids were punks who riped off the stuff my crew was doing years before them. They even stole the name "Dogtown." The real dogtown is in downtown LA near the the central dog pound. Those poseurs from Venice who called themselves Dogtown were trying to be "tough" like the real OG's from the barrio.

Scott

[D Jaws II]

Ah, skateboarding. I am so old... how old are you Scott? I am so old that I am of the very first generation of skateboarders. We started by nailing shoe skates to a 2x4 and nailing an orange crate to that to make a scooter. Eventually the orange crate fell off and we were left with a pair of skates nailed to a 2x4 which we used to ride. That evolved into a skateboard with steel wheels. The great jump in technology was the move to ceramic wheels from professional skates on our skate boards. The polyuerathane wheels came along much later and completely revolutionized skateboarding. But back in the day, ceramic wheels was the real revolution in skateboarding.

Scott

Those skates, by the way, had two clips on front which you slid your sneakers (now called "Tennis Shoes" Hell I don't play tennis) into, rather you kinda wedged them in the front, with a leather strap and buckle on the back which went over the top and around your ankle. Metal skates were at best rickety and the bearings were chit. Yea, we nailed them to anything longer than two feet. Also made go karts, or gravity carts. Didn't go very fast unless you were fortunate to have a very steep hill (yeah right, steep hill in Oklahoma or Kansas, ain't gonna happen) We used the wheels off of the old Red Wagon ,put a bolt or nailed a 2 X 4 across the front and it moved with either your feet or a piece of rope, with another nailed in the rear, using rough in nails we nailed the axle to the bottom of the wood fore and aft. Problem was, if you were steering with rope, your legs had no where to brace them and they would follow the centrifical force of turning. Hard to stay on em that was for sure. Lso stole a couple of baby carriages from neighborhood girls, used them for wheels too. But, one very sharp turn and they would fold like a......well, let's just say they folded.

Most fun was taking an hood off a old car tying a chain to the "U" shaped latch, and putting it on the back of a tractor getting towed through the fields at what we thought at the time was breakneck speed. What a hoot, at the time.

First mechanical thing I messed with were my rifle and shotgun. Still do. Back then we hunted alot and it wasn't necessarily for fun. Oh, those were the days. Just about every weapon I have ever owned, was dismantled many times and I still do the same routine to this day.

Cheers,


Donnie

[cbstdscott]

First mechanical thing I messed with were my rifle and shotgun. Still do. Back then we hunted alot and it wasn't necessarily for fun. Oh, those were the days. Just about every weapon I have ever owned, was dismantled many times and I still do the same routine to this day.

Even though I am a tree hugging, Hippie, Pinko Bastard I have always had a soft spot in my heart (and head) for weapons. And any weapon you own should be regularly dismantled, cleaned and re-assembled.

Scott

[Screech]

My toys got the tools taken to them first, 1G transforms and GI Joes got fixed when they would start to wear out or brake a rubber band, or I just felt like mismatching them. Next thing I remember taking my tools to was my mom's Old's wagon. For being in 3rd grade I did a good job of taking it apart and even figured out how to get the bumper jack to lift the ass of the car, did know know to get it to go down or that I should have set the parking brake. But I got bored and ran off to play with jazz-streaker-prime (one of the mutant Transformers). Next was electronic and electrical stuff and computers. Now they all have come together in my project car. It a car that is a toy, has alot of electronics and is a mutant of 3 or more cars put together.

[Sgt. Pepper]

Yup, I learned quickly that loose front axle nuts can spell disaster. Now I have a scar on my chin to remind me of that.

New philosophy: "Tighten it until it snaps, then back it off a quarter turn".

[Omega Mugen]

Did you ever see the movie "Lords of Dogtown?"

I rode a bowl with Shogo Kubo one time--cool dude. He still skates, and he drives a Honda too!

[cbstdscott]

I rode a bowl with Shogo Kubo one time--cool dude. He still skates.

My kids are now friendly with the kids of one of those Dogtown guys. I am thinking of dusting off my old Hobbie skateboard and challenging the Dad to some a little display. I think I can still do a 360.

Scott

[JeepGirl]

My first mechanical experience was when I was just a 6yo girl, hanging outside with my dad while he was working on his 1G Civic/5.0L swap.

See, my mother was a really abusive drunk, so my dad and I hung out together lots.

I was his gopher.

He was in the middle of doing his 5.0L smallblock swap in this little tiny car. It only took him 8 months from start (tear down) to finish (letting the clear dry)

I learned how fire worked.
I learned about tools.
I learned how engines work.
I learned how to swear..
I learned how to enjoy face melting speed when it was finished. "The thing passes everything but a gas station" - Quoting My Dad
I learned about pride in ones own work.
I learned how to take care of myself, to be self sufficient.


Then he taught me about motorcycles.... Then quads and skidoo's, then some basic welding.

Then he taught me about leaving, getting out while you still can.. when he finally left my mother.. I was 12. A year later, November 5, a day after my 13th birthday I left home too.

All that stuff I learned as a young girl saved me untold thousands of dollars in repair bills over the years, as well as giving me a sense of pride when I'm driving my car down the road knowing that the performance clutch is there because I put it there, or feeling secure in my own understanding of vehicles, enough that I can usually fix something on my own or when I do have to take it to a shop I know exactly what I want and it pisses off the mechanics to no end.. because they can't rip me off.


I'm somewhat empowered thanks to my Dad teaching me early about mechanics.

Edited by JeepGirl, 18 September 2007 - 10:38 AM.

[RARECRX]

My first go was a OLD Cadillac pedal car, I stripped it down and BRUSH painted it with my moms CERAMIC hobby paint HAHAHAH. It did not turn out well.(6 years old)

Then would be my bikes. I had a mongoose in the early 80's when they were EXPENSIVE AND COOL, now you can buy them at Walmart.

[JU5TIN]

I remember being a young child in the heart of Alhambra, there was a street named Baystate, between Chapel and heck i don't even remember, but it was a huge dip from one intersection to the other, and we did as many of you said, put wheels on boards and rode them down the hill. we dug little plastic cars out of the trash and took the liberty of putting "grip" on the wheels by covering them with duct tape, and oiling the wheels then seeing how fast we could do a u turn with out flipping. fun but sometimes it hurt.

a few years later my family moved to a house about 5 miles to the east and i "inherited" a go cart that had seized because some know it all ran it with out oil, i was about twelve when i took apart that motor and replaced the valves, crank shaft, and the piston. it ran smoothly after that and we rode it around the neighborhood often, and when it was time for me to buy a car i sold it and bought a better go cart, the current CRX

we all learned a lot and put this knowledge to fixing and tinkering with our cars, i know for me, "fixing" those trash cars to go down hill and "tuning" them, with a simple oil of the wheels and tape for grip, has let me to believe that it is the small improvements, as we call them, may not help our cars go faster but teaches us to understand why things are made to be a certain way.

Justin

Edited by JU5TIN, 18 September 2007 - 11:49 AM.