Ken Pisichko said:My son has taken it upon himself to waste his time (in
the short term) but get an education - from myself and
from life.
He has decided to use his first MTB (a Christmas gift of a
few years ago) as a bike for jumping - because he states
that "bikes are for jumping". Lord, if he only knew what
you can actually use a bicycle for!
He has destroyed a wheel and his Shimano 7SIS rear
derailler. He tells me he doesn't know how to repair the
"busted stuff". AHAH! Time for the lesson because this
indicates some receptivity of tutelage ;-)
I told him he would do the repairs with my help, BUT
because he has a job refereeing basketball he can pay for
the parts. I will provide help and tools. He provides the
labour and thus gets the lesson.
The plot thickens. I will get a Park tensiometer
(spelling??) to use when building wheels - that way he and
I can both learn. I have the wheel building stand/dishing
"gizmo" already.
Rather than get a good but used "better quality"
Shimano, I figured I'd get a 7SIS replacement AND
surreptitiously get a better one and hide it until he
learns more. The better quality one would just get
wrecked like this one has.
Any ideas as to what to get for his 7 gear freewheel? He
has those stupid (IMHO) twist grips for gear selection. He
and his friends still think they are cool.
Advice please. Too bad that youth is wasted on the young,
and retirement on the old ;-)
Just my opinions but did this somehow become your
project, not his?
If you like home bike repair, I think that's just great. If
he really wants to learn this and do it with you , so much
the better.
Am I misreading your tone? Again, just my opinion, but I
would try to feel him out first to see how interested he is,
how much he wants to learn (versus how much he just wants
his bike to work), how interested he is in doing things with
you. It matters whether he's a bright and chipper eight year
old or a jaded world-weary fourteen year old.
Most any kid would be bored to tears watching his father do
the whole thing while spewing on and on about unrelated
aspects of road bikes. And too polite to say that to you.
Again, I don't know you or your son so I could be way off.
But I hate watching these when they go bad.
On to bicycle repair. You can probably detension the wheel,
judiciously press the rim back to near-right and then
properly tension and true it . Lubricated nipples and stress
relief are big improvements to most cheap wheels and you
save the argument about whether a $60 rim is worth more than
a new FogelRider or whatever it is. We discussed that very
job here last week with good advice from Mr Brandt himself.
You ask about a new changer. A steel Tourney is probably
appropriate even if you wouldn't put one on your own bike.
The next model up is $5~10 more . You'll never notice any
difference on a department store gear system. Don't "put one
away for later", there is no point. Just get what you need
to repair this bicycle. His next bike will have the
appropriate changer anyway.
Same for GripShift. With only three parts ( inside,
outside, spring) they are entirely appropriate here. When
he is dissatisfied with them, you can start spending real
money. If he's not yet a teenager you're going to need that
money anyway.
Final comment- you are very right to garner some of the
expense from him. That's important - it will do more than
anything else to make the bike last longer, again, IMHO.
--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1
April, 1971
