I got into bikes after moving to a cyclists' town. I know the pride of riding something you've fixed up like the author mentioned in the article. Bikes are truly a marvel. My town and bikes have provided me with a higher standard of living and health than I would have had in some other town.

Bikes are for everybody. You can ride a beat up bike for years with just basic knowledge, like changing an inner tube and oiling a chain. General and advanced bike maintenance was a mystery until YouTube came along. Now I get to pass this knowledge directly to my kids.

There's a certain zen that comes with maintenance or building of everything, from bikes to radios to cars. I'm not sure if it comes from experience or age, but when it happens it changes how you think of things. Finding that zen leads to faster and better quality work. Maybe it's just an exercise in patience that feels zen like.

My back's not got much in it these days, so I've mostly been supervising my wife who stubbornly wants to learn it all. It's funny watching her go through the same hot head, cuss, throw your tools experience I did years ago. I tried to explain my zen theory, but she sure wasn't having it, so I'm leaning towards experience.

Maintaining a personal collection of 7 Peugeot bikes from the 70ies (they are used daily) is my way of getting a relaxed Saturday afternoon out of the software engineering / childcare grind every few weeks. Maintaining your primary mode of transportation completely yourself is very satisfying.

Most of our bikes were incredibly cheap (sometimes < 20 EUR) because you couldn't ride them anymore, and restoring them was quite relaxing. For example, I restored one with a mint-condition frame, using mostly original parts. Originally, it cost 70 EUR. It now looks exactly like this (minus the pannier and with the original gearshift): https://old.reddit.com/r/bikecommuting/comments/uxt0tb/new_b... My wife uses it daily. In my opinion, these bikes have a beauty and elegance which modern bikes simply do not have.

I have made some valuable contacts over the years. For example, I know an eccentric local guy who literally has a 3 meter mountain of old bikes behind his workshop and has every original spare part of pre-2000 bikes imaginable in his cellar. I also know someone on the internet who manufactures pulleys (the little plastic gears) for old Simplex derailleurs at home (they are hard to replace, as modern pulleys don't fit).

My basic rule of thumb of buying an old bike: if the frame is OK, you can restore it for under 200 EUR. Most of the time, it's trivial things like a broken chain, broken brakes, missing spokes, etc.

Once the bike is restored, maintenance is usually painless. The typical wearing parts (chain, bowden cables, tires, brakes) can be replaced with modern standard parts which you can get everywhere.

Cycling is a joy.

When I experience / see people diss cyclists, I'm sad for them. It implies they cannot empathise with others (me). My physical and mental health are better thanks to cycling.

I love cycling but absolutely hate maintenance. I’d always prefer to be riding my bike than working on it. Two recent enhancements that significantly improved my life are electronic shifting, and wax lube.

I haven’t had to mess around with gear indexing once since I bought a bike with electronic shifting (SRAM Rival) a couple years ago, and it always shifts perfectly. I do have to keep the batteries charged, but one charge a week is more than enough with daily riding - so never had any issues there.

With wax lube (I use Squirt) I spend a lot less time cleaning my chain. What used to be a pretty annoying weekly process of degreasing and lubing my chain now takes a minute or two: use a dry brush to scrape off any excess wax buildup and then apply more wax. Much quicker and much cleaner than the old dry lube I used to use. And the chain is cleaner and quieter too.

Other than that, I basically hose off the bike and wipe it with a towel after every ride, and align/clean the disc brakes occasionally. My ratio of ride time to maintenance time has never been higher.

During the pandemic I decided I wanted to build a bike too, the idea came to me after watching Berm Peak and Park Tools on YouTube, similar to what happened to this person. So being stuck working from home, I bought parts and tools to build a brand new full suspension mountain bike. Like this person it took longer than I wanted because I was missing some specialized tools (bearing and bearing press for the rear suspension) and parts I didn't know I needed. But it all worked out in the end.

When the project was finished took apart my old off-the-shelf mountain bike, now all that remains of it is a frame with the paint stripped off. I plan to convert it to internal cable routing, paint it (I've been watching Etoe on YouTube) and then turn it into an e-bike.

As a side effect of buying all the tools you need to build and repair bikes, I've also repaired my almost two decades sold exercise bike, which had trashed ball bearings. It also made me realize that most people would have thrown it away and bought a brand new one.

I suspect what the author takes joy from is more the satisfaction of learning a new skill.

Like many things, bike maintenance eventually becomes a chore. Most of my (many) bikes over the last 30 years have been built from the ground up, including the wheels. And I don’t (or won’t) trust any shop mechanic to touch them. But now, the thought of doing any sort of maintenance fills me with dread - I want to ride my bikes, not spend hours fiddling with brake hydraulics and suspension seals!

I was just thinking it would be neat to use an LLM to study how comments on a post change in tone as the sun rises over different countries and cultures. Also what articles make it to the front page etc.

At the moment the US is asleep, and I’m getting more of a European vibe from the comments.

I have a 1993 or 1994 Marin Indian Fire Trail mountain bike that I've been repairing over the past few weeks. I've replaced all the brake and shift cables, new tubes and tires, and performed the usual maintenance on the ball bearings, like cleaning and greasing them. The biggest issue was getting my Shimano XT derailleur, which is integrated with the brake levers, back in working order. Thankfully, I found YouTube videos that alleviated my fear of completely disassembling, cleaning, re-greasing, and reassembling the gear unit. It's a marvel of engineering that reminds me of a simple watch mechanism (a very simple one). Until I found the YouTube video, I thought I definitely had to buy a new derailleur. However, that would have led to many other new parts being needed, like new cogs, new brake levers, etc. Then perhaps other issues because the bike still has old cantilever brakes and so on. After reassembling the derailleur, the bike runs as well as it did on the first day: the gears click and clack so wonderfully that it's a pure joy to shift. Plus, there's the wonderful feeling of having restored a 40-year-old mountain bike to working order with the original parts.

I also have an older road racing bike that is completely equipped with a Shimano 105 groupset. With it, maintenance and getting it running is child's play. The simplicity of a frame shifter makes everything much easier.

Bikes are the best invention since sliced bread.

Sadly, many parts of modern mountain bikes seem to be less durable and not repairable. For most of the stuff I can't or don't want/have time to do, I take into the shop. And generally, they throw up their hands and say it needs to be replaced. Did that with two dropper posts this week. (One needed a rebuild that would cost more than replacement. The other had a (luckily under warranty) faulty cartridge).

I will also say that e-bikes are much more fun than I would have thought. And not very serviceable.

I had a similar experience during the pandemic. I got hold of an old frame for a road bike that I somehow liked. Even the paint was pretty bad so I went all the way of stripping the old paint, cold-setting the rear dropouts (thanks to Sheldon Brown's website) so that it will take the modern wheels, painting the frame, and assembling everything with new parts.

It took me two years because I had to learn a lot how different components fit together and all sorts of specific spacings.

Now, I have a very unique and beautiful bike (people on the street tell me). But above all, I know every detail of that bicycle and how to fix it.

The reason why IT people love this stuff (also woodworking, gardening, etc.) so much is that there's routine. Most of the bikes are very similar. If you've rebuilt one, you have the competency to build another one.

In software, every project is a new challenge. It's more like building a new technical object all the time. I think software development could benefit from rewriting stuff every now and then. Many of my former projects would benefit a lot if I had a couple of week to take apart all the functions and assemble them in a better way that consideres everything I've learned so far.

Back in time as a student, I had to stay in the student city over summer due to an internship. Everyone else left, so the evenings were quite free. I ended up buying a cheap old bikes and refurbish it completely. Like, take every single piece apart, clean, sand and possibly paint.

It gave me an admiration for the cleverness but also the simplicity of the design. Truing the wheels felt like an art, and I got so interested in the concept that I ended up writing my thesis around lacing patterns for the spokes on the wheels. It actually got posted to HN at the time https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10410813

I do all maintenance on my bikes now. Always a good excuse to buy some new gadget, right? This other week I applied new bar tape and bled my brakes. I originally wanted some repair shop to do it, but that would mean bike there, get to work somehow, then get back there and then be able to bike home. Seemed more hassle than just fixing it myself, given I'm dependent on my bike.

The modern bicycle is the pinnacle of personal transport technology. It's yet to be surpassed. Unfortunately unbridled consumption of fossil fuels has made cars economical enough that you can't cycle anywhere any more. I heard people are getting into gravel biking now because the road is too unpleasant.

I maintain a small but shrinking amount of hope that we might be able to get rid of cars. Sometimes I think it's getting better, but then I remember how much had already been ceded to them in just my lifetime. Maybe when I'm old it will be possible to cycle around safely and young people will know true freedom.

Repairing bicycles is part of that freedom really. You don't a lot of space or super expensive tools. There's no toxic liquids to deal with. I rebuilt a bike from the frame up around 2006 without any help from YouTube. I realised later I did a lot of it wrong as I was essentially guessing, but I still rode it for many hundreds of miles.

Thankful I learned to fix a flat tire at 5 and steadily built experience in bike repair since, from where my first moped and car repairs felt like basic extensions…

The blog comes very close to quoting ‘zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance’ -I wonder if the author read that…

Monty Python’s Mr Bicycle repairman.

https://youtu.be/Tq_xTeWiv6I

I remember first seeing this and thinking in some way it is more than funny, a more equal world.

Thanks, this was a good read. To me, this puts a finger on a fear of mine that probably many programmers have. How do you show someone else the thing that you've built, how do you show them the work that you do and the value that it creates? To an observer, say, your own child, you're just sitting in front of a screen. There's layers upon layers of cruft that you need to first learn to understand what your parent is doing there. A physical thing is easy - you can just show them that thing that you made.

I still use my aluminum mountain bike from 1997. At 27 years now, it still drives like a new bike. I invest about 300 Eur every two years for repairs. Use it 10-20 km daily. No need for a car!

Wrenching on a motorcycle is similarly rewarding/zen. A little more complex than a bicycle and sometimes requiring some more specialist tools but otherwise pretty much the same thing.

Especially older, carbureted motorcycles with minimal electronics. You can often work everything out and get them going like new again with just some elbow grease and replacing perishables like fluids, seals, gaskets, etc.

Not to mention it's fun riding a bike that previously didn't even kick over before it came into your hands.

How timely: my bicycle's rear tire is a goner. My brother changes it by himself but I only have the skill to take the wheel off and bring it to the shop!

> and the greater the chance they’ll conclude they’re working in a bullshit job.

OK but you guys all know how many software have been involved in the creation and shipping of that bicycle and all its material? It's software all the way. The 3D modelling, the logistics, all the payment processing making buying/shipping the materials, etc.

I won't comment on taxes (on revenues for all the companies involved and on their employees too and on the sale etc.) and all the software that implicates and all the bureaucracy that it allows to thrive because, to me, that is the real bullshit that should be decimated (not reduced to zero but decimated).

But anyway many things we enjoy and take for granted exists thanks to and because of software.

Put it this way: even if they're similar in that they both have two wheels, I'm not trading an early 20th century for my Specialized (californian company btw even though I'm in the EU) full carbon S-Works (S-Works is the top end from Specialized) bicycle.

Thank you very much, software devs, for having made the creation of that wonderful bicycle possible.

Good read, thanks. I found myself in this article having started to repair an old bicycle and bringing it back to life. I always thought that manual labor is more satisfactory than mental labor because you can immediately see the outcome and the value produced. Being a computer engineer I feel the need to disconnect myself from what I call "the abstract world" and get in touch with something real. Something I can touch.

Beautifully written, but I couldn't disagree more. Bicycle maintenance is an annoying chore to me that gets in the way of my enjoyment of cycling.

I even have good bicycle shops near me that did maintenance far quicker/cheaper/better than I would do. It just all seemed like such a hassle.

I finally ended up buying a belt-drive hub-geared hydraulic-brakes medium/fat-tyre bicycle and my maintenance woes appear to be massively reduced.

I love the concept of bicycles that are deliberately built to be low maintenance.

For me personally, I cannot overstate the value I get from solving problems in the physical space and how that transends into my work as a software engineer. However, that being said I really enjoy the dynamic of software development that allows the ability to hack: start building without a clear plan, try, prototype, tear down, throw out, start again.

I had a few bikes when I was a kid and a teenager (backpedal braking era). Each one costed like dirt and could be rebuilt/repaired in a couple hours with a bag of instruments hanging below the seat. Then I rode it few months without service. Most of my bikes died due to fatal injuries or were stolen.

Modern bikes is something I don’t understand. Complex aggregates, systems and subsystems, spaceship furniture, etc. And the cost of a low-end car, sometimes mid. Plus all the “niceties” of the modern market, like planned obsolescence, milking the customer, necessary extras and so on. Feels like you’re meant to more touch yourself about how much of a cyclist you are than to ride. Say that these bikes are softer, easier, cadence friendly. Doesn’t matter, all off this is bs to me. Yet another area defiled by marketing, scammers and those who charge 5x on top of that for being “honest”.

When you balance your ride in the back seat of a bicycle driven by a tiny teenager half your weight, it means you truly know how a bicycle goes. I think the Danes are the top cyclists nation, I remember when I offered the principal of orphan school girls, to make an international call from my house instead of waiting for hours at the post office of my town in Syria back in the 70's, she encouraged me to ride my bicycle and not to worry about her riding behind me, I was scared from the imbalance but there was none, the looks and whistle of some people were a many though. The sight of 15 year old me pedaling while a big blond woman sitting behind me was amazing.

Just a small thing about bikes being “harder” to maintain than they used to be. I really think they’re not! I tried to take the back wheel off a friend’s old mountain bike and realised it’s waaaay more complicated to take apart than a modern QR skewer or thru-axle. The only real fiddly bit is if you bought internal cable routing but that’s only really on mid-to-upper tier bikes. Even then, a modern frame is easier to route than a 10-year-old frame (speaking from experience!)

Don’t be deterred from learning it for yourself!

When it's broken, fix your bike - because when you're broken, your bike will fix you.

I'm a part-time cyclist (I stopped using cars 5 years ago) but after seeing a few bad ones on youtube videos I can understand the rage sometimes. They just cut anywhere without any regards for traffic.

That said a lot of people are crazy on roads, motorbikes, cars too (probably more often and more dangerously).

I don't like cyclists sometimes, and I'm a cyclist... I think anything faster than walking can put the best people into a selfish hurried mind state.

People don't like cyclists because their only interaction with cyclists is when they're holding up traffic.

I pulled a rusted 2011 Fuji mountain bike out of the mud at burning man and spent the fall replacing every part on it except the frame, fork, and seat. I set up craigslist alerts for bike parts in my area, explored the local bike salvage shops, and found deals like a $35 dropper post that only needed a $6 bushing to be good as new. I installed hydraulic brakes with huge rotors, got the tires I wanted, and had an absolute blast wrenching on it while listening to Flip Bike videos on YouTube. I really found out how much I love wrenching on bikes that fall. After years of only road biking since my mountain bike was stolen and then I converted my new mountain bike to an electric city street runner, I finally had an analog mountain bike again and I built it all up myself. It was wonderful and the first mountain ride (my first in years) was transcendent.

But I’ve noticed that if what I want to be doing is be out riding my bike, I sure do hate it when something needs to be fixed!

There's also the old low-maintenance way that is common for people who commute daily on city bikes - internal gear (or single speed) hub, and just ignore your chain apart from adding oil when it starts squeaking, and get it serviced once a year or so or when a problem appears. A newer variation is belt drive instead of chain.

I'm at the other end of the spectrum and am always fettling my bikes and looking to upgrade parts etc. However, I've switched over to just using Squirt lube on my chain (on my road bike at least) as I previously tried the full wax treatment. That involved cleaning a new chain to remove the factory applied grease (using a cheap ultrasonic cleaning machine) and then using a cheap pan to warm up paraffin wax to which I added some micronised graphite (bought off eBay) for extra lubrication, although it turns the wax and your drive-train black. Soak the chain, then pull it out and let it cool off until the wax has hardened. I found that a treated chain would last for about 100 miles or so before needing a top-up (of squirt lube) or another dip in the wax bath, so I was alternating between two chains.

However, when I was topping-up the treatment with Squirt, I thought why not just use the Squirt and not bother with the whole waxing business. The problem I have is not being good at looking after my bike straight after a ride and here in the UK, that means the chain tends to get rusty so I end up getting through more chains than I should.

I bought a bicycle with a Pinion gear box and a Gates carbon belt drive. No lube, no derailleur, no chain falling off, no maintenance, hose off after a muddy ride. The belt will last 3x longer than a chain presumably.

EDIT: autocorrect

I think bike maintenance is one of those things that is similar to how you read about programmers who pick up woodworking here on HN. I know it's a zen thing for me, similar to other "craftmanship" (I'm not sure if this is the right english word for things like machanics, carpenters, plubmers and so on) like home improvement DIY, gardening or even cleaning the damn house.

It's just very zen. Both because it tends to relatively less tasking on your executive functions, is physical and provides tangible results that you can see and "feel" relatively quickly. It may also be because programming is frankly a craftmanship for the most parts. There are a few projects where I'm doing Computer Science, but for the most part I'm a digital plumber.

There's no need to degrease your chain. In fact kmc recommend that you don't. Just give it a wipe once a week and apply a little oil. Maybe scrape some of the crap off the sprockets every few months.

Just wait until you hot wax your chain. Take the chain off your bike, drop it into a crock pot full of wax, take a nap, wake up, put chain back on bike.

I personally love working on bikes. I'd replace my behind the keyboard all day tech job in a split second, if I could afford to do so.

Clean after every ride? That's way overkill. I only clean my bike when I need to re-wax my chain.

Bike leasing is a thing now. Here in Berlin, I've used Swapfiets for a while. You pay something like 25 euros a month and in return you get a decent bike to ride (comfortable, 6 gears, good brakes, etc.). If there are any issues, you just go to store and get a freshly serviced one. Zero hassle. I've done this for minor rattles, the gears feeling a bit loose, etc. They actually remind people to come in for a fresh bike once in a while because they know these things need maintenance.

You end up spending about 300/year. And for that money you have no need to worry about repairs. Or theft. These things seem to be immune to being stolen. Both those things are big issues because repairs are expensive if you don't do them yourself and bike theft means you need to replace them (or pay extra for insurance) when that happens and it also means that using a nice bike to get around is risky.

With Swapfiets, I never worried about theft. You just lock it and the bike thieves apparently ignore them as they are probably hard to sell on (as they are very recognizable). I've done that all over Berlin, including many of the hot spots where I'd normally be reluctant to leave anything of value unattended.

I’m kind of stuck in the worst spot between both. Maintenance is a chore, but I still prefer to DIY vs taking it to the shops near me, which are various combinations of rude, unreliable (both in terms of scheduling and quality of work), and expensive.

So I just suck it up and try to fit the work in when I can, which is almost never.

This.

I think it's worth mentioning that cycle touring doesn't have to be complicated either. I was always scared to take a bike ride longer than a weekend because so many people in that scene appear to be major gear nerds. Then I met a hobo who had just jumped off a train with a battered up omafiets and he inspired me to strap a bunch of crap to my cheap hybrid and cycle all the way across North America.

Turns out you don't need the latest and greatest anything, you don't need to spend a zillion dollars on tools, or sit around tinkering every day. If you can change a tube and oil the chain, that's about all you need to know how to do. Even with broken spokes or a snapped cable you can hobble along for a couple days, till the next town with a bike shop. And if your bike is cheap and generic, every bike shop will have the replacement parts already in stock.

When I cycled through Colombia I did it on a Buffalo Bike which was slow, heavy and pretty much indestructible. Took ages to get anywhere, but who cares? Rather spend my time pootling along slowly than trying to fix stuff. Fixing stuff is my job, that's the last thing I want to do in my personal time.

You’re on to something here - as a Dutch person, luke any of my friends, I have a ‘ daily driver’ bike with a in-hub set of gears, enclosed chain, drum brakes - and the thing is near indestructible. It spends its days in the street in front of my house chained to a bike rack ans still barely ever needs anything fixed. The typical ‘road bikes’ with derailleurs and rim brakes are fun when performance counts -but if you’re just getting around, who cares?

Interesting point of view, thank you! For me maintenance and repair have enhanced riding rather than diminish it. I find it's similar to how cooking enhances eating, or yard work enhances laying around the yard. Of course I hate having a malfunction while riding as much as the next guy, but I also ride with more confidence because I know I can handle pretty much anything that can go wrong, even on the go.

That’s why I favour simple single-speed bikes for commuting. Almost nothing can go wrong with them, and you can fix almost anything that does go wrong with a small bike tool. It’s also nice that they’re so cheap you don’t really care too much if it gets stolen, so there’s no stress about locking it up somewhere a bit dodgy.

I agree with you. I've also found that themore modern a bike is the more difficult it is to maintain

Take hydraulic disc brakes for example, when they work they are great but when they fail they don't work at all. You then have to bleed them which is fiddly, messy and requires special tools then you'll probably have to do it all over again after a few rides. Tubeless tyres are similar.

Bicycle maintenance is what got me out of the habit of riding. You don’t ride for a little while and soon trying to pick it back up first means tires need a lot of air… oh that one’s going flat before the end of the block… Christ, it’s the rear one, there goes the whole afternoon expecially since I’ll for-sure mess up other stuff in the process. Guess I’ll do it next time.

Then I don’t, and stop riding.

It’s crazy that my car beats every bike I’ve owned handily in both maintenance-hours-per-hour-of-use and (obviously, by a loooong shot) maintenance-hours-per-mile. And it has complex electronics and has to contain little explosions and has parts than spin thousands of times per minute! And a damn air conditioner, which is a whole thing all in its own! Plus only cost as much as a surprisingly small number of allegedly-minimally-decent bikes despite requiring way more mass in materials and far more complex manufacturing. Hell, the precious metals in it alone… the bikes have none or practically none of that.

I love riding bikes though. Negative interest in spending any time maintaining them, and taking them to the shop all the time’s impractical (now the costs are really crazy, plus I have to transport them there and back)

[edit] fwiw when I eventually get over the sticker shock at what bikes with any nice features at all cost, I’ll probably get a low-maintenance bike like yours. Do wanna try those airless tires some companies make first, though. Shit’s always going flat, it’s the worst, hardly worth it if I’m still gonna have that problem or if the airless tires are terrible in other ways.

Priority Continuum Onyx by any chance? Those things are absolute beasts. Fantastic commuter bikes.

That's the reason I use a single-speed bike (not to be confused with a "fixie") for commuting. I absolutely love the simplicity of it: no gears to muck around with, much less maintenance, light, and hassle-free. Perfect to deal with the "frequently stop and start" biking in a city.

In a (flat) city for commuting short distances, you simply don't need gears if you're below 50. It's a nice to have.

It also helps that I live in the "Low Lands" (Flanders, Belgium), so no hills around here, and it's a bicycle-first city.