Fixing a bike can be confusing. This is attached to that, which pull it this way and winds around here… uhg. When I was a kid the most difficult fix was tightening a stripped handle bar stem. Your handle bars would move all over the place when you jumped a ramp, which always ended in a wicked wreck. I think thats why my parents bought me a 10 speed. But I would still bum a ride on my friends bmx bikes and tear around the dirt. Those things were easy to work on. If it bent, beat it with a hammer, if it was loose then tighten it. And if you those two things didn’t work, get Dad. Life was simple.
Now that I have big kid bike with gears and cables and stuff, the idea of fixing my own bike has been intimidating. I tore my bathroom down to the sub-floor and wall studs and remodeled everything myself. So what’s the big deal about a bike? I dont really know. Maybe because if I screw up it could be an expensive oops or result in another wicked wreck. Wipeouts at age 10 are way cooler then age 40!
Which brings me to my point – a by product of complexity is stress. Rather obvious really, but so true. The more components we add to our lives the more difficult it becomes to keep them maintained. After while they seem to take control. There are too many cookies for the jar, far to many ducks to get in a row. There is something to be said for simple. Pedal forward you go forward, pedal backwards you stop. No gears, no cables, no problems. Simple.
