Friday, February 18, 2011

I learned something new today.

Even after nearly 10 years of being a bike mechanic, it seems like there's always something new to learn.  When I got started, I was in a college town.  I was just fixing flats and installing racks on people's bikes.  Sure, there were the occasional tune ups and more in depth things to do, but being a bicycle mechanic in that kind of environment wasn't terribly taxing.

Now, I work in a real bike shop.  Not to say the shop I worked at before wasn't a real bike shop, but I do a lot more work for racers and enthusiasts at my current job, and they have a lot more demands than flat tires and racks.  So, I learned how to overhaul a fork today.

Anything on a bike containing fluids, short of a water bottle, used to be frightening and alien to me.  Now, I can bleed hydraulic brakes fairly well, and now, the fork is demystified for me.  Sadly, it took my service manager, 5 years my junior, at least a few hours to walk me through it.  Granted, we were helping customers throughout the day, but the boss nonetheless made a comment about how long I'd been working on that fork.  Considering how much the boss is focused on his computer all day, it's not a good thing when he notices you've been stuck on one thing for a long time.  Oh well.

Today I learned how to overhaul a Fox F29 RL front fork.  Cool.
I made one of these all better today.

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