Can do, can you? (long blog post - must click to read)

On the way home from picking up my daughter this weekend I stopped by a small local bike shop known for having lots of used inventory.  I wanted one of those "kids tandem add-on" things that as far as know doesn't have a real generic name, but "Trail-a-Bike" "Tug-a-Bug" and things like that are brand names for them.

They had about three, all in poor repair (they were stored outside in a high humidity area).  Only one still had the linkage to connect it to a seat post, so that's the one I chose.  It was in such bad condition they sold it to me for $15.

First, I'm going to tell you about what I did to get it up and going so that the picture above could be taken, after, obviously, telling you what was wrong with it, then I'm going to get to my real point of why I made this post.  Bikes are my hobby, so I'm going to indulge in that a bit.  I've been an elected politician, and I like to think I'm a wise and observant person, so I'm going to get into that at the end, but in a way that isn't partisan, but more of an "in my day" old man rant.  Scroll past the picture of the baby to see the real point and skip all the bike related specifics.

So, the Kent branded thing, I don't even know what they call theirs, if it's painted on it's faded and washed out - had a chain that was nothing but a line of rust, the freewheel was seized up, the bottom bracket was very rough, the pedals are rough, and the rim was all rusty.

The first thing I did was remove and discard the chain.  It had a "fast link" or "easy link" whatever you want to call it, still took WD-40 and it broke in the removal process, whatever.

Next I removed the freewheel.  For those of you who don't know a freewheel is the thing on the back that allows you to pedal backwards and idle without it affecting the motion of the bike.  I have a couple of freewheel remover tools, but this didn't take those, it had the two little dimples.  I have the dimple wrench, but it was rusted so solid I still couldn't turn it with that wrench of questionable purchase, so I cut it off with my rotary tool - most would know it as a Dremel, but that's a proper noun and mine is a Black and Decker.  After cutting off the outer wheel I grabbed it with a pair of channel locks and unscrewed the core.  I bought another cheap-ass replacement off of Amazon for about $12, next day delivery, that's why it's already on the bike.

I sanded the back wheel quite a bit, the kids wanted to help with something so I handed them all wire brushes as let them go to town.  FYI - I did stop to do some shopping to get some wire brushes and rust-spray.  I had already used the rust spray and done some work on it before the kids came around.

Using both my American bottom-bracket wrench and my slot-spanner I removed the bottom bracket after tossing the pedals aside.  I actually had a whole spare bottom bracket from back when I built my own race BMX so instead of trying to fix what was there I just replaced the whole thing with a "new" unused 10 year old one I had in a box.  I had to knock-out the races with a punch and hammer, then I pressed in the new ones with a c-clamp.  I de-rusted the crank a bit too.

The chain-wheel was a 40 tooth job.  I happened to have an old 40 tooth one that didn't work out for a mod I tried doing to another BMX I had in the past, it was an aluminum racing one.  Now, the one that came with this thing was fine, but it was cheap pressed steel.  I didn't need to change it, but I had the "better" one, so I put it on.  The problem was the crank was bigger around than the center hole of the racing one.  I drilled it out, fine tuned the hole with the rotary tool and rasp until it fit right.

The grips were a broken down, gummy, nasty nightmare.  I had some extra BMX grips that I had tried and didn't quite work out for my racing bike, so I put them on there.  I'm ordering bar-ends next weekend to plug the holes.

I had three different chains hanging from strings submerged in 90 weight gear oil and they've been there for about a decade each.  I pulled one out, wiped it down and put it on, using my chain breaker tool to dial in the right length.

Oddly, when I went to Harbor Freight they didn't have any metallic spray-paint, galvanizing compound, or anything along those lines so at the moment the rim is a bit raw.

I put it all together and gave it a test ride with my older boy - I used the crappy pedals that came with it.  I have an unused set of 1/2" "shark bite" BMX pedals my wife threatened me to not use, and I actually agree with her.  I ordered some new, less threatening ones this morning.

I took the bag off of my back-rack for the test.  I'm going to have to take the whole back-rack off for a serious ride I've found, there is some collision.  But now we are ready for a seawall ride.  I shared updates with my buddies, and good news, my friend who just made a replica of Eddie Van Halen's guitar had a lot of leftover paint.  That back rim is going to a sparkly, glittery red soon and he gave me enough paint I think I'm going to redo the whole frame.

So:
$15 for the "bike"
$12 for the freewheel
$14 for the pedals with shipping
$15 brushes, sprays, etc... from the shopping trip
? leftover parts from years ago that we'll just call free, and that's what I'm going to call the paint I haven't used yet too.
~$56 to get the thing up and running.  The absolute cheapest one of these I can find new is $130, and most of them cost more than that.

The reason for all of this:
Riding the seawall in Galveston.  My boy can ride a bike on his own, but he tends to be erratic and has no sense of keeping track of anyone else's position.  In fact he dove straight in front of me last Thursday and I had to grab both brakes with his little brother in the trailer to keep from broad-siding him.  I love riding the seawall and I'm sure the boys will too, just as their big sister liked to before they were born.  There's no way I'm letting him steer on the sometimes crowded, always a fall-hazard seawall until he learns some awareness.

So, my reason for writing all of this:
Tools - and the generation gap.

I used a bunch of tools to make this happen.  I had a lot of bicycle specific tools, like the bottom bracket wrenches, the chain breaker, the cone wrenches I didn't mention.  I also had a lot of general mechanic tools such as wrenches, allen wrenches, and screwdrivers I didn't mention.  I also used even broader use wire brushes (I had to shop for), drills, and rotary tools.  I also used a bunch of extra parts I had from previous projects that weren't used then, but got used a decade later.

I am very aware of what hoarding is and how to avoid it.  As you can see I've written about it.

I currently work in a specialized part of road construction.  The data part of road construction, but there are others in my company who do the more physical/dirtier work.  I have in the past worked in factories building computers and other electronics, soldering parts on boards, doing automation panels (also what I do now).  I've worked at an ISP and spent nearly eight years in aerospace.

I've noticed the younger generations refuses to provide for themselves.

I understand the logic.  I don't want to be a hoarder either, but for my hobbies and tools I've made some allowances and pay attention to where the line is between empowerment and hindrance.  In the case of those leftover parts they've been vindicated, I know not every extra part I have laying about will be, but as long as some of them are vindicated it justifies a reasonable amount of other parts laying about that I may not ever get to.

You notice I specified three levels of tools earlier, use specific tools, categorical tools, and general tools.

If you make a living using tools, you absolutely need to own your use specific tools.

I don't expect the average person to have a freewheel remover, bottom bracket tools, chain-breakers, etc....  This is my hobby, so these are the tools of my hobby, I could use it as a back-up way of making a living should it come down to it, though I fear making the transition wouldn't be something I would be able to do while continuing to support my family.

Everyone who doesn't live out of a suitcase needs to have a basic mechanics tools set, some wrenches, some screwdrivers, and whatever they need to maintain the machines they use.  A hammer of some sort applies even more so than the rest.

When you rely exclusively on your employer or those you hire to work on your things you are at the mercy of others.

When you buy tools that support your profession you are investing in yourself.  It is like the stock market on another level.  My professional tools - not my hobby ones - have a measurable ROI.  Roughly every $1 I spend on tools I use in my profession has earned me ~$15 in return.  I calculate this roughly based on my hourly rate when doing side-gigs versus what I paid for the tools.  Truthfully it's a very difficult number to calculate as I use some of those tools in my hourly job (where my coworkers are dependent on the never can be found company tools, or want to borrow mine), and I use them on my personal projects, home maintenance, vehicle maintenance, and yes my hobby where applicable, though my data tools are rarely useful in the bike world, but occasionally there is a little cross-over.  The ROI keeps going up with time, many of these tools are lifetime tools, the kind that one you buy them they don't age-out or wear out.  The ROI on those just keeps going up, unlike consumables - which yes, I buy those too.

Investing in the tools of your profession is investing in yourself.

I have had a break-through with a couple of individuals.  Gen-Z and Millennials seem to have this "I don't want to own anything" issue, and it does affect a few of us X'ers (or Xenials if you prefer).  Heck, I can relate to a degree if you read my hoarding link, but you need to learn to take care of yourself and not rely on others to do it for you.  You may have a situation where you are your only option.

I know for a fact that one of the Gen-Z coworkers I have - one that is actually involved in road construction - doesn't even know how to change his own tire with a spare.  This is inexcusable, especially for someone in a field that requires you to work with your hands and tools - and telling the story of how I know this is sometimes hilarious.

I wrote about the tandem-bike fix-up to make it relatable.  Something the younger gens WILL invest in is health and leisure time things, and they tend to support making old-things new, recycling, and reducing waste in general. In this case, I did that in spades.  I'm fully on-board with that.  It's great, I hope more people get into it seriously.  Guess what?  I had to actually have tools to do it all.

Right now I rent my home, I need to get more serious as well.  What you don't own, you don't get to keep.  You need to shield yourself from the whims of the economy and the political environment.  FDR's gold-grab proves not even that is bullet-proof, but when you make the world better for yourself, you often make it better for others, and vice-versa.