Greasy fingers, hard parts, camera… definitely some kind of porn.
I don’t fix bikes for a living, I have fixed my own bike however but never really got into racing or anything. I’m wanting a TIG welder so I could weld some aluminum… very useful for bike repairs since most good bikes are aluminum.
I will say I think most bike repair is going to be assembly and disassembly. If a carbon frame broke there’s no way to fix it. I mean you can “fix” it by using epoxy and reinforcing it with extra carbon fiber cloth (you can buy the stuff in Taiwan). The difficult part is fixturing it up for the job because carbon fiber is quite stiff in cloth form, and without some kind of a mold it will not conform to the frame at all (it is nothing like fiberglass that will lay down like paint). The “fix” is also ugly and defeats the advantage of carbon fiber, which means you just about made a joint that’s not quite as strong that is much heavier than before, so you scrap it. Same with aluminum tubing, if it’s crimped or bent there’s no fixing it. You can probably cut the kinked section and TIG weld it back together but most bicycle repair shop aren’t going to be equipped for that kind of repair.
Would anyone actually do machining on bike parts or machine adapters? I don’t know but I never thought of bike repair as something that involved any machining at all. Maybe if you want to mount a disk brake on a bike and wants to machine the hub to fit it? Or just TIG weld a flange on an existing hub to accept a disk brake?
So no one knows if it’s possible to buy a bike with 2 hub generators preinstalled for 10,000NT? I guess I better “lose” a U Bike then…
I admit the definition or expectation on a mechanic is far away from the old days. Everything is more purpose-oriented now. We mechanics fix or repair things, but rarely make things. A machine guy, otherwise, makes things. I read some bicycle institute manuals and attended some trade courses, only very teeny-tiny part is related to welding/frame design/composites, simply because we are mechanics, not welders/frame designers/engineers. We are not even categorized as “technicians” though more and more electronics and hydraulics are involved.
When special inquiry arises, those shops I worked in Australia outsource or refer customer to other specialists or machine guys, sometimes due to liability/warranty concerns.
Back to the topic on bikes with generator hub, I actually found one in Shinchu but I have no relation to them and couldn’t endorse any.
https://goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?21837616972002
Some resurrection today on a pair of SHIMANO ST-M290.
1 Like
Thanks for the link by the way. I use U bike and the problem is I gotta find a kiosk and it makes me not want to take long trips on bikes because of time limitations. I have all pass tickets and I get 30 minutes free but then I gotta find a kiosk, return it, then wait 15 minutes to use it again.
How did this thread slip under my nose. Welcome again @LukeForward and thanks for posting about your services.
Thanks for sharing @LukeForward and I will surely make my way down to your shop to say hi one day and drag @Liub with me.
Are we talking about trying to save 10NT for the second half hour of usage?
You can also download the Youbike app on your phone to look for stations near your destination. Actually, a lot of the stations are on Google maps as well, so you can just search for stations using Google maps.
There was one time I was near Zhongshao Fuxing and for some reason there are NO U Bike kiosks anywhere near that MRT station. I find it weird since I expect to find at least one U Bike kiosk near any MRT station. It took me half an hour just to find a place to return my U Bike anywhere near Zhongshao Fuxing.
Google map, at least the app does not tell you or give you directions to any U Bike stations. The U Bike app works but not perfectly.
I concur with your Zhongshao Fuxing experience. It’s like a Ubike Bermuda Triangle. Last time I walked almost a full block to get a kiosk.
I wonder why too, is it land use issue, or legal issue? Or it’s a conspiracy to rack up u bike rental charge?
Still though, when I was in Austin, they had a system similar to U Bike, the major difference being it costs 8 dollars to rent it, almost 5 dollars an hour thereafter. No wonder nobody uses it.
I gotta assume it’s to keep sidewalks and cyclists safe. The stretch from Zhongxiao Fuxing to Zhongxiao Dunhua (even all the way down to Yian Ji Street) is quit busy with people and cars. Having bikes rolling around the road or even the sidewalk won’t really help. Unless it’s 5-7AM in the morning, I avoid that stretch of road on my road bike too.
Hey @LukeForward, welcome to Forumosa. I’m glad to see a mechanic in Taiwan who can and do repair things instead of just changing parts. Not sure what the problem with the shifter was but probably just needed an old good CLA? Anyway, good to know you’re around.
I read this days ago but since I was banned (thanks @markowhatever) I couldn’t reply. That’s a tricky statement! Probably you are wrong although you could be arguably right but for the wrong reasons. My point is… what’s a good bike? considering the current manufacture practices, we could say that pretty much every bicycle is already good, and probably aluminium alloy is the most used material for frames, so yeah, you might be right. However, if with good bikes you mean like middle range and up (and then again… what’s the middle range?) we are looking at carbon fiber and not aluminium alloys. Then you also have other materials like titanium alloys.
So if with “good” you mean the middle - top models, they aren’t usually made of aluminium, you are wrong even if it’s arguable. If you mean any decent bike that is not performance oriented, then yeah, there are plenty of them made of aluminium… but many, many people won’t agree with you on what’s a “good” bike.
@mad_masala does make a good point.
If you ask me what a “good” bike is, it’s one that I can rely on. Meaning it won’t break apart regardless of price, material and components on it.
I’m not 100% with this term but I reckon it’s clean, lubricate, assemble., or similar to TLC. Anyhow, any repair can be narrowed down to CLA. The major difficulty is the availability of spare parts.
If I’m correct, I’m one of very few mechanic in the world who is willing and able to repair SHIMANO STI shifters. The design keeps changing from generation to generation, hence internal parts are not cross-compatible at all, and spare parts are absolutely not available from SHIMANO. I did tried a few machine shops to custom-make but the quote was jaw-dropping. Imaging your fancy DURA-ACE shifter gives up after 3-year warranty. To repair one shifter from most shops, the customer has to buy a pair compulsorily and the cost simply skyrockets. I used to collect a fair bit of faulty shifters for repairs so I can give the customer an alternative. Again it’s all about spare parts. There are junk yard or pull-it-yourself in car industry, but in bicycle industry there’s no money to be made in such fashion.
From a mechanic’s point of view, a good bike must be easily repaired. Cross-compatibility has to be wide and reasonably easy to make it back on the road. I ride a 2009 Cannondale CAAD9. Definitely not the best performance but every part is pretty much available over the world.
2 Likes
That bike comes with some nice backgrounds 
1 Like
I agree with this 100%. I bought a hydraulic disc brake road bike 3 years ago and it took weeks just to get new brake pads in from Shimano and not every shop knew how to service hydraulic brake systems (yet).
I was happy to pick up a rim brake a year later and pick bikes based on weather conditions and it is much easier to find parts and the shops were much more familiar with them.
One of the reasons most of my bikes have Campagnolo groups on them.
I have a couple of period correct Shimano 600 bikes, including a Colnago, but I don’t ride them much.
I can still find Campy spares or replacements for things back to Super Record from the 70s
But old Shimano usually means buying a whole new component rather than replacing a worn cog or a pin.
Some freehub service done today. This particular HOPE PRO III has 17mm axle and the sidecap cracked open. Local shop and distributor couldn’t provide any assistant except selling a whole new hub. The cap is later sourced overseas.
I’ve been working on a memoir for the past ten years about some awkward stuffs I did. Stay tuned.
1 Like