Teaching my grandson how to fix his bike [View All]

[oneighty]

Nate is nine or so. His parents are divorced. His Dad does not have time for him.

He had a flat tire on his bike. He borrowed a tire pump from a friend over on the next street. The tire did not hold air.

So off we go to 'Ace is the place' to get a new inner-tube and a tire pump. At Ace Nate also discovered a bicycle helmet a bicycle lock and a tire inner-tube patch kit that he "Really needed". Now his grand-mother owes me $31.00 U.S. but she do not mind because she loves Nate too and it was her idea that he go to 'Ace is the place' with me in the first place.

At home I showed him how a box-end wrench is better than an adjustable wrench for removing the wheel from the bike. I taught him how to remove the inner-tube from the tire. I taught him how to pump up the inner-tube and leak test it in a wall-papering tray full of water. The old inner-tube did not leak. Nate had been using the pump wrong yesterday and did not actually put air in the tire.

So following my instructions he put everything back together. Then I showed him how to oil the chain and the bearings. All the while I was doing these things I realized that I had not worked on a bicycle for at least sixty years and it was just as though I had learned my self just a while back.

My Dad never taught me those things either. Nobody did.

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