So Who can I bitch to.....?

[Ghost-Flame]

... I took my wheels and old tires to a gas station nearby that works on motorcycle. The old timer I usually use retired last year and am looking for that right mechanic fit. So I take the wheels in to have the old tires removed and discarded so I can get the wheels ready for powder coat.

The wheels were filthy dirty from the last pig that owned this bike. But, they didn't have a scratch on them. I pick them up on friday and both wheels have gouges in the aluminum... not scratches... gouges... one of them is so deep i can stand a quarter up inside of it.

Its an easy enough fix, i guess. Braze some alluminum in and then grind off the ecess. The kid that did the job said he couldn't help it. Have you ever heard of two or three thicknesses of duct taper to protect the wheels from the tool? I asked, he had no answer. No one ever trained this kid in how to adapt a tool or a prying surface to a situation. like using something to protect the wheel while you are prying the wheel off.

we need industrial skills back in america. not everything can be figured out on a computer.

Am I wrong? I'm 56 and I guess because we didn't have the right tools all the time we learned how to adapt and protect surfaces with tape, cut up tire tubes, a hunk of old raw hide. What's an extra 2 or 3 minutes to think it through?

[dave Esch]

No I agree 100%. I work at an auto dealership and we have to be very careful that this does not happen. In fact, the tools we buy are coated in rubber at the the ends to prevent rim damage. Granted, I take my motorcycle wheels to the dealer for removal and installation, but it's the same concept. The garage should've made the situation right by you. At the VERY LEAST, not charged you. I'm only 33 but I see the direction things are going. Quality and craftsmanship are no longer household terms. The kid at the gas station always has his BP shirt buttoned wrong, huge earrings, tattoos everywhere and about 20 bracelets and wristbands. I have tattoos and piercings, but growing up just fifteen years ago I couldn't get a job if I couldn't cover or remove certain things. I don't like the half-assed attitude the upcommers have. Makes me sick.

[Re-run]

Hey now! I work on computers and Yes, absolutely NO problem can be solved with just a computer!

I work at a college with students and when I tell them they need to learn how to "unplug", blank stares. I may as well be speaking russian or something. For so many of them, using their hands is a completely foreign concept.

[Hellbilly429]

Yeah, I was raised if you don't have the tool you make due with what you have or make the tool. I think another problem is these kids have never been broke before and haven't learned how to use cheap tools to solve the problem rather than go out and buy something new

[Piute]

                                               Performance Cycles  
       Closest bike "tech" shop near me,I say this cause they only work on newer bikes ,But they have a tire changer,I took tire off the rim myself,but had bad tube so what the heck ,No scratches but may have broke 1 of the plastic clips that cover the rivets,
    This younger generation don't even seem to know how to get outside and play (ball,frizbee,army"cowboys N Indians" ) No in house sit on there PHat butts and computor games (hand held stuff).There are a few(very) that are lucky enough to get pushed into building something.

[Re-run]

Cant play cowboys and indians! Kids get shot for fake guns by overzealous police, remember?

I grew up on a farm and you make due with what you have. Many times have I used the wrong tool for a job cause it was all I had.

Case in point, my 96 olds cutlass supreme needed new rear pads and rotors. A special tool was needed to turn in the rear pistons. Nope, turning them with a needle nose pliers will do the job. Kids these days wouldn't bother and would gotten the special tool, IF they actually did it themselves. I bet few know how to even take off a tire.

I do all my work if I can help it at all. I hate having shops do something I can do myself.

[chrwilkins30]

^^^many people my age don't know how to take off a tire. I'm 19, and have learned my way around a vehicle with no guidance what so ever but the internet forums.I never really had money growing up and If I wanted a car I have to figure out how to fix it. I find videogames a pretty big waste off time. But most of my friends have money and just pay someone to fix everything. Most young people are just to lazy to use there hands for anything useful.

[Ghost-Flame]

chrwilkins30 wrote

^^^many people my age don't know how to take off a tire. I'm 19, and have learned my way around a vehicle with no guidance what so ever but the internet forums.I never really had money growing up and If I wanted a car I have to figure out how to fix it. I find videogames a pretty big waste off time. But most of my friends have money and just pay someone to fix everything. Most young people are just to lazy to use there hands for anything useful.

God bless you! that type of attitude will get you very far in life. I used to remove tires with a tire changer that an old farmer had on his place he would let us use, until it broke, then we would use spoons and our body weight. If you are dealing with and old truck tire then who cares about the rim. but a nice car rim or alluminum alloy MC wheels use something to protect the surface. That is less work than fixing gouges.

Same way with any part that has to be seen. Duct tape is the greatest invention. take 2 or 3 layers and stick on the prying surface. Rags are also great to protect metal parts in a vice etc

[Ghost-Flame]

Hellbilly429 wrote

Yeah, I was raised if you don't have the tool you make due with what you have or make the tool. I think another problem is these kids have never been broke before and haven't learned how to use cheap tools to solve the problem rather than go out and buy something new

Yup being broke sucks and is the greatest thing at the same time. you are forced to learn and explore and try different options. now I can afford to buy or rent most tools that I need to do a job. But, all those years making do with what you have on hand has served me well even now.
My kids are amazed at how I can fix just about anything using stuff that is just laying around

I remember building an engine hoist out of the oak wood from an old shipping crate and pallet to remove a 250 6 cyl from an an ford pick up. it worked. we made this thing then used an old rope block and tackle to raise the engine..

for example I'm typing this on a computer I built out of coffee cans, an old telephone and a type writer keyboard and wire from an airplane that crashed in the backyard.

[LukeM]

I think the thing that helped me when I was younger, was taking things apart and putting them back together.  You can't see exactly how it works unless you do that. My dad's Philco record player, tube and transistor radios, his VW bus, bicycles, clothes dryer, old watches...

The trick was never take it so far apart that you can't put it back together.

My youngest son is amazed when he sees me cobble something together. Replacing the flood lights for the back yard: the motion sensor thing died, so I replaced it with regular sockets.  Took him to the HW store, grabbed this, that, a couple of these, cut the power, took the old off, wired in the new, reset the breaker, voila.  Lights in the backyard.  He said, "How do you know how to DO that?"  Then I told him the story I just told you.

Now, why is the Lowrey Genie organ in pieces in the basement?
Luke M

[Hellbilly429]

Haha, ok Maguiver, or however you spell that...

[LukeM]

I'll admit it: I used to carry a fairly elaborate Swiss Army Knife.

You mean...THIS GUY???

Luke M

[Lucky 1]

You are 56.
You took a motorcycle wheel to a gas station? and gave it to a kid.
You left.  

I would never do that.

[Lucky 1]

You are a smart guy. Get away from the computer for a while.
Meet people . Learn interesting things.

[endwrench]

To offer a different perspective...

I'm 19, and most of the kids I know my age are extremely capable with their hands. I come from a poor rural area and most of the kids I know build cars, trucks, rock crawlers, bikes... most of them don't have nice shops or anything but do everything themselves, and they have tattoos and piercings and look sloppy at shitty jobs like gas stations. I never grew up with any money but I spent a lot of time on the computer, and if I wanted something I made it myself and if something broke I fixed it. Almost everything I know how to do with my hands, welding, wrenching, etc I either taught myself or I learned on the internet. Mostly internet, ha.

I understand what you older guys are saying, though. The world is changing, and resourceful basic mechanical skills aren't as valuable in today's world as they used to be. It also just depends on the area -- there are lots more people in the world now and the worlds of growing up in the city and in the country are vastly different, you acquire vastly different skill sets. I realized this going to school in the east coast, I'm from Oregon.

[TOOLS1]

I kind of have to agree with Lucky. "53 years old, and leave your wheels with a 19 year old kid at a gas station" I don't feel sorry, for you, and don't feel, you should be bitching about it. You should have known better, and taken them to a qualified, competent shop with the proper equipment, or better yet, done it yourself.
TOOLS  

[shinyribs]

I wouldnt be so hard on the "tire kid" just cuz he's 19. Tire machines are not hard to learn and there are only two places I take wheels that i care about in my area. One is an old timer that used to hang out with my Grandpa,the other is a guy in his early twenties that builds hoopty cars ( or whatever they're called...donks???) he's young,but he cares. The "adults" at the chain stores dont give a hoot. They get their hourly wage regardless. I find you get the best result when you use an independent shop. They understand the idea of responsibility way better than the guy that just slings tires for 8 hours a day cuz they cut him a check on Thursday.

[Hellbilly429]

yeah, that's the guy luke, lol, although I was reffering to Ghost flame who has made a computer out of a paper clip a piece of lint and a straw, jk

[Lucky 1]

Endwrench....You have learned many valuable skills and they will last you a lifetime.

Those skills are needed now more than ever because so many kids have
grown up just playing computer games and have not played outdoors or
 learned to build anything.

What you have is VERY valuable and you will see that too as your life goes on.
I am 63 and still change my own motorcycle tires and change the oil in my
truck and my wifes car build custom motorcycles too.

Saves money everytime.
Also I bought an OBDII diagnostic tool and fixed and located a bad oxygen sensor in
my wifes car.

Just take the rings out of your nose and things will go well for you. Lol...lol

I was lucky an older guy took the time to show me how to do it. A guy at a motorcycle shop.
He did call me squirrel all the time though.