Thinking about the DIY philosophy

Lets suppose you are short on money. And lets suppose you are equipped with medium technical talent. And let us also estimate that those things which you like to have are not available in the quality or layout you would like to have.

That (at least for me) is the point when it is tool time (Which can be easily seen by looking at our bikes). Why buying when you can build all by yourself? Maybe cheaper even, or more light-weighted, or more reliable? Me, here not even talking about that pride you experience by having accomplished such a task, building up something by yourself.

Lets be clear about that: Every man (and woman!) who does it simply follows his natural behaviour-doing it yourself means getting in contact with the product, means CREATION, bringing something into reality which only existed in your mind before. Whole industries do live because they simply  fulfill this demand.

Me, well, I am crazy about that. When I was a little boy, I loved staying in my grandfathers garage, looking through all those mysterious drawers filled with 1 million small things I didn´t even have the smallest clue of what it was. And I loved watching my grandfather repairing his TRABANT, this famous and nearly undestroyable (->JOKE) public GDR means of transportation.

Because you always had problems getting spare parts, people in GDR tended to store everything they could get – which led to garages and carhouses containing lots of chests, full of proverbially everything. And especially my grandfather had a lot of space for storing stuff.

When I grew up, I first worked as a mechanic, later I did study and now I work as an engineer. Looks like a completely natural evolution compared to the beginning, isn´t it? 🙂

And until now I like to do everything I can by myself. Especially bicycles-there´s no engine (tricky stuff !!! ) , not a lot of electrical components and you can acces every part of the machine very easily.

But I had to learn the hard way that there´s some rules, which can tell you if you should do something by yourself or simply BUY it.

Following them is not always easy, you have to decide it yourself if they apply to you.

1. Be aware WHY you do it. Do you like the doing, or do you want to achieve the goal of having and without problems using it? If the second applies to you, I suggest buying.

2.Be aware how MUCH you spend – money and time. For example, stainless steel bolts and nuts can be quite expensive if you need lots of them. I always am quite surprised how much all those tiny, shiny parts cost when arriving at the market checkout…  The less you are experienced in building up something, the more it costs-broken screws need to be replaced, or tools have to be bought.

3.As the thing you end up is not always the same that you intended to build in the first place, it is always recommended to ask for the USEABILITY. Bike equipment has to be lightweighted, reliable and easy to repair. The less parts it has, the better.

4.Most important: SECURITY. What you build up, can threaten your or the life of others. In most cases, you do not realize the danger in the first place, do you? Quite a few years ago I mounted an exhaust pipe to my first motorcycle, not realizing that the connecting bolt pierced the tire when the suspension was deflected. The bolt cut a deep notch into the tire when I was riding the bike with a friend, fortunately we realized the stench of hot rubber before the tire exploded.

So, what can you do against such problems?

Check what you want to do.

Check again what you do whilst building it.

Check and double-check what you have produced, and then: CHECK AGAIN.

Good luck at building your own world 😉