Helped a kid fix his bike chain at a park last Saturday

I was just riding through Riverside Park last weekend when this kid, maybe 12 years old, flagged me down because his chain had come off and he was stuck. He said he'd been trying to fix it for 20 minutes but couldn't get the derailleur to line up. I showed him how to use a stick to push the chain back on instead of touching the greasy parts, and he was so excited when it worked. Then he told me he saved up for two months to buy that bike from a pawn shop for $60. He asked if I could show him how to clean the chain too, so I pulled out an old rag and walked him through it. Has anyone else had a random roadside repair turn into a teaching moment like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

parkerrodriguez17d ago

The stick trick works better with a twig, not a green branch.

campbell.nora16d ago

@parkerrodriguez you're totally right, a twig is way better than a green branch for that. I made that mistake once and it just bent instead of snapping right. Solid advice.