Dinosaurs - are we the end of the line?

[SteveC#222]

Start of the month topic

Timbo brought up this very relevant post on another thread and I hope he doesn't mind if I bring it up as a topic for discussion.

" Unfortunately I feel that at 50, I will be one of the last generation to have the pleasure of motorcycling. The powers that be do not want motorcycles on the road at all, and are succeeding in that by gradually regulating motorcycles off the road. Just look at what's involved in getting a motorcycle licence now. There is only a trickle of younger people bothering with motorcycles at all. The government won't ban motorcycles. They don't need to, as it will just wither away. Discuss  "

Now I'm guessing that the majority of us are in the 40+ age group so is he right? Not just on the motorcycling thing, but also a more general attitude towards mending and making, repairing and improvising and general practical skills?

I'm sure many of us have, over the years, coaxed dead and dying bikes back to life or had to improvise roadside repairs to get home or spent hours servicing and fettling or rebuilding bikes but these days many people either just leave it to a garage or if it's deemed beyond repair scrap or break it.

It breaks my heart at the amount of bicycles I see thrown away when they only need fairly minor repairs to get them working. I enjoy making stuff because I can - another hobby is archery and I make all my own quivers, leatherwork, targets, arrows not because I can't afford to buy them but because I get a lot of satisfaction using something I've made myself from scratch and often from  scrap. But these days a lot of people just get stuff from Ebay or Amazon because it's easy and they don't want the bother.

The generation following us seem to have largely lost the ability, desire and practical skills to use their hands to make and repair.

Am I right? Is Tim right? or am I just being a cantankerous old git?

Lets discuss

[johnr]

to a degree i think im in agreement. the culture of repairing stuff rather than replacing it is becoming a thing of the past. partly because its often cheaper to replace stuff than repair it, and partly because modern consumer goods, from radios and tv sets to cars and bikes arent designed for home mechanics. back in the not too distant past, when you bought a car or bike, it was taken for granted that sundays would see you with the bonnet up, adjusting valves topping oil and swapping plugs. it wasnt anything more than the normal behaviour of the average car owner. ease of maintainance was even used as a selling point, because manufacturers took it for granted that you would be doing your own spannering. but now the limit of home maintainance is blowing up the tyrees and ringing th garage when the light on the dash tells you to take it to the garage. if your tv went on the blink (that itself was a broken tv term) it was repairable, albeit by a man in a van who would turn up with a bag of old valves and diodes. as kids the first thing you did after you got your first bicycle was learn to adjust and oil the chain, tighten brake cables, and fix punctures. it was just how we did stuff. but i now still fix punctures in the tyres of my 27 year old daughter, the tv cost less than the call out charge for the tv repair man and cars need diagnostic computers to tell you they need their oil changing. thats just the way it is

[Richard]

Curmudgeons.

[timbo]

Yes, I try to fix stuff, cause there is great satisfaction in doing so. I've no proper engineering skills, but I enjoy fixing stuff. Also I'm as tight as a drum when it comes to paying for something I reckon I can do myself 
There's also a whole ideal in modern society were fixing things is beneath us. Every kid expects to go to University and go on to live some amazing life, where they never ever have to get their hands dirty. Just saying 

[Andy M]

Curmudgeons.

 

What you choose to repair is possibly the factor here. I know enough 20-somethings who can patch an I-Phone or hack their car dashboards to turn on features the manufacturers wanted to sell them. The fact they can't bind manuscripts in vellum or shoe a brontosaurus is neither here nor there.

Andy

[CrazyFrog]

I'd tend to agree.

I think that society now instills a sense of entitlement and arrogance into the younger generations, or at least those already predisposed to behave like this. I also think this is probably peculiar to western society at the moment. None of my own kids or my step kids have ever shown the slightest interest when I've been doing anything which could potentialy save them bundles of money in later life, whether it be decorating, plumbing, car repair or just general DIY. They seem to expect society to provide them with employment that will enable them to employ other people to do the dirty stuff. Add to this the fact that stuff is no longer 'repairable' anyway (I used to repair TV's, VCR's, Cars, Bikes etc. etc. etc. but wouldn't bother opening a modern TV or DVD player) and the end result is inevitable.

Andy M's probably right though - there will always be creative people, but they just find different outlets for their creativity now.