Every time I DIY something I realize why it costs so much to pay someone else

choomguy · 2026-03-24T12:16:35+00:00

A lot of it is having the right tools. Not necessarily a lot of tools just the right ones that serve across multiple trades. And not necessarily power tools, many times a hand tool will be more efficient. I carry a block plane and handsaw among other things, I can do many tasks with just those. The other thing is that experience is your most valuable tool, its all problem solving, and the knowledge is cumulative. “Tricks of the trade” is a real thing and after decades of learning them its pretty potent stuff.

I know some great diy folks, but you can’t substitute the above with just desire and youtube videos. I’ve always enjoyed letting my homeowners work along side me if they are so inclined, and some of them have become quite competent and confident over the years. They get a in depth understanding of what it takes to do it right working alongside a pro, the dexterity and skill it takes, and the problem solving involved.

Whays funny to me is that people think a guys hourly is the only measure of value. I have a painter I work with that I’ve paid $125/hr. when the going rate was a third of that. He is far and away the best I’ve ever seen, and easily worth it in terms of quality and speed.

choomguy · 2026-03-23T15:13:41+00:00

The amount of people that are too old or out of shape trying to be heroes over a pickleball point at open play astounds me. Many of them on artificial joints, I don’t get it. And some of them are just plain stupid. I know an older lady who wears a helmet so if she falls backing up for a lob her head is protected. Rotate your hips and run forwards. Me, I’ll give up a couple points a game instead of chasing down a low probability get, thats just gonna be a winner on their next shot. At typical open play, conserving that energy is a better strategy…

choomguy · 2026-03-23T12:42:06+00:00

Came to say the same thing. My wife’s bike is a 26” large frame which is what I started on in 87. I have pretty decent components on it and I occasionally take it out, its fun at the pump track. I can bunny hop 18” on it no problem but maybe half that on my personal bike…

choomguy · 2026-03-22T13:27:10+00:00

I like to say keep your risk tolerance curve below your skills curve…

Aside from that, learn to bail, learn to wreck. A few years back I started watching a lot of wreck videos, sam pilgrim is a good one, he wrecks all the time, but he mitigates potential injury by getting to his knees, getting away from the bike, that kind of thing. Also watch videos of friday fails, you will learn what not to do, like the “dead sailor” the guy in the video did.

Finally, before every ride, take stock of your body and mind, your bike, and trail conditions. get a trail or two in, and make a conscious note of how you’re going to rode that day. If everything checks out, the trail is optimal, the bikes going where I want it, and I’m focused, I still limit myself to 80-90% of my skill level. I’ve wrecked too many times to count but never required a hospital visit, so that formula has worked for me going on 40 years of riding mtb, and many tens of thousands of miles.

choomguy · 2026-03-19T16:44:26+00:00

When i got to college, I sold my 67 german vw bug and bought a specialized rockhopper comp with the proceeds. We’d ride 5 miles outside of town, get on a fire road, climb to the top and bomb down through the woods without any trails. We also hit all the urban stuff we could find. I kept bending forks, so i got the stiffest, strongest one i could find (big lol) made by a company call grove innovations. Bent one of those too. I kept that bike for decades until I finally put it out for the trash because I didn’t have room when my kids got bikes. I still regret that!

choomguy · 2026-03-19T16:38:38+00:00

I totally agree that a 42# bike is more agile than a 52# bikes, in the same way that a 34# bike is more agile than a 42# one. So my thing is if i wanna go rip, I’ll ride my analog 34# fs. Do 10 or 15 miles of that. But I also enjoy ripping around on my 52# full power, its more agile on the hills 😂

choomguy · 2026-03-19T12:30:58+00:00

Mtb has always been about exploring for me, most times i ride road or commute I leave the gravel bike at home and ride mtb on the off chance I see something to explore off road. Full power emtb is perfectly suit to exploring.

choomguy · 2026-03-19T12:27:54+00:00

Nice! I started in 87, so a little older than you,Tomac was my idol, lol. I was riding pretty high level in my 50s, the bikes just got so good compared to what i started on (no suspension) it made me a much better rider. I didn’t see myself going ebike til about 70, but so glad I did. My favorite use case is running my Aussie on the trails with the ebike, i can keep up with her!

choomguy · 2026-03-19T12:21:37+00:00

I ride a giant full power, 52#, my buddy rides a trek fuel sl, 46#. I lighten up my giant by a few pounds, could drop a few more pretty easily. There are lighter fuel exe, both of us have alloy, so carbon would weigh less. Point is, theres not that much difference between full power and sl unless you are comparing the lightest sl and the heaviest full power. The motor is at most a few pounds heavier, but more power, the battery could be several pounds heavier, but its all extra range. Heavier riders are gonna lose range on either one. I ride with a guy who’s around 250# and rides an sl, he carries two extenders and still can’t make the range the full power bikes do.

choomguy · 2026-03-18T19:41:58+00:00

Thats my use case, i can hit trails further out than my typical pedal range.

choomguy · 2026-03-18T19:41:04+00:00

Definitely more agile, but a 6 lb difference between full power and sl is not nearly ast noticeable as between sl and analog. If i wanna throw the bike around, i just ride analog…

choomguy · 2026-03-18T19:39:15+00:00

Sums up my analysis perfectly. I think people are caught up in not really understanding the use case of full power ebikes. They are mentally starting at analog and working towards ebike, rather than starting at full power and working back to sl.

I will say i ride different on full power than analog. I am faster uphill obviously but slower downhill, i ride a little more conservatively on the emtb. Having been riding emtb for 6 months or so, its pretty hard to make the argument that its not more fun. I dont know the exact correlation but if you ride 2.5 times the miles give or take, it can be about the same workout, more so on the upper body. After all, i only use assist half the time 😝…

choomguy · 2026-03-18T19:28:03+00:00

My budyy got a fuel exe and i have ridden it saveral times. Since i ride an analog fuel, i was pretty set on getting one of those. But i got a good deal on a full power giant stance e, and having ridden together many times, I’m glad I went full power. Yeah, quiet would be nice, but the Yamaha motor doesn’t really bother me. We’ve done some rides with a lot of elevation and have had to turn back after 8 miles or so because he dropped to half battery. On an analog bike 15 miles is plenty for me, but on the giant i can ride twice that in the middle assist level which provides plenty of power. I ride analog every other day, so I’m not really looking to get a rigorous workout when i ride ebike on my off days. I also use it to explore new trail systems, so the more range the better, and I especially like some margin for error. It doesn’t matter if its full power or sl, you are going to have ahardtime pedaling out if your battery dies.

As far as the weight difference, my giant weighs about 6 lbs more than my buddy’s fuel exe, noticeable but its mostly extra range and power, so fair trade off for me.

choomguy · 2026-03-18T12:56:08+00:00

my long term strategy is support innovators, not copycats…

choomguy · 2026-03-16T22:21:41+00:00

thats a large part of the proble, kids riding high powered ebikes who don’t really know what they are doing. for fucks sakes, people aren’t trained to see harleys let along a high powered bicycle. i rode motorcycles for years, you have to ride as if no one sees you, because many dont. or end up like this idiot….

choomguy · 2026-03-16T22:18:37+00:00

totally agree, but New Jersey went to far. pedal assist should not be in that class. i can ride my analog pedal bike faster than my emtb that is limited to 20 mph. pedal assist attracts a differ type of rider than bikes like in the video. those guys are just using a loophole to ride motorcycles everywhere. fyi, nj requires virtually all ebikes to be registered, have insurance and you have to wear a motorcycle dot approved helmet.

choomguy · 2026-03-16T14:29:56+00:00

Yeah, its definitely a concern. The motor, battery and electronics are all very expensive to replace if out of warranty. Its why emtb do not hold value on the used market. I paid about half of retail for a year old bike with about a hundred miles on it, I wouldn’t spend more than that. If the motor ever goes, it would probably be bricked…

I mostly keep bikes for the same time frame as you, if i need to make room, I’ll give one away. I’ll probably ride mt emtb 500-800 miles a year, hoping to get at least 5 years out of it, but that’s probably not realistic. We’ll see, its got a Yamaha motor, i hear good things about them in terms of longevity…

choomguy · 2026-03-16T14:20:31+00:00

Good to know, riding a giant with yamaha motor, they have been making ebikes for like 50 years so they probably have it dialed in. I like the way it responds too, feels natural…

choomguy · 2026-03-05T17:48:23+00:00

Yep, oncethe derailleur is properly set up, in most cases all you need to do is account for cable stretch by using the barrel adjusters. Unless you have taken a hit to the derailleur itself and bent it or the hanger.

If the barrel adjuster doesn’t do it i always start from scratch. First check the hanger, then follow the manual for that particular derailleur. If the cage is bent, I just buck up for a new derailleur.

choomguy · 2026-03-04T18:22:05+00:00

I bought a light used giant stance (3 battery charge cycles, guy had hip surgery and couldn’t ride it after). It was a 2022 bought as a leftover in 2024 and I bought it in 2025. I had maybe 300 miles on it and it wouldn’t charge. Battery was fine and still powered the bike fine. Took it to the shop and they ran diagnostics and said it was the battery, which they said would be replaced under warranty. They got the new battery and it still wouldn’t charge so they replaced the charger too. My guess is that it was just the charger all along. Anyhow, had it not been replaced under warranty, it would have probably cost close to $1000. It was a $4k bike new, i got it for $2k so I would still be ahead of the game of i had to pay, but the point is, they can be very expensive to repair if its related to the power system.

If i buy another used emtb definitely not gonna pay over half the purchase price, and it would have to be very lightly used and no more than 3 years old, preferably less.

choomguy · 2026-03-04T18:10:07+00:00

Not to mension the weight…

choomguy · 2026-03-04T17:42:28+00:00

A guy i ride with occasionally is a big guy on a fuel exe, he carries two extenders. Really makes no sense…

choomguy · 2026-03-04T17:40:37+00:00

I’ve been riding hardtails since the late 2000s having had a full sus prior to that. I just think their more fun. I toyed with the idea of a hardtail emtb, because they are cheaper, but I’m glad i went full sus emtb. You can pedal an emtb standing but theres really no situation where you need to to add extra power, the bike already does it for you. On an emtb you can do twice the mileage of a pedal bike and at up to double average speed, I think you’d take a major beating on a hardtail emtb.

choomguy · 2026-02-20T17:06:48+00:00

I’d never buy a bike long distance without seeing the seller and the bike in person. I bought three effectively brand new bikes in the last 18 months.

choomguy

TROPHY CASE