01 ——— Tinkering Hub

Fixing it myself is cheaper.

And more fun.

It started with the frustration that my bike breaks all the time. However, my father didn't have any patience, so I never wanted to ask him to help me fix it. There I started fixing products myself. Dissecting all kind of household electronics, meant that we could save a lot of money. Slowly over time, similarities in products started occurring to me. There I found that improving products can be fun too. There I went back to my bike and started adding multiple bikeparts to it. And so fixing bikes has not only become a hobby, but also a passion I keep returning to.

introduction colllect
introduction colllect
01 My Workplace
Modular to any place I go to

My workplace moves with me. As I have three locations to hop between, I move all my parts and tools to where I am at that moment. Sometimes this also includes taking the bike with me and travelling 3+ hours by train in the Netherlands.

A never ending story

Tinkering on my bike is my way to get away from the screen. It always needs maintenance, as I also use it daily. I always see ways of making my bike more universal to all the conflicting usecases I am using it for: road cycling, mountainbiking, city-proof.

02 Breaking & Fixing tools

Colllect is designed to organise your resources with tags. You can add multiple tags to an element and filter all elements with that tag on the page. You can also create collections if you want to be more organised, or projects where you can export your project to show it, for example, like a mood board to your team. You can also connect your Dribbble or Behance, and get your social feed directly into Colllect.

wireframes
Main items

The horder in me will never throw away broken parts, since parts of parts can be usefull too... :

  • Non-fitting parts

    As a lot of mountainbike parts are interchangeable, I always keep them in a plastic bag. By fixing other people's bikes, I always changed them with old parts I had at home. I could even swap whole bikes and keep a small student business running with the service.
    Now I also keep city-bike parts and racing bike parts. Electric bikes will be the next new challenge.

  • Multiple bike-specific tools

    In the picture there many tools visible: wrenches, hex keys, chain oil and a pump.

    Wrenches and hex keys are mainly for 'add-ons' for the bike. These parts include a lot of things that aren't fixed to the frame: the stirring wheel, the wheels, the pedals, the shifter, breaks and yes also the bicycle bell.

    There are three specific biketools exclusive for bike fixing: the spoke tensioner, a casette remover, and a crankpuller. The first one is to fix the tension in the wheel and prevent it from bending. The casette remover I use to change gear 'casettes' at the backpart of a wheel. Specifically smaller gears will wear down sooner, so I tend to replace them often for both myself and fellow students. The crankremover is for the attachment where the pedalling happens. It is so specific to each brand and type, that if you have a problem with your crank, I tend to refer to the brand specific bike specialists.

  • Bike fixing warnings!

    Never use WD40 for your bikechain! I keep warning my fellow students all the time about this. WD40 won't damage your chain though, but is for sure not a good lubricant for what you want it to use for. It is mainly a cleaner and comes off quickly in wet conditions. Use chain oil that specifically is made for it. This will mainly keep you chain lubricated without having too much clutter in there either.

    Second warning! Never use a tire tool to put the outside tire on you wheel. It will damage your metalling parts of the wheel. Use patience and repetitive massaging the tire: then it will prop on... at some point... hours later...

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wireframes tag
03 More Tinkering domains

It all started with bike fixing, but over the years it extended further. Due to my studies and the curiousity that comes with every product I get in touch with.

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Printing Boardgames

I like to print personalized board game pieces for my friends and family, and will always find ways to break improve the pieces.

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Domotica

An interesting field of electronics functionality we don't need, but is fun to build. My quality of life significantly improves when I can automize tasks in my home that saves me a few minutes or even seconds in the morning, by trying to implement projects that take me days to make it work.

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Software Systems

Creating an own Recipe App and a physical Jukebox compatible with spotify, will always need improvement. Maintenance and adding new functionalities will always make these projects never ending stories.

Thanks for watching! Back home
Other Cases Studies
00 About me View Page

Who I am
 

My studies and interests
 

02 Material Table How tinkerable is it?

Reviewing Tinkering Materials.

Toys are fun. Some are more fun than others.