With much of what we have considered “standard” in the world of bicycles changing recently, I was wondering, “How long before only a specialist can work on a bicycle?”

Much like the auto industry, it seems as though technology is driving the “do-it-your-selfer” out of the picture. Years ago, “shade tree” mechanics were all over the place, wrenching and tuning up cars to run their finest. Now days, as we are all only too painfully aware, the cost for a car specialist to “hook up” your car to a diagnostic machine to discover the reason for your check engine light is more than a complete tune up used to cost back in the day. And you haven’t even yet begun to “fix” your problem.

While I’m not suggesting that bicycles will ever reach such a deplorable state, what I am saying is that the tools and knowledge required to “wrench” on your own bike is constantly in flux and to stay on top of it requires much attention and lots of “cash-ola” for the new tooling to work on these technological marvels of two wheeled goodness.

I just purchased four bottom bracket related tools myself. Oddly enough, two of these were for slight modifications to existing technology that my old tools were not compatible with. The other two were for new technologies recently released that I expect to see coming in for service sooner than later. And that’s not even touching recently announced or released technologies for bottom brackets like BB-30 or Shimano’s newer inboard/outboard bearings. Add in wheels, headsets, and chains and it’s a wonder that any home mechanic can keep up with any of it.

And what of your ease of use? Even that is being affected now with new protocol for things that used to be a “no-brainer”. Take for example the recent move to integrate seat tubes into mounts for your saddle, eliminating that lowly seat post. A recent customer of the shop I work at had an incident where a simple raising of his saddle caused a frame failure. The company handling the warranty issue intimated that it was perhaps due to the customers failure to own, have the knowledge to use, and maintain a torque wrench to properly tighten the two four millimeter bolts that secure his saddle to the seat mast. Now, it may be said that perhaps the customer “bought the wrong bike”, but it can be equally argued that technology that requires more knowledge and expensive maintenance tools to simply raise ones saddle is- if not utterly rediculous- a turn in the wrong direction for the bicycle industry.

Sure, we can own the “F-1″ rig, the equivalent to the unattainable race machines in other wheeled sports, but this is getting beyond that sort of thing, and it has been creeping up on us for years. Will it soon be that one wanting a high performance bicycle won’t be able to work or adjust on it without taking it to an “authorized service technician”? Is this even a bad thing, or is it the price we have to pay to play?

I feel that one of the most endearing traits of bicycling has been its simplicity, its ease of use, and the ability of the end user to keep the machine humming along. I hope that never ends, but these newest rounds of “technological advancements” don’t seem so much like “steps forward” to my mind.