Meditations on a Blue Lug.

Blue Lug is a cycle repair shop based in Tokyo.
This is a 35 minute video filmed as one of their mechanics assembles a road bike.

You may find watching this excruciatingly boring….or, as I do, you may find it fascinating and relaxing with a side dolop of ASMR.

There is something about watching a skilled mechanic, or craftsperson or artisan at work with their hands (with not a digitally connected device within cooee) that digs straight to the heart of the great matter at hand.

In my opinion, there is great significance in the fact that you could never elicit such a response (at least in me) watching a 35 min video of an office worker at their computer, or a board meeting, or a leadership seminar, or a politician going about their business. Yes, great significance.

It may well give your soul a little massage to stop scrolling and try to get into this.

Perhaps if we paid bike mechanics as much as CEO’s and CEO’s as much as bike mechanics, the world would be a better place.

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Ian Miller

July 25, 2025

Found objects

analogue, Bike, creativity, meditation, technology

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One response to “Meditations on a Blue Lug.”

swiftlya09a96ac8c

July 25, 2025 at 4:52 pm

Dear Ian,

It’s always amusing to see how differently people experience the world!

As you might recall, I’m a theoretical physicist, a philosophical idealist, and a lifelong admirer of Japan. In my case, however, physical matter – that stubborn, rule-obsessed phase of consciousness – feels almost like a personal affront. I’ve always longed for a more dreamlike reality, one where things are gracefully vague and nothing ever bruises your shins.

Mechanical devices, in particular, seem to sense my presence and either injure me or self-destruct in protest. Naturally, I deeply admire true craftsmanship – like that of a skilled Japanese bicycle repair master – but the physical realm is clearly not my natural habitat.

That’s why I’m especially grateful to dwell (mostly safely) in the ethereal world of my computer.

Keep up the fantastic blogging!

Warm regards,Claus Metzner

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