DIY maintenance

ullu

I'm guessing that most of the regular posters here do their own repair and upgrade work (other than extremely complex things anyway).

I didn't know anything about bike maintenance before I started cycling regularly about two or three years ago but I'm still limited to fixing punctures, changing brake pads, cleaning and looking after the chain and cassette properly etc.

So I'm wondering how the mechanically minded among you progressed from total novice to being confident to take your bike apart, adding new components and the like. (i.e is it just a matter of trial and error, referring to guidebooks, asking mechanics what they did in the shop and trying yourself next time etc). My main fear is that I begin tinkering, totally mess it up and have to bring my bike to my LBS with a crimson face.

Cheers

ednwireland

trial and error currently figuring out how to change the rim on a wheel and re tension (failing miserably) guess when you have spare wheels, frames, parts lying around then its more tempting. but then i did spend a lot of time with my dad getting bikes off the tip and doing them up in the 70's

Rob_l

Im in the same boat OP my main hope is that when i buy my new bike( its coming soon I can now get a bike from wiggle as part of the public sector BTW scheme) i can then disassemble my old bike in the hope that when i do I can figure out what the hell Im doing and put it back together, but without the risk of having no bike to cycle on.

seamus

I learned largely through trial and error as a teenager and reading biking magazines which often contained (still contain?) step-by-step workshops on performing various servicings yourself.

Back in those days we did a lot of "bodging" - making things fit whether or not they were supposed to and using tools to perform functions which they may not specifically have been designed.

I also did a week here and there in the workshop of cycle superstore, which helped because I found out what the right tools looked like

In general, there's not a massive amount to most jobs. Most jobs involve unscrewing a number of bolts, remove the part, clean it, check it and any adjoining parts for damage and then grease the ****e out of it and replace it in exactly the reverse order that you removed it.
For most jobs there are only a few golden rules:

1. Always use the right tools for the job. If your spanner/allen key is too small, even by 1mm, you risk rounding the bolt and then the job it becomes a whole lot more painful. If you don't have the right tool for something, don't pull out a vice grips and give it a go. Please.

2. Have plenty of space, and keep it clean. A troublesome job will be exacerbated by constantly bumping into the lawnmower every time you move, or not being able to find a tool in the pile of stuff you've left on the ground.

3. When unscrewing something, if it's absolutely not moving, check to see whether you're turning it in the right direction. When screwing something in, be very wary if you hit a point of serious resistance - unscrew the item and start again or you risk threading it.

4. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's tempting to take some bits apart just to clean them or see how they work, but some things don't take kindly to it. Gear cables or brake cables are a good example - if you remove these, replace them with brand new ones, don't bother trying to get your old cables back in. If something is normally well-sealed, such as a headset or wheel hub, then don't take it apart unless it needs to be taken apart.

ROK ON

@Ullu.

I was in a similar boat until recently. I took a lesson from Mr. Skeff.
Very informative and patient. I also bought the Park Tools maintenance book.

Since then I have replaced chains, casettes and a crankset.
It is not overly difficult with knowledge, patience and the correct tools.

Take a lesson (not sure where you are based - but in Dublin try Mr skeffington here n boards). Learning to do own bike maintenance is money well spent.

tomasrojo

http://sheldonbrown.com
http://parktool.com/repair/
Richards' Bicycle Repair Book (it was written by two men called Richard)
The Bike Book by Fred Milson

I was very lacking in confidence at the beginning and easily frustrated. But it's been well worth it in the end. But now I've bought a new bike, I've got to go and learn new skills, as my old-school cup-and-cone skills are largely defunct.

Best to start with easier jobs; changing cables, tubes, that type of thing. Most good manuals rate jobs in terms of difficulty, so master the easier ones first.