Who fixes your bike?

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StevieGriff wrote: »

Do it all myself, every time a big job popped up (bottom bracket or headset..ect) I just buy the specific tools for it so over the years I've built up a tool box to fix 98% of problems. And now I work I've ended up working in a bike shop because of this

Picking up the tools is so easy with online ordering these days, and for the casual cyclist there's not need to go for expensive top end tools, then with youtube instructionals its easier than ever to get stuck in yourself.

diomed

I fix it. Well, I just replace things (some of them aren't broken).

StevieGriff

Beckett Echoing Tarantula wrote: »

Picking up the tools is so easy with online ordering these days, and for the casual cyclist there's not need to go for expensive top end tools, then with youtube instructionals its easier than ever to get stuck in yourself.

Not a truer word spoken! Next on the list for tools is a decent torque wrench, have a Topeak combotorq but don't really trust it and with my switch to a full carbon racer I want something dependable and accurate!

macnab

I do all my own builds and repairs. I have also built bikes for friends and family. I repair and maintain bikes for lots of friends and family also. I often wonder how much of this work would dry up if I started charging. It is however a labour of love so I am not complaining.

snollup

Try to fix most (simple) things myself. Had been bring my bike over to Skeff (Boardie) but then he left the country. Then started to bring the bike over to Karma (another Boardie) but them he left the country. Then started bring the bike into Eurocycles on St. William St but then the shop closed!! I'm starting to feel a little to blame for the countries immigration problems.

Thankfully the guts in Eurocycles are still there but the shop has changed owners. If anything the service has gone from excellent to excellenter :pac::pac::pac:

cdaly_

macnab wrote: »

I repair and maintain bikes for lots of friends and family also. I often wonder how much of this work would dry up if I started charging. It is however a labour of love so I am not complaining.

I do a bit of this too but I make the client do the work under guidance so they're learning how to do it themselves (and hopefully absorbing the notion that DIY is a reasonable option)...

triggermortis

I used to use my LBS in Carrickmacross but recently moved to Zurich. Had an issue that I tried to sort myself and realised how little I know about bikes. I changed a BB myself, fitted a new chain and RD but just could not get it set up.
Took it to a shop here to set up gears, true a wheel and fix a bottle holder boss. 125 CHFs!! (About €100). Nothing is cheap here so I need to learn more about bike maintenance!!!

2 Wheels Good

I was talking with a friend about this. There's a LBS shop in Cork that's sadly winding down business, but we were thinking they should do some evening classes in repair/servicing. There's a lot of things that are easy to do once you know how. I'd be comfortable with most of the basics but it would be good to know how to do a basic strip down of your bike, change cables properly etc.

eeeee

cdaly_ wrote: »

I do a bit of this too but I make the client do the work under guidance so they're learning how to do it themselves (and hopefully absorbing the notion that DIY is a reasonable option)...

I have had the benefit of this tutelage

Once someone shows you something it gives you the confidence to go off and do it on your own, even if it's another job entirely. It's having it explained what things do, and showing you that it would crumble and die if you touch it. I hadn't a clue, not a notion, but after cdaly_'s this-is-how-a-bike-works and rear hub and BB lesson I went on and did the rest of my hubs (other bikes), headset, brakes, adjusted front and back derallieurs. I don't know if I would do a BB on my own though, that is a supervised job!

You should run courses. I can pay you in cake

bwalsh1983

2 Wheels Good wrote: »

I was talking with a friend about this. There's a LBS shop in Cork that's sadly winding down business, but we were thinking they should do some evening classes in repair/servicing. There's a lot of things that are easy to do once you know how. I'd be comfortable with most of the basics but it would be good to know how to do a basic strip down of your bike, change cables properly etc.

Never good to hear. Which shop is it? Not exactly a huge amuont of shops in the city as it stands.

2 Wheels Good

bwalsh1983 wrote: »

Never good to hear. Which shop is it? Not exactly a huge amuont of shops in the city as it stands.

Blarney cycles out at the driving range. Pity as Aidan is a good mechanic. It'd be a good location for classes, either as a classroom or bring your own and work on it as a group.

Bloggsie

I have gone to the LBS that I got my bike in for a couple of services, I did a spin a while ago & a friend of my wifes husband was taking our bikes to the start, he advised me that the front & back wheels were loose & that the brakes werent something(cant remember exactly what he said). he did the remedies & the bike is hunky dorey.
I have not gone back to the LBS since or I didnt mention it to them.

as an aside one of my colleagues who used the same LBS had an issue with a service on his OH's bike! I decided that I would go elsewere for future service, possibly the guy that spotted the issues as he does his own services on his roadbike, mtb & his wife's roadbike.

Seweryn

loinnsigh wrote: »

I typically try to repair everything myself, then go to my LBS to undo the damage I've done.
Owner always smiles when he sees me coming sheepishly through the door with unwell bike in hand.

I am slowly getting better though - LBS owner is very good (and patient) at explaining how I should have repaired it...

Great story. Reminds me of that picture in the bottom left corner .

Living in a quite remote place and cycling to work every day, I can't imagine having my bike serviced by anybody else except myself. The bike gets attention every 1-2 days for a basic service and I try to keep in stock the usual wear and tear items, if anything pops out to be replaced. It is not always easy, especially when a wheel needs to be repaired, but you live and learn.

nak

Can change gears, chain etc on the track bike myself, but leave most of the maintenance on my geared bikes to my husband as he's a mechanic.

numorouno

My 82 year old bike mechanic died. Funeral this evening RIP