Where did you learn to fix your bike?

saracenman09

Just felt like posting this, as i just wanna know how you lot learned to maintain your rides, please vote this time!!!!

ride_whenever

learn punctures from my dad, then went to uni, bought a decent bike and learnt maintenance, then once i knew a bit more i ended up working in a bike shop!

bomberesque

in my shed. with some tools. and some common sense (OK and sometimes a replacement bit that i've buggered up)

The Northern Monkey

www.parktool.com

MountainPete

Garage, me, some online guides and a lot of guesswork!

Raymondavalon

I am very mechanically minded. My father and my son both make a living with their hands
Strangely I skipped that vocation and make a living as a consultant - suit and tie.. :¬P
I've learned to turn, mill, thread/tap, weld, bend and various other garage centric DIY skills over the years.

To be honest, MTBs are one of the easier items to maintain with the exception of building/trueing wheels, indexing and bleeding brakes - as I don't have the bleed kits for all the makes of brakes on my bikes.

One thing I have learned from my dad and never forgotten: If you buy the best tools you can afford and the right tools for the job, you'll get it right first time...

Airienteer

Trial and Error.......come to think of it there was quite a lot of error at first!!

RealMan

Garage and fiddling, mates, Dad, a few books, bit of internet, instruction leaflets, etc. etc.

Never done a course or worked in a bike shop.

dave_hill

bomberesque wrote:

in my shed. with some tools. and some common sense (OK and sometimes a replacement bit that i've buggered up)

Ditto.

Pull stuff in bits, see how it works. Put it back together again. If it doesn't work the same or better than before you started, try again until it breaks then replace.

Same goes for bicycles, washing machine, lawnmowers, cars, motorbikes, compressors, etc., etc.

And in the case of a mate of mine, Land Rovers and a Russian helicopter turbine too....

saracenman09

Who moved this?

Northwind

Trial and error, basically, I started working on my own bikes when I was about 10 as my dad's a mechanical disaster area, I had to fix my own punctures when I was 6 I did the same when I got into motorbikes, learned it by doing it.

Andy B

Taught myself how to do it 25 years ago, no books, no internet, just some basic tools and broken bike parts

Also worked in bike shops, which taught me a few more tricks.

Still learning stuff now (really need to start building wheels)

snotty badger

If you can figure out how stuff works then you can pretty much fix it IMO....

Dazzza

Like others i am very mechanically minded and slowly getting into electronics, done a few pcb's which btw require damned good eyesight and a steady pair of hands.

Try fiddling with cars, bikes are childs play by comparison and a damn sight more expensive when things go wrong, which btw they have done least for me!!!

Only thing i haven't done is take apart front forks, i've done rear cans enough time and they're dead simple, just like well opening a can only with seals and bits, quite simple though a boa constrictor gripper makes things easier i can just use my own grip to take em apart.

I really should provide a service for taking them apart lol.

nicklouse

Osmosis.

Andy B

nicklouse wrote:

Osmosis.

Joe_Pineapples

I've generally buggered up a long list of bicycles from a very early age, to the point that all they were good for was scavenging parts to make a bogey.

This has given me the belief that I can maintain and service my current fleet of high tech, high performance mountain bikes.

This is also why I'm on first name terms with the bloke in my LBS.

Hercule Q

guessing and swearing in the shed

docker0141

friends

Anonymous

im a mechanic so i find bikes relatively simple, anything i cant be fussed with figuring out myself i can normally find an answer on here somewhere.

myopic

Y chromosome 8)

As others have said, taking broken stuff to bits as a kid to find out how they work, and (sometimes) getting them back together again. gets you into a mechanical frame of mind and gives you confidence. Most things are simple enough, once you know what needs to be done AND have the right tools. Of course, knowing what needs to be done is the tricky bit and that's where an experienced friend or website can help.

the one exception to this I think is wheel building. Don't thikn that is mechanical and I've never tried this. Maybe one day...

Kiblams

myopic wrote:

As others have said, taking broken stuff to bits as a kid to find out how they work, and (sometimes) getting them back together again.

+1

I simply can't afford LBS fixes and am way to impatient to let someone take the bike away from me for a few days to fix something which would take me an evening. It may take a whole night the first time but gets quicker the time after.

It realy helps for botch fixes out in the wilderness too.

dave_hill

myopic wrote:

the one exception to this I think is wheel building. Don't thikn that is mechanical and I've never tried this. Maybe one day...

The theory is actually very simple. It's just finding the time to and money to buy (or build) the tools you need and actually putting it into practice.

Bikehawk

+1

Hours spent in the shed ripping old bikes apart and then trying to figure out where all the bits go when trying to to put it back together with as few "pocket pieces" as possible. Getting destroyed with oil and grease was a great side benefit when a kid.

Pocket Pieces : defined as when you have taken something apart, repaired it and put it back together and it runs fine. The left over bits go into your pocket/spares bin.

stickygreen

I'm still learning, get advise from the guys off here and give it a go myself,easy

joshtp

MountainPete wrote:

Garage, me, some online guides and a lot of guesswork!

+1, often expensive guesswork. sometimes i get scared when im doin somethin and i realise im out od my depth, like yesterday half way through a ful strip of my TST2 damper. :?

paul.skibum

Had a haynes bike book, my brothers old racer and a couple of spanners - went from there. Have repaired most things on my bike and somehow became the font of knowledge amongst my mates for fixing bikes.

The Spiderman

Totally self taught.I used to strip and rebuild bikes from the age of about 14,so its just been a gradual evolution.

From bikes,I went to cars and now back to bikes again.

It isn`t actually that hard if you can follow instructions and are mechanically minded.There is also the case of having the confidence to try,but there comes a point where you just have to get stuck in........

Buggered a few things up before,but you won`t censored it up a second time!

fletch8928

I learnt because i had too, no bike shop in town when i was taking up proper cycling and my old man wasnt alive. He taught me enough about landrovers that it was just logical to do it myself. I must get some air forks to strip down and play with then i will be confident if i have to do a job on them.
I cant believe that i have fixed mates' bikes when we are miles from home. It makes me wonder what they will do when someone isnt there in the future.

supersonic

From my ,ates, thena bike shop, then for myself.

I am still learning.

bails87

MountainPete wrote:

Garage, me, some online guides and a lot of guesswork!

That!