Bike servicing

pottssteve

Hi All,

I own few tools and have the mechanical skills of a Neanderthal so tend to get the chap at my LBS to service by bike for me (and yes, I mean service, it's not a double-entendre). My question is, do any of you chaps do likewise or do you have the skills, equipment and opposible thumbs required to do it yourself? And if you use the LBS, what do they charge for a check and tune up?

Ta,
Steve

pneumatic

I do it myself:

- because I'm too mean to pay someone else
- because I'm too proud to let someone else
- because I'm too paranoid about getting ripped off (I have a bad history with car mechanics)
- because I like fiddling about with mechanical things (Meccano-trained boy!)
- because I go on tour with a friend who is completely hopeless, never maintains his bike and always has a problem miles from anywhere. Either I get involved or we're both stranded.

Slow Downcp

I do all my own, partly beacuse the guy who got me in to cycling 20+ years ago showed me how to completely strip and rebuild my bike (inclusing old fashioned loose bearing headsets and hubs). Everything is easy enough.

Other reasons:
1. I detest paying someone else to do something that I could do/easily learn.
2. I know it's done how I want it done - I'd be paranoid if someone else did it.
3. If anything happens whilst out on the road, I can normally sort it without having to rely on my mobile back up vehicle (Wife).

GiantMike

pneumatic wrote:

I do it myself:

- because I'm too mean to pay someone else
- because I'm too proud to let someone else
- because I'm too paranoid about getting ripped off (I have a bad history with car mechanics)
- because I like fiddling about with mechanical things (Meccano-trained boy!)
- because I go on tour with a friend who is completely hopeless, never maintains his bike and always has a problem miles from anywhere. Either I get involved or we're both stranded.

I'm the same as pneumatic. I built both my cross bikes from scratch too.

Bike maintenance, especially road bikes, is really very simple, and you'd recover the cost of any tools needed very quickly. It also allows you to buy spares from the interweb and fit them yourself rather than paying 'shop prices'. Truing wheels, for example, is a piece of p!ss and not worth the effort of taking it to a shop and being charged £10 for 3 minutes work. Changing a cassette? 5 minutes max. Lubing cables and adjusting gears? 15 minutes on a bad day.

plowmar

Take mine to LBS as, possibly like you, I have a great fear of adjusting something and the bike falling to pieces at an inopportune moment.

I know it's possible that that will happen with a LBS but then you have someone to sue. :twisted: :twisted:

Anyway what's £20 per service.

bompington

I prefer to do it myself for all the reasons already posted - but sometimes I don't for 2 reasons:
1. time,
2. despite having most of the tools I often seem to wind up with bits stuck that I can't get out (most recently pedal in crank, then BB). So I take them to LBS (chapeau to Richards in Perth) who have done some of the quicker jobs for free, or in some cases I think "Oh well, might as well just get them to do it", so I guess that's
3. Pure laziness

Mister W

I do it myself. It's not rocket science and it means you can be sure it is done right, you know how to fix it if it breaks at the side of the road and you save a bit of cash. The only thing I've had done by the bike shop is new wheel bearings as they need a bit of force to get on and off. If the bike shop uses too much force and breaks the wheel then they replace it. If I break it then I'm a couple of hundred quid out of pocket.

CHRISNOIR

I once nearly set off with my bib shorts on backwards; when the technicalities of getting dressed is a bit taxing it's probably best to leave the really complicated stuff to the big boys... Plus they do such a bloody great job on it.

dennisn

I do pretty much everything myself. Now, I'm no master wrench by any means but
I think if you give it a shot you'll find that most things are fairly straightforward and
not as complicated as they seem. Plenty of good manuals out there and most parts that you buy(at least from Shimano) have really good installation instructions with them. Even wheel building looses it's mystery once you've given it a try. If you have the interest and the time buy some tools and have at it.

crumbschief

So far i have done all my repairs and maintenance myself,with researching online including this site i have found with time,a few tools and some reading it can all be sorted out,and with spares bought cheaper online as well it's worked out well and saved me some moola.

pneumatic

However . . . . there are those times when you are up to your armpits in grease, you've just sliced your finger on a frayed cable, you've worn the corners of your Allen Key and sheared the bolt that seemed welded in place, you've hammered the b8stard thing back in any old how and you've got an important-looking bit left over . . .

when you curse your damned arrogance and wish you'd just taken it to the LBS in the first place. :twisted:

go on, admit it!

crumbschief

pneumatic wrote:

However . . . . there are those times when you are up to your armpits in grease, you've just sliced your finger on a frayed cable, you've worn the corners of your Allen Key and sheared the bolt that seemed welded in place, you've hammered the b8stard thing back in any old how and you've got an important-looking bit left over . . .

when you curse your damned arrogance and wish you'd just taken it to the LBS in the first place. :twisted:

go on, admit it!

Too true,it can get stressful sometimes.

pottssteve

Time's also an issue with me. And the fact that I don't have a lot of space to work in (HK flats). And the initial set up cost of workstands etc...And my LBS does a better job than I would do, at reasonable cost. I could probably learn to do some of the basic stuff but anything involving DIY, power tools or practical stuff doesn't come naturally...

VinceEager

i do it myself - nothing is too difficult that without just having a good look at it and reading how-to guides on internet (sheldon brown is your freind) you cant either. also, you only have to learn once - then with experience you get better and quicker.
i've slowly built up a near complete set of tools over the years.

the labour charges that lbs (quite legitimatly) ask for are usually going to be disproportionate to the actual task required- if you ride a lot you're really going to want to be servicing your bike continually anyway so paying lbs is just too much.

also, if you do it yourself quality control is maximized and your bike doesnt have to dissapear for days on end.

i recommend setting aside a weekend and taking the bike to pieces, cleaning, degresing, regreasing, adjusting etc and putting it back together again -the learning experience os invaluable and you will feel like you have a brand new bike.

GiantMike

dennisn wrote:

Even wheel building looses it's mystery once you've given it a try.

I agree. I've always been surprised when an individual is held up as a master wheel builder. I would imagine the only qualification to building a wheel is that you can join the hub (made by somebody else) to the rim (made by somebody else) with the spokes (made by somebody else) so that it is straight and true (and correctly dished if the set-up needs it). It's neither brain science nor rocket surgery.