Bike maintanence courses

Kerrmit1992

Hi guys,

I don't know if i'm posting in the right section or not but i'm assuming I am, I want to go on a mountain bike maintanance course, one that will teach me to strip and rebuild my bike, giving me confidence to tinker with my own bike because at the moment i dont want to take bits off incase i cant get it back together again.

The nearest course i could find to me is in inverness, I stay in west lothian near edinburgh, Does anyone know of any courses to fulfill my needs?

Thanks
Craig

supersonic

They are not really worth the money. Park Tools website has all you need to know, plenty of online videos that you can watch again and again - spend the money on tools and beer, relax, download and watch!

Kerrmit1992

Sounds good mate :P ... i have never been the mechanical type, i done a mechanics course while at school and i sucked, I then decided against any form of engineering at college and opted instead to follow an office based career :P lol

Thanks for the advice
Craig

yocto

I would second learning on-line. When you need to adjust, repair, replace, fix something, just google it. There will almost always be some info on a forum, a youtube vid or as Supersonic said, on the parktools website. Otherwise you can post on this website and I sure someone can shed some wisdom.

I started out this way, with repairing a puncture and adjusting gears. I can pretty much do most things now (have built wheels too ).

None of my bikes have disc brakes and I haven't changed hub bearings but when I cross that bridge, i'm sure the info out there will help steer me in the right direction.

You will have to spend money on tools, greases, etc but overall it's cheaper than paying for the work and very satisfying.

Do note though you if you are not sure or not confident in what you're doing, get a professional to do it. The last thing you want is your bike falling apart underneath you :shock:

chiefinspector

Glenmore Lodge in Aviemore do a MTB maintenance course. I was looking into this earlier in the year but i have to agree with supersonic & yocto, plenty of information online and its much more satisfying when you have carried out a repair or performed general maintenance when you have found the information yourself and put it into practice.

butcher of bakersfield

The best way to learn is to do it yourself.You can read every book under the sun, and it might help a little, but without the experience it won;t make sense. A course may well be helpful, but with as above, with all the stuff available online....I try to fix the car when necessary, by learning online....now THAT can be a challenge. Bikes are generally straight forward.

If you have a particularly expensive bike though, it may be an idea to get a cheap one to practice on..

Anonymous

I'd definitely just learn off web sites, videos, books, forum advice here and friends. Just start with the basics and build up with what you feel confident with.

Not sure a maintenance course will give you much beyond the basics (the bike equivalent to learning how to change a tyre, for a nice fee), except expensive ones or involving many course sessions.

If you can find a good LBS though you can ask them to do a fix and can they show you how for next time. They might be reluctant but if they're friendly enough they may do or just say you'll buy stuff from them.

The way I get into it is I see what an LBS charges and does (or doesn't do) when they should be fixing things, and start thinking to myself that it shouldn't be all that difficult to do it myself.

Some things aren't worth it though, like frame facing and wheel building, due to the cost of the tools.

Oh, and get the manuals for you bike. Tech manuals from the frame manufacturer's web site if possible or ask for them. Hopefully they'll give a break down of the parts and some details on assembly, torque levels, what to use loctite on hopefully (at least, my old GT had manuals like this). Usually need separate manuals for components. Typically they're going to be from Shimano or SRAM for the vast majority of them.