Anyone taken an Evans Fix It class?

prhymeate

I could do with someone showing me how to fine tune the gears on my bike etc. I've tried to follow youtube videos but both times ended up at the lbs getting them to do it.

I wondering if anyone here had taken an Evans Fix It class? It costs £15 and says that you get a home maintenance kit worth over £15 so it sounds good to me but would like to hear the thoughts of anyone who has taken one.

edit: just realised that I should probably have posted this in the Workshop forum, my mistake.

CiB

155 views and no-one's bitten, so fwiw....

£15 to be given some basic tutoring + a free gift worth that sounds ok, altho to me it sounds more like Parky's tv ads where you win a biro in return for buying a funeral plan. Regardless, gears are pretty simple.

Lever pull cable. Cable pull mech. Mech move chain. All that matters is that the end stops are in place to keep the chain within its boundaries and that the indexing at the lever matches where the mech should be, which it will if the two adjusters are wound in or out enough to give the right tension.

Spend your money how you see fit but I don't see what a £15 session at Evans will give you that watching a couple of vids and actually thinking it through properly won't.

:?:

Captainlip

dont even waste your time, pay more and go on a cytech day

Buckie2k5

Captainlip wrote:

dont even waste your time, pay more and go on a cytech day

dont waste your time on that either. Watch a few youtube clips, bikes are very basic and everything you need to know can be learned in a few hours.

djhermer

^^This. Bike mechanics are not difficult. I am not technically minded and rarely pick up a tool of any sort outside of my bike maintenance. I spent my earlier cycling days dreading anything going wrong, but over time have tackled most elements individually. I decided to spend some time building a bike up from scratch - because i'd accumulated almost a whole bike's worth of components and only needed a couple of bits to have a complete kit- but also because by building a bike i knew i'd be confident tackling any maintenance going forward. I'd set myself a target of doing it by Christmas......it took me a week in the workshops after work - just me, the right tools and Youtube.

I was impressed with myself, but then realised it's because it's that simple. Think about it - blokes in bike shops do it all day everyday. A bike turns up in a box and they build it - they have to get it right as they have customer's to consider so most shops own duty of care will ensure they put their mechanics on some sort of course. But it ain't rocket science and it's not a level of engineering that requires money to be spent on courses if you're doing it for yourself.

Youtube did it for me - it's free, you can play it, stop it, replay it anytime you like and there's always a good choice of videos for each task..

CiB

Well said sir.

The best way to learn is take your bike completely to bits, give everything a good clean and then put it all back together. As long as you don't try to fit wheels to the bars and brakes where the front & rear mechs should be, you'll find it a doddle. For bits that you're not sure of, take photos to refer back to.

After a couple of times it becomes an enjoyable wet Wednesday night's entertainment, and more worthwhile than a night of watching tv.

prhymeate

Cheers for the replies. I've watched youtube clips before and tried to fine tune my front derailleur but it just made things worse and both times I ended up taking it to the LBS to get it done right. After the second trip, where the cable was replaced, I think it's stretched slightly and needs to be tightened but I'm hesitant to try again. I think I would be better off having someone show me in person if possible.

robertsims

If don't like videos (and I know what you mean, nothing quite like seeing it in real life with question asking!) then next time need something take it along to lbs and ask if you can watch/be shown how. May charge you a little more but most are quite happy to do so, one near me is anyway.

whitebirdyman

Prhymeate wrote:

Cheers for the replies. I've watched youtube clips before and tried to fine tune my front derailleur but it just made things worse and both times

The London Cyclist last week were promoting a video instruction course which they claimed had better videos than youtube. http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/bike-maintenance-course/

It was £10 but I think that has now increased to £20. I did not take up the offer so cannot comment on the course, but there are some positive testimonials. The picture at the top shows a quill stem, which made me wonder if it was up to date, but then I remembered I still have 3 bikes with quill stems!

bigmonka

I've been looking at doing the Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative maintenance course as learning from a real person seems much more beneficial than youtube, and the course includes how to true a wheel.
On the other hand I've done lots of maintenance on my bike by looking at online guides and videos!

paulg99

Have a look at your local colleges/adult education places too. They often have small one off courses that will probably give you what you are looking for.

prhymeate

Cheers for the replies guys. I've looked around and asked my lbs if they could show me if I paid a bit extra but they declined, so the Evans deal for £15 seems like a good one as far as I can see. As long as I end up knowing how to tune my front derailleur then I'm happy. I tried again yesterday and still don't feel like I know what I'm doing. Currently my front derailleur scrapes the chain when I am in the highest gear, I tried to adjust it with the limit screws but it seemed to do nothing, the last two times I messed with it I ended up having to take it to the lbs so I need to be taught myself.