Cycle maintenance courses

rodgers73

I'm thinking of taking a proper course in bike repair/maintenance and wondered who the main providers are or whose course would e best to try? A google search has thrown up Bike Inn and Cytech. Are these any good??

I'm not looking to become a professional mechanic just yet, maybe a good quality home mechanic for now, but don't want to waste my money on a duff provider or on a course that's too lightweight.

I'm reasonably proficient at keeping my bike clean and in working order but don't have any particularly complex skills. For example, the next step up for me is likely to be learning how to index gears properly.

I'm Doncaster based but would be happy to travel to most places if the course was a lengthy one.

city_boy

I did a one day course with a Edinburgh Cycles for under £50 and found it to be really good. I know many on here will say you can do most maintenance jobs by looking on YouTube, which is true, but having the opportunity to 'practice' with the safety net of a qualified mechanic on hand is great for building confidence.

They have courses in Sheffield and Leeds which aren't too far away from Donny!

Have a look here...

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/info/cy ... g-classes/

matt-h

YouTube.
It's all you really need.

Matt

StillGoing

matt-h wrote:

YouTube.
It's all you really need.

Matt

Exactly. Don't waste your money on a course. It's a push bike, not some expensive engine rebuild where you need an apprenticeship in mechanics. If you don't want to practice on your bike then use your money to buy a cheap piece of crap off eBay and practice on that. Indexing is simple. Just watch the videos out there and have a go. Some shops try and make out it's some kind of science that owners mustn't do.

darkhairedlord

The only thing I would look for is a wheel building course.

Mccrear

i have to say that "learn by doing" is defo the way to go. lucky enought to have a winter hack that i have no quams about taking to bits. biggest pain is when some of the more specific tools that are needed - but i am lucky enough to have the bike station near me - you can hire a bike stand to do your own maintanance and use their tools and advice.

http://www.thebikestation.org.uk/glasgo ... -own-bike/

if you dont have something like this then i would recommend building up a tool set and then just try things. EVERYTHING is replaceable or repairable, so worst case is that you cost a bit more cash cos you break it - will still be cheaper than taking it in to a mechanic. was quoted £100 to replace my groupset last week - took me 2 hours and cost £8 at the bike station.... and the £92 saving will be spent on more bike stuff

Tjgoodhew

Another one here saying learn as you go.

In a worst case scenario you can always take to the LBS for them to resolve any issues you cant fix

I have been learning on the job for a couple of years now and so far everything thats needed doing i have done myself. Just give it a go. You might surprise yourself

dj58

Agree with all the above. If you want to learn gear indexing have a look the GCN YouTube videos or one of the many others that are available. Also if you bike has Shimano components download a copy of the DM-GN0001-09-ENG.pdf from here http://si.shimano.com/ shows you all you need to know about FD and RD set up.

Campagnolo have a Support / Knowledge Base on their website and SRAM have SRAM / Service on their website.

rodgers73

City Boy wrote:

I did a one day course with a Edinburgh Cycles for under £50 and found it to be really good. I know many on here will say you can do most maintenance jobs by looking on YouTube, which is true, but having the opportunity to 'practice' with the safety net of a qualified mechanic on hand is great for building confidence.

They have courses in Sheffield and Leeds which aren't too far away from Donny!

Have a look here...

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/info/cy ... g-classes/

Thanks for that. I think I'll book onto one of those!

Any other course details people know of would be welcome. If I did want to go for a more professional qualification would anyone recommend Cytech or the NVQ based courses? Is there any real difference?