Improving one's bike mechanic skills?

[geardad]

I'd like to make my bike repair/maint. skills better, and taking suggestions as to how to do this.

I have had my bikes in pieces, down to the tiny ball bearings in my brakesets, but not bottom bracket or headset, for the purpose of deep-cleaning, adjusting, and got it all back together and working like new..or better, but there are things I don't know, like,

tricks for doing things the best, way, and quickly
truing and building wheels.

if I had more tools, I'd still feel I'd need an old hand to show me certain procedures so I didn't learn the wrong way on my own.

any thoughts?

thanks!

geard

 

[1id10t]

I learned, and am still learning, by visiting forums such as this, buying a couple of books (such as the The Big Blue Book Of Bicycle Repair from Park Tools) and consulting sites like Park Tools and Sheldon Brown.
I had an old road bike I didn't mind ripping apart but have since worked on all of my bikes. Everyone will have their shortlist of tools you'll need so go with what you think you'll be working on and buy whatever tools you need accordingly. Don't need everything all at once; build it up slowly if funds don't permit an immediate investment.
Ask questions in forums when in doubt and find a good lbs who could perform the maintenance and maybe show you how to do some things. Doesn't hurt to ask although whether they will give you a quick lesson might be another story.
Getting your hands dirty is my way of learning; yours might be different. If not, just get in there and, when you come across an obstacle, ask your lbs, forum members or research online. Plenty of resources out there these days.
Good luck

 

[Xsmoker]

Take the pebble from my hand Grasshopper and then you will know.

 

[bobbyOCR]

Take the pebble from my hand Grasshopper and then you will know.

You live 'out there', it would be a hell of a long way to go to get a pebble.

I learnt by the same sites, and also by getting some really old bikes then fixing them and restoring them. I now have an old steel singlespeed which I reconstructed out of old shimano hubs (with a thread-on freewheel), which I laced to an equally old set of Mavic rims. Now it is great fun to ride and runs very smoothly.

That is what I suggest, take things apart, put them back together. But start on old things which you don't have to use otherwise you could end up with a big pile of bent junk.

 

[Retro Grouch]

I'd like to make my bike repair/maint. skills better, and taking suggestions as to how to do this. any thoughts?

Just do it. If (when) you get stuck, ask a specific question. Those tend to be the best ones.

One nice things about bikes is that even if you screw something up, it usually doesn't cost an arm and a leg to replace. If that happens, think of it as tuition in the school of bike mechanics.

 

[sogood]

Ask questions in forums when in doubt and find a good lbs who could perform the maintenance and maybe show you how to do some things. Doesn't hurt to ask although whether they will give you a quick lesson might be another story.

Our LBSs all offer maintenance courses for $$$. They aren't keen to show you except through those courses. Otherwise they need to continue to sell their service.

 

[1id10t]

Our LBSs all offer maintenance courses for $$$. They aren't keen to show you except through those courses. Otherwise they need to continue to sell their service.

Yeah, i've seen a couple advertised. But sometimes the salesperson will offer a few hints and tips; particularly if you're a regular and they know they'll get repeat business. Some of the guys at City Bike Depot in Kent St are good like that.
Trial and error with some research and advice from others gets you by most things as far as i'm concerned; it's what's worked for me.

 

[Ronanmk]

Our LBSs all offer maintenance courses for $$$. They aren't keen to show you except through those courses. Otherwise they need to continue to sell their service.

I reckon they'll make more money with those courses:

Before:
- Take bike to shop for repair, pay $$

Now:
- Take LBS training on bike repair, pay $$
- Buy all tools that allow you to repair the bike, pay $$$
- After several failed attempts to fix your bike, take it to LBS for repair, pay $$
- Buy replacements for the parts you broke while trying to fix you bike, pay $$$

It's clear that they should get onto the "Bike Repair training" business !!

 

[xxamr_corpxx]

1. Buy a whole pile of old/low end bikes which need fixing. There are tonnes available, very cheaply I might add.

2. Buy a copy of Zinn's road/mountain bike maintenance manual.

3. Fix them up. After a while you start to get a good feel of what goes wrong, what can be fixed, what can't, etc.

 

[sogood]

Now:
- Take LBS training on bike repair, pay $$
- Buy all tools that allow you to repair the bike, pay $$$
- After several failed attempts to fix your bike, take it to LBS for repair, pay $$
- Buy replacements for the parts you broke while trying to fix you bike, pay $$$

That's called TINKERING... A male trait that's typified by the number of male Windows PC lovers. Moto being... It's no fun if it doesn't break.

 

[Eastway82]

That's called TINKERING... A male trait that's typified by the number of male Windows PC lovers. Moto being... It's no fun if it doesn't break.

There's nothing wrong with windows - they're great for throwing PCs out of...

Written on a Mac...

The OP doesn't say where he or she is, but the LBS course idea is a good one. IN the UK too, several shops, such as the Edinburgh Bicycle Co, run very god training courses, ranging from quick courses for those who want to do basic maintenance, through to complete wheel building and bike-building courses.
Otherwise yeah, if you;ve got the space, buy a few old creakers from the small ads and make one good one out of two, or whatever.

 

[sogood]

Otherwise yeah, if you;ve got the space, buy a few old creakers from the small ads and make one good one out of two, or whatever.

I understand quite a few bike mechanics do that to supplement their income. Turn unrideable to rideable and sell them with a small profit. Nothing to stop less qualified doing the same. The question is where can one find those unrideable bikes and how unrideable are they?

 

[thomas_cho]

You want to learn wheelbuilding?

Easy, just get a good book and do it. With wheelbuilding, you can get some old wheels and rebuild them, you can generally re-use the spokes unless they are really rusted. What you might need are new nipples as the old ones could have been rounded, or just rusted.

Depending on how serious you are going to be, you may not need a dedicated wheel truing stand. What you should get tho, is good spoke keys, that will last you a long time, and will grip the nipple securely.

Also consider investing in a tensiometer, to get the spokes to the right tension.

Happy wheel building!