Originally Posted by
keflex
i bike cause it's nicer than sitting in traffic and that way i can feel superior : ) but then people steal my bike parts, not so much fun. i'm finally ready to take control of my bicycle education, so all the maintenance guys stop doing crap maintenance on my bike just cause i'm a girl (a la "oh we only replaced the back brakes because the front ones don't matter!!" the guy said 12 hours later when i came back cause i still couldn't stop, hm...) but first i have to replace the stolen bits, alas.
Have you checked out Pitlock locking skewers? They aren't inexpensive, but they'll keep your wheels and seatpost yours.
I live in Riga, and find that there are many parts which I often can't find locally, sometimes even brake pads. Urgh. I usually order things from the following place.
http://www.bike-components.de/catalo...hp?language=en
On the plus side they have a massive selection, great prices, cheap shipping, excellent customer service, and often send things via courier to your door instead of using the post office.
On the minus side sometimes it might take them a bit long to get an order out, and you must pay via bank transfer. All in all I've been really happy with the place or the last three years or so.
If you are in Europe (especially Eastern Europe) and would like some more info on good and friendly webshops send me a PM and I'll send you a list of them.
For repair help have you seen the Park Tool website? It has just about everything you need information wise to fix your bike yourself. Here's the section on V-brakes for example:
http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=21
Good luck and welcome to the forums!