digibud

I do most of my own wrenching and sometimes that works out well. Recently I removed a rear rack from my salsa Fargo and failed to notice that the disc brake was attached but the same bolt. I don't ride that bike often but on my last check over as I cleaned the chain and adjusted the brakes I noticed the disc brake was out of place. It is held in place by two bolts so it was not acting up In anyway I noticed but luckily I'm pretty careful with my day to day cleaning and maintenance so I caught this issue . I guess sometimes there are advantages and disadvantages to doing your own wrenching . This could've been a real problem but luckily it wasn't

rydabent

IMO if you have the the mechanical knowledge and tools, it is always better to maintain your own bike. In actuality a bike is a simple machine, and quite easy to work on. When you work on your own bike, when anything goes out of adjustment or wrong, it should be easy for you to notice what is wrong before you are left stranded on the road.

texaspandj

Anyone could've missed that, including the LBS.

digibud

Wrenching your own sh*t also points you to upcoming trouble as when I heard my normally silent bike make a creak every revolution. After checking every possibility it turned out to be the wheel so I trued it and played with it to no avail till I realized the rim was cracking at multiple eyelets. Painless free replacement by Trek but disappointment by me and care will be taken to continually inspect the front wheel.

Retro Grouch 

Yeah but if you do your own wrenching and subsequently die your heirs won't have anybody to sue.

sch

...this is a wrenching decision....
...to wrench or not to wrench, that it the question, whether to assume all liability or dump it on the shop... Right, best consult
your lawyer.

Miele Man

I had a shop that made three different nmistakes three different time on my bike and those mistakes very nearly caused a bad crash. I'll buy parts from them but I do all my own work now.

Cheers

Photodoug

I would think every rider should know some basics about their bike. Like the woman I saw push her high end bike into the LBS to get a flat fixed. The mechanic had to show her how to open a presta valve. She must have been riding it since it was new and never aired up. A flat on the trail would be a long walk home for her. $3.00 for that lesson.

Trevtassie

Like when I forgot to reconnect the front brake cable on the missus's bike the other day. She eventually accepted my explanation that it was accidental- I wasn't actually *trying* to kill her.

deapee

I have a hard time trusting other people to touch things that I might ride down a hill at 45 miles per hour and be counting on the brakes to work.

I'm the same way with my car...

At the same time, as long as I can watch, I'm usually ok with it. Certain things, like cutting a carbon steerer tube, I won't even pretend to want to do myself...even though in the end, I'd probably do a better job on *my own* bike than anyone else would. I'm the type of person that believes grease should be wiped clean upon disassembly, things should be cleaned, and new grease should be reapplied, bearings manually spun to ensure grease is all around it, and assembled delicately together and finally torqued to proper specifications.

I will say that I explained myself quite well to my LBS before deciding on making him my LBS...engineer, very logical mindset. To give an example, I had a hard time reassembling my stem and getting the pressure to properly "pull up" the bottom fork/preload the bearing until I knew exactly how that whole assembly worked. One could make the argument that I probably shouldn't play with my current CF road bike and should have learned on a cheaper, maybe aluminum (more forgiving) bike model, but it is what it is...and my LBS is cool...he lets me ask stupid questions and watch. I've spent a good bit of money there and plan to continue spending money there though in the future.

But anyway, if you have the proper tools, and you're cautious, I don't see any reason why you can't work with your own stuff. Normally when reassembling something, it becomes fairly obvious (extra parts, something not fitting, a bolt not going in easily) that you need to back off and retry. I think if you're the type of person that tends to cross-thread bolts and not notice when something is starting cross-threaded (AKA you use a ratchet to start bolts), then maybe you shouldn't work on your own bike. But yeah, as long as you're cautious, go for it. You can always take a break, consult youtube, call your LBS, and as a last resort, pack up your bike half-taken-apart and bring it to a trusted mechanic.

philbob57

I taught myself, because it was boom time when I started, and I'd have had to give my bike up for days to get anything fixed. Even for quick fixes at the LBS and slow fixes at home, I can fix most things in less time than it takes me to drive to the LBS, and I have 2 within 3 miles....

Faster, cheaper, and just as good ... not quite faster, cheaper, and better, but it' still a good grouping.

ltxi

Basic /routine maintenance on bikes is like oil changes on cars. Easier and quicker to do myself than taking to a shop. And I know it's done properly. Sometimes I get lazy....had my shop replace a broken spoke a couple weeks ago 'cause that was just simpler. And then had to deal with the one mile later chewed up tube flat after the tech punctured the rim tape and didn't replace it.