Continue with Park Tool classes?
05-01-04, 10:21 PM
#26
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man, that sounds rad koffee. i was just chatting with a friend last night and he was asking me how i learned so much about bikes and fixing them and i couldn't really come up with an answer that satisfied him i think. i learned how to do all the stuff i can do just by tearing my bikes apart and rebuilding them. it's a process. you start small and work your way up. i never took my bike to the shop when i was in high school, and i never gave up on anything, unless it was clearly broken.
you're totally doing the right thing in my book by taking the classes AND working on your own stuff. i just found this thread, so when i started reading it, my first response was going to be that you should find a class that was women-only. because, well, being a guy, i know sometimes guys can be very domineering and not willing to slow the pace if someone needs a little extra assistance. it sounds like you did good though, and there was a lot of good encouragement from the members here. congratulations and i hope you get to attend the wheel-building course!
do yourself a favor and pick up a cheap wheel and a spoke wrench (if one wasin't included in the park tool kit) from the co-op and play around with it before you take the course. even if it ends up getting pushed back again, you'll still have done some stuff on your own. you can usually use the brakepads on a bike as guides instead of a real truing stand. seriously, even if you don't get to take the class and build a wheel from scratch, you can at least teach yourself about truing wheels, and save yourself a little cash on repairs!
have fun and keep learning!
you're totally doing the right thing in my book by taking the classes AND working on your own stuff. i just found this thread, so when i started reading it, my first response was going to be that you should find a class that was women-only. because, well, being a guy, i know sometimes guys can be very domineering and not willing to slow the pace if someone needs a little extra assistance. it sounds like you did good though, and there was a lot of good encouragement from the members here. congratulations and i hope you get to attend the wheel-building course!
do yourself a favor and pick up a cheap wheel and a spoke wrench (if one wasin't included in the park tool kit) from the co-op and play around with it before you take the course. even if it ends up getting pushed back again, you'll still have done some stuff on your own. you can usually use the brakepads on a bike as guides instead of a real truing stand. seriously, even if you don't get to take the class and build a wheel from scratch, you can at least teach yourself about truing wheels, and save yourself a little cash on repairs!
have fun and keep learning!
05-02-04, 11:04 AM
#27
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Hey OneTin-
These are the spoke tools that come with the kit:
Spoke, Bearing, and Cotter Gauge SBC-1
Professional Spoke Wrench SW-0
Professional Spoke Wrench SW-1
Professional Spoke Wrench SW-2
Do you think this will be enough for me to take the course with, or will I need additional tools?
I'm definitely going to head back to Working Bikes once we've taken the bike apart and seen what needs a bit of fixin'. I'll be sure to pick up a cheap wheel while I'm at it, although the wheels on the bike right now may be enough.
Thanks for the rah-rah pep talk and all- it never hurts to hear it more than once!
I think it would be fantastic if I could get to the point where I could fix my own bikes. I love Yojimbo's, but there are times when I'd rather do some of the repairs on my own, plus when I'm leading some groups (my plan for the summer), if something happens, it's not like we'll be stranded somewhere looking at each other. I've got my coaches license coming up, and the USA Cycling recommends that all coaches know how to repair bikes, which totally makes sense.
I'll be checking back in once we get settled in and start to tear the bike apart. We'll be sure to take small steps and do little bits at a time so we don't get overwhelmed and frustrated.
Thanks!
Koffee
These are the spoke tools that come with the kit:
Spoke, Bearing, and Cotter Gauge SBC-1
Professional Spoke Wrench SW-0
Professional Spoke Wrench SW-1
Professional Spoke Wrench SW-2
Do you think this will be enough for me to take the course with, or will I need additional tools?
I'm definitely going to head back to Working Bikes once we've taken the bike apart and seen what needs a bit of fixin'. I'll be sure to pick up a cheap wheel while I'm at it, although the wheels on the bike right now may be enough.
Thanks for the rah-rah pep talk and all- it never hurts to hear it more than once!
I think it would be fantastic if I could get to the point where I could fix my own bikes. I love Yojimbo's, but there are times when I'd rather do some of the repairs on my own, plus when I'm leading some groups (my plan for the summer), if something happens, it's not like we'll be stranded somewhere looking at each other. I've got my coaches license coming up, and the USA Cycling recommends that all coaches know how to repair bikes, which totally makes sense.I'll be checking back in once we get settled in and start to tear the bike apart. We'll be sure to take small steps and do little bits at a time so we don't get overwhelmed and frustrated.
Thanks!
Koffee
05-02-04, 12:00 PM
#28
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Those spoke wrenches are plenty for messing around with an old wheel. Just remember to start with the smallest spoke wrench on the nipple, if that one doesn't fit, go one size higher, until you find the one that fits perfect. It's bad to use a spoke wrench that is too big, you end up stripping the nipple quite easily.
good luck with the bike, sounds fun.
good luck with the bike, sounds fun.
05-02-04, 12:08 PM
#29
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Thanks for the tip. If anyone has any other tips, feel free to post before I get started.
I took another look at that bike. It's a beaut. I can't wait to fix it up, and plus, I can wear a skirt or dress and still ride it and not look like an idiot. My other bikes are not skirt/dress friendly at all. My friend laughed when I told her this bike is MINE... she's looking forward to going out and picking a bike up for herself. We're thinking we're going to get the frame only and build it up from there. That way, we can afford to go for something decent, not some old department store bike like mine.
Koffee
I took another look at that bike. It's a beaut. I can't wait to fix it up, and plus, I can wear a skirt or dress and still ride it and not look like an idiot. My other bikes are not skirt/dress friendly at all. My friend laughed when I told her this bike is MINE... she's looking forward to going out and picking a bike up for herself. We're thinking we're going to get the frame only and build it up from there. That way, we can afford to go for something decent, not some old department store bike like mine.
Koffee
05-02-04, 05:20 PM
#30
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Originally Posted by TJBrass
Those spoke wrenches are plenty for messing around with an old wheel. Just remember to start with the smallest spoke wrench on the nipple, if that one doesn't fit, go one size higher, until you find the one that fits perfect. It's bad to use a spoke wrench that is too big, you end up stripping the nipple quite easily.
good luck with the bike, sounds fun.
good luck with the bike, sounds fun.
08-19-08, 08:52 PM
#31
Gaeilgeoir
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Well, I actually calculated the amount of time I have left with the classes, and I just have today and then Wednesday night, and that's it for me. So I can breathe a sigh of relief that I won't have to drag my tired carcass back out to the south side one more time. So it would not be wise to give up so close to the end of the classes.
I am the type of person who has to have everything explained to me so that I understand what I'm doing when I'm doing it. However, my problem is that the classess are not set up in that way. I did tell the guy at the beginning that it would help better if I could read beforehand so that I know what we're doing before the class, and that perhaps it would make sense to me. However, when the time comes for the class, it usually deviates from the book, which is fine, but then since I didn't understand the book, I would hope I'd get the explanation in class. Instead, I end up with an equally confusing explanation of what should be in the book but isn't. I can't follow along with the book, since he usually uses the book as a reference guide only, and what he says mostly doesn't appear in the book. *sigh* So I never get my confusion cleared up.
I definitely think I could get the stuff if there was someone I could sit down with and go through everything with. Perhaps I'm just high maintenance or something- I would love to take what I've learned and sit with someone and go through all the material slowly. I could ask questions whenever I was confused and get all my answers. I just don't think there's a place where I can go for this. In the meantime, more and more stuff gets added that I don't know anything about. I sometimes feel like I'm at the edge of a cliff trying to pull myself over the top, and then a big gust of wind somes and pushes me back down after I've managed to inch myself up a little more. It's frustrating.
I do use my bike to do the repairs, which is frightening- I usually don't know what I'm doing and I'm just afraid I'm going to wreck something and not be able to ride home. As it stands right now, I would NEVER take my good bikes over there- I have no idea what I'm doing. I even just remembered that I forgot to tighten my H and L screws on Wednesday, so I need to tighten those up before I leave out for class today. On Wednesday, I was so afraid I messed my bike up that I feared that I had wrecked it to the point where it was unrideable. I made the guy check my bike over before I left out.
I really think the guy is good- I'm just a little behind, and I'm not sure what I can do to catch up. He always said we could come to the kids class he runs on Saturday mornings and learn alongside them if we need additional practice, but I'm just hell bent on not going back to that workshop again- it's not even so much that it's a questionable neighborhood as much as I get headaches fighting traffic that's pretty hostile, and it's a difficult commute to make. It's also in an awkward location, so there are few direct routes to get there. Plus, the roads are terrible too- I got a flat the first time out, and I'm certain I've sustained some wheel damage from riding on such bad streets. And maybe this is just lazy, but Saturdays are the only days where I have absolutely nothing on my schedule, and it would be nice to be able to NOT have to go someplace. I have to hustle 6 days out of the week, and without that one day off, I feel like I'm run down all the time. I need my Saturday morning off. So there's just no chance of rolling over there. Maybe I'll just buy a really junk bike and take it apart and see if I can put everything together, use the Bartlett's manual, and rely on you guys on bikeforums to give me the theory behind the practice. (if that's ok with youall, of course)
Koffee
I am the type of person who has to have everything explained to me so that I understand what I'm doing when I'm doing it. However, my problem is that the classess are not set up in that way. I did tell the guy at the beginning that it would help better if I could read beforehand so that I know what we're doing before the class, and that perhaps it would make sense to me. However, when the time comes for the class, it usually deviates from the book, which is fine, but then since I didn't understand the book, I would hope I'd get the explanation in class. Instead, I end up with an equally confusing explanation of what should be in the book but isn't. I can't follow along with the book, since he usually uses the book as a reference guide only, and what he says mostly doesn't appear in the book. *sigh* So I never get my confusion cleared up.
I definitely think I could get the stuff if there was someone I could sit down with and go through everything with. Perhaps I'm just high maintenance or something- I would love to take what I've learned and sit with someone and go through all the material slowly. I could ask questions whenever I was confused and get all my answers. I just don't think there's a place where I can go for this. In the meantime, more and more stuff gets added that I don't know anything about. I sometimes feel like I'm at the edge of a cliff trying to pull myself over the top, and then a big gust of wind somes and pushes me back down after I've managed to inch myself up a little more. It's frustrating.
I do use my bike to do the repairs, which is frightening- I usually don't know what I'm doing and I'm just afraid I'm going to wreck something and not be able to ride home. As it stands right now, I would NEVER take my good bikes over there- I have no idea what I'm doing. I even just remembered that I forgot to tighten my H and L screws on Wednesday, so I need to tighten those up before I leave out for class today. On Wednesday, I was so afraid I messed my bike up that I feared that I had wrecked it to the point where it was unrideable. I made the guy check my bike over before I left out.
I really think the guy is good- I'm just a little behind, and I'm not sure what I can do to catch up. He always said we could come to the kids class he runs on Saturday mornings and learn alongside them if we need additional practice, but I'm just hell bent on not going back to that workshop again- it's not even so much that it's a questionable neighborhood as much as I get headaches fighting traffic that's pretty hostile, and it's a difficult commute to make. It's also in an awkward location, so there are few direct routes to get there. Plus, the roads are terrible too- I got a flat the first time out, and I'm certain I've sustained some wheel damage from riding on such bad streets. And maybe this is just lazy, but Saturdays are the only days where I have absolutely nothing on my schedule, and it would be nice to be able to NOT have to go someplace. I have to hustle 6 days out of the week, and without that one day off, I feel like I'm run down all the time. I need my Saturday morning off. So there's just no chance of rolling over there. Maybe I'll just buy a really junk bike and take it apart and see if I can put everything together, use the Bartlett's manual, and rely on you guys on bikeforums to give me the theory behind the practice. (if that's ok with youall, of course)
Koffee
08-20-08, 09:21 AM
#32
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I was going to post my experience with taking a Park Tool course a couple of months ago and noticed this thread is 4 years old! I imagine the original poster is a pro by now.
08-20-08, 04:18 PM
#33
Gaeilgeoir
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