When I was young I'd twist brake cables with pliers and use a socket wrench to tighten my U-brakes. I got a lot of bleeding fingers that way. Later in life I used a hammer and wood to to smash cranks off the BB spindle (don't worry they were only DA

Anyway that was long time ago. And I look back an laugh A lot of stuff is trial and error. You really do learn along the way. The scariest thing is screwing up nice new stuff.

I learned with crappy used stuff. Building a beater was my way of learning. Buying used parts and upgrade an old bike.

An excellent resource is the West End Bike Club. It's (was?) run by Nani (The East Indian? fellow that sometimes works part time at Urbane). The club was held every Wednesday evening located in the parking garage structure of some Westend mall? near leslie or.. I forget its been years since I last went. Anyway they'd have workshops to teach you how to repair your own bike. They've got lots of used parts you can buy if you want to fix up a junker. Also Parts unknown (in kengsington) had a lot of used parts.

So yeah that's how I learned, buying used parts and tooling around.