Overhaul time.
 

My bike is currently in the shop being overhauled. About every 5 years I have a shop overhaul my bike. A complete tear down & rebuild. I have all of the cables & houseings replaced & all of the bearings cleaned & regreased & what ever else needs to be replaced. I also have the inside of my frame sprayed with frame saver. It should be done by the end of the week.

I am a competent mechanic and All my bikes are stripped to bare frame each year. Stripped in the week and parts looked at for replacements, and all cables, inner and outer are replaced as a matter of course. Cranks looked at for worn sprockets and Bottom bracket checked before removing cranks and then being removed from the frame. Headset stripped and bearings either cleaned and greased or replaced. Wheel bearings striped and the same. Saturday morning it is down to the LBS and all parts required purchased and rest of the weekend spent rebuilding it. Does help if you have all the necessary tools but these have been aquired over the last many years of riding. Only part I do not do is the wheels- I can take the odd out of true out of the rims- but they do get sent to the LBS for spoke retensioning and their trueing- which is better than mine.

So why is it that after all this stripping- cleaning- checking- replacing----- I still find parts on the shakedown ride that NOW need replacing, or are not as good as they should be.

I've re-read your post several times looking for a question. STill haven't found one, so I guess I'll pose a couple...


Why are you waiting 5 yrs to regrease your bearings and change cables?

Why are you not doing this work yourself?

OK, i'm done.

The cables & housing are not the original. They are about 2 to 3 years old. The wheel bearings are not the original, the front needed to be replaced, the rear just cleaned & repacked. The head set is the original, but it only needed to be cleaned & repacked. The chain needed replacing, about 2 years old with close to 4,000 miles on it. The chain rings, rear cassette & derailers just needed a more detailed cleaning then what I do once a month in the spring & summer. The bottom bracket is fine, it was replaced last year. The brakes were the original & had to be replaced, not much left, less then 1/4". 1 of the 2 bolts where my handle bars pivot forward was broken, needed replacing. Had to have inside of frame re-coated with frame saver.

It is done, I'll pick it up at the end of the week. Total cost, about $180.00. $75.00 for the labor, $60.00 for the chain, the rest is for everything else.

I do not do the work myself because I do not have the tools or the knowledge on how to do it myself.

If someone wants to GIVE me everything I need, including a repair stand & teach me how at no cost, I'll be glad to do the work myself.

How many people here do you think were given their tools/etc. for free?

I wish...the bike shop Gave me a nice Park work stand...after I gave them my credit card number:p I consider tools an investment. Every time you pay for a minor repair you could have covered the cost of the tool involved. My son's roommate pays to have everything done for his bike. We estimate he pays out about an average of $200 a year for maintenance and repairs. Not bad for the amount of riding he does but over 4 years that would be $800, that would be enough to set up a couple of decent bicycle repair stations! Maybe check and see if there is a co-op/nonprofit repair shop like Sibley Depot they have work stations available and hold repair classes. If not maybe you could advocate for one;)

Aaron:)

Another factor is time. I do not have enough of it. I am either working 40+ hours a week, doing the work for my online college classes, spending time with my wife, doing work on or around the house (mowing, painting, etc.) or riding my bike. Maybe you single guys who do not have as much going on have time, I do not.

That's hysterical.

Yeah, us "single guys" have all the time in the world. I try and squeeze it in between, mowing the yard, home improvement projects, work, wife, cubscouts,church, taking the kids to school, coaching soccer, coaching baseball, coaching football, riding every day, taking the kids to school, picking the kids up from school, picking the kids up from daycare, walking the dog, taking my daughter for a ride around the block multiple times. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Actually, I have a wife, 2 kids (3.5 and 4 months), busy job (50+ hours a week), house with 3/4 acres of mowing/gardening. And I do all my own wrenching.

Personally I find it rewarding and I do a better job than a shop. Not necessarily because I am a better mechanic, but because it is MY bike. I will treat it with more care.

The key is I never do a full overhaul. Too much time for my bike to be out of service. So I basically do a "rolling overhaul". I will do the cables. Or repack the wheels. Or tear down the BB. So on and so forth. Each one of these tasks takes little time. I can repack both wheels in probably 15min at this point. And that is done while watching some TV.

Looking at your costs, that $75 in labor you paid will get you pretty far with what you need.

$50 gets you pretty much the tools you need to do the work

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/...egory_ID=4218#

$39 gets you a basic stand

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/...egory_ID=4216#

Alot of people Poo poo this style stand. I have one like this (an old Minoura) which is about 15 years old now. I paid about $25 for it back then, so the stand has more than paid for itself. And it folds into a smallish carrying case so it is out of the way when not in use.

Most of my tools are 15 years old too. I have bags of bearings that I bought at nashbar back then as well, which will probably last me most of my lifetime.

Oh yea and a good book (Back then I got Sloanes Bike maintenance book, or something like that).

Anyhow, if you really wanted to do it yourself it is possible. If you simply would rather now, that is cool. It is what LBS are around for. No need to make excuses about that.

-D

Did I mention I have a recumbent? I do, a Vision to be exact. The only way to put it in a stand is if it is grabbed by the seat frame. Certain stands will work, others will not. It depends if the stand can grab & hold the seat frame & if it is balanced enough with out falling over.

In that case you would be looking at a more expensive stand. But depending on how long you plan to ride, it is still an investment that will pay for itself.

Besides this overhaul how often do you use the LBS for other services (tuneups etc). Or is $75 every 5 years the only thing you spend?

Bottom line is if you REALLY wanted to do it yourself, it isn't terribly expensive to get the tools you need to do it.

Then again, some people really don't want to bother. That is fine too. I built an entire 700Sqft addition on my house. Most people look at me like I must have been nuts. I saved a $hitload of money. To each his own.

-D

yeah, I didn't see a question either....

But I can see the OP's point.

Some aren't interested wrenching.......nothing wrong with that.

Once I start making good money, i'll find a good mech, build a good relationship with him/her and have him/her do the majority of the work on my mtn/road/commuter and wife's mtn/road/commuter bikes.

I'd rather spend my time doing other things, not to say i'm any busier/less busy than others, but i'd just rather be doing something else.

I don't mind doing small things, small wheel trues, cable lube/chain lube....but nothing more than 10 mins :) hows that for poor attention span ;)

I just took my bike in for a full tuneup as well. As my bike is my only transportation, I try to take very good care of it.

Although, it feels funny spending almost as much on the tuneup as the bike cost me in the first place...

But. Since I don't have the tools or know-how to properly do the job, this way it costs me way less than if I attempted it myself first.

What's this obsession with repair stands??? Who cares if your frame is not stand-friendly...You can do ANY work without one. A repair stand is waaay down my tool shopping list, somewhere a mile below a spoke tensionometer and a couple of hundred yards below a chain wear gauge, in the vicinity of a chainring bolt tool, in the bracket named "Totally redundant items"

I too am married, 2 kids, mortgage, professional (40-60 hours per week), and am making good money, but I'm going the opposite direction you suggest PCS2. I use my bike(s) primarily for commuting and don't want to give them to my LBS for days at a time.

I would characterize myself as above-novice-but-still-tons-to-learn "mechanic". It certainly takes me way more time for me to work on my bike, but this is a hobby and I'm getting better. I love learning how they work, I love being nearly self-sufficient, and I love the satisfaction of doing the work myself. Hopefully, by the end of next summer, I'll have all the tools and skills I need to take down and build up a bike myself (with the possible exception of wheelbuilding and headsets).

You don't have kids. You have no idea about not having time.

I definitely am not suggesting going the route that I do, just merely pointing it out. That's great that you do your own work, and if you find it enjoyable it is that much more satisfying!

I still do all the minor maintenance by myself, but things like fork rebuild, headset pressing, BB work, hub rebuild, i'd rather someone else do it.

I hear you about commuting, and if I do give my bike to the lbs (which yes, they do take for a few days) I always have a back-up bike so that is never a problem (old 20$ beater that gets no loving ;) )

In my post I was mainly trying to point out that some people would rather spend their time doing other things than wrenching, which is ok by me.

Yeah don't have a stand. I do all the wrenching on my beater bike. My road bike I have it sent to the shop because I don't want to break it, and I want the most performance out of it

My bike has an annual tune up, this year it is taken care of as part of the overhaul. I also take it in as needed. If a cable needs to be replaced or a wheel needs to be trued, etc. I can adjust my brakes, derailers, etc, to a point. I also change my own tires & tubes as well.

Yeah, I do have an idea. Even with no kids or because of no kids there are other important things in my life that fill that void. I belong to & am very active in the masonic fraternity for example. My wife & I are community volunteers as well.