Done with LBS
 

So, after years of listening to sales pitches and delayed repair and inaccurate info, I am going to start to repair/maintain my own bike and not take it to the lbs anymore. I envy you people who have one that you can trust. I alas, don't. Can anyone recommend a web site or book that will help me

Thanks

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/

http://www.parktool.com/repair/

The links above are the best websites for repair. They provide all the information you'll likely need. It also goes without saying to browse this forum :).

If you decide you still need more info, or want the info in book form, "Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance" seems to be a favorite here.

+1

+1 to park and sheldonbrown, those are all you really need. For a given job, look it up there, then post here with any remaining questions. Bikes are easy to maintain. Even the difficult stuff is straightforward.

[QUOTE=waterrockets Bikes are easy to maintain. Even the difficult stuff is straightforward.[/QUOTE]

The basics are simple but the devil is in the details.

I guess I'm tainted because I could never afford service when I was young. I just bought one wrench at a time as needed. Now I've been maintaining my bikes and my friends' bikes for 16 years, so it seems pretty simple :)

Park's Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair is VERY Good.

The Hayne's Bicycle Repair Book is pretty good.

I have the Haynes and it is good when I need to show someone how to do something or WHY I am doing something to their Bike. I also use the Park Website for their hints and tips also.

Chris

I hear what you're saying. I've been messing with and working on bikes for a lot longer than that. My resume includes a couple of full time bike shop gigs. Not only am I constantly learning new things but I think that the rate of change (suspension and disc brakes for example) is greater than my learning curve. I think that I know less about some of the details of bikes today than I did 10 years ago.

Once you get confident in your maintenance/repair skills, and have accumulated a good tool collection, you'll realize how little you need an LBS. Self reliance is a great thing. It really helps on field reqairs. bk

All you need is electrical tape.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...repairs005.jpg

Try a ParkTool practical workshop. I also use the Hayne manual and will be obtaining the Park Tool manual on the course. As I find myself working more on the bike, I'll invest in a workstand (probably Minoura RS5000 or whatever's out at the time) and some additional tools for hte headset and BB.

THEN when I'm confident tinkering with my base model Allez, I'll look at getting something nicer, used, at a good price. The course should pay for itself in no time.

Good on ya man. Bikes are not hard to repair. Being able to do it yourself is a super bonus. Kind of like knowing how to fix your own computer. It's usually not hard to do, but if you don't know how to do it and have to take it to the shop.

Be prepared for 1 of 2 things.

1) getting charged a LOT
2) waiting a whackload of time AND getting charged a lot to have it fixed.

Agreed.

I remember a guy once telling me that "Sales is the easiest low-paying job, or the hardest high-paying job that you'll ever have."

Take your time. Be organized, patient, methodical, and meticulous. Keep your tools and your work area clean and organized. Have good lighting. Use photographs, diagrams, or stacking-the-stuff-on-a-zip-tie method to arrange things that you remove (to ensure that they go back in the right order).

Start to get an understanding of lubrication and torque basics. As you remove anything from your bike, think about what it is, what it does, how it does it, and why each piece of its design was designed that way.

Have fun!

I'm finding that having the right tools is important, too. A good mechanic doesn't try to fix everything with a pair of pliers, so why do I think I can? So I'm slowly buying more tools.

I took up commuting 5 years ago, which was my first serious cycling activity and still mostly all I do. I trust my LBS guy pretty well, not always completely satisfied, but I think he's a nice guy and is doing a good job as the new owner. However, for me, it's an issue of not having it tied up in the shop for days in the shop's repair backlog. (Although I do have a backup bike.) Plus the feeling of independence and competence I'm starting to feel from doing my own wrenching, even though I'm still not that great at it.

But thank god for the Internet and Bike Forums! :D

Great idea which I never thought of, thank you!! :)

(See? Thank god for Bike Forums!)

I got back into biking a few months ago after a ten year lay off. I'm fairly mechanically inclined having rebuilt a car in the past. I got an older Cannondale road bike and immediately ordered a Sette tool kit from pricepoint.com. I got the cheap one that was on sale for like $25. Since getting that tool kit and reading the two websites listed above, I've done the following:

- replaced crank/bottom bracket and front derailer (went from three rings to compact crank)
- replaced stem
- replaced ergo shifters and added new bar tape
- replaced cables and added a jtek shiftmate
- replaced cassette
- replaced tires
- maintained drivetrain (removed/cleaned chain multiple times and tweeked rear derailer)

The only other tools that I had to buy since getting the tool kit is a cable cutter ($10) and a tool to fit the BB cups on the new compact crank ($15). I've also done routine maintenance on my old mtn bike.

My point is that it's not that expensive or hard to do your own maintenance so I say go for it.

Even better is to take a few moments and figure out why it goes together that way. Understanding how things work is the key, otherwise you're just changing parts.

Which is why there are over 27,000 threads in the mechanic's forum.;)

I generally do all my own car stuff, so I understand why people chose to learn to do it themselves. It's all relative. I do things to my car on the weekend that blow my neighbor's minds. It's also why I get to drive a really cool 20 year old car that would cost me large sums of money to keep going if I had to pay someone else to do it. Parts for those things are dirt cheap, even from the dealer-far less $$ than my wife's Honda. Labor, however, is another matter entirely. An engine rebuild alone for those things can top $10K-if you had to pay someone else to do all the work.

It's like this: we in the LBS know we can't be all things to all people, just as your local garage probably doesn't know much about F1 design and construction. There are certainly exceptions, and the ones that know how to properly treat cutting edge tech aren't bargain priced. We have thousands of items to keep aware of, dozens of bikes, their specs, how to fix them, etc. Picky (not a bad thing) enthusiasts are always better off learning about their stuff-its care and feeding-than entrusting it, in many cases, to guys who have to fix Nexts and Mongooses all week.

My shop, fortunately, is populated, by and large, by passionate bike nuts who understand how enthusiasts want their bikes treated. That is, unfortunately, in many cases, not what I've found when walking into other shops in my and other areas.:(

My shop, fortunately, is populated, by and large, by passionate bike nuts who understand how enthusiasts want their bikes treated. That is, unfortunately, in many cases, not what I've found when walking into other shops in my and other areas.:([/QUOTE]

And as I cant find a store like yours, I am forced to do it myself. Everyone has a good point and as always, bike forums makes me happy that you guys are here to help me. I will follow the advice of everyone here and start reading.

Thanks guys & Gals :D

I found this site to be really good, and the layout is really nice:
http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/fix/

http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-...3508100&sr=1-3

I highly recommend this book... also there is a mountain bike version too

Or this one... I have all 3 books:

http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Comp...3508100&sr=1-3

Another convert! :beer:

Even installing a computer is simple. Anyone can do it. Because has been stated here, many, many times: Anyone can fix a bike. (Except this guy and the person that taped the seat to the frame and many others)
Computer install, "Why does my bike not shift right?"
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...c111206012.jpg

My biggest complaint is when you have to replace a crank\bb and will need to buy a tool to pull it, but the the new new crank and bb take completly different tools. Now you have tools you will more than like never use again. I'd love to get a bike just to work on and learn on but don't want to waste money on tools I may never use again.