DTownDave22

Well..? Here is my story of some trouble I'm having and I'd like to hear some opinions and advice please.

Some key points:

I am a hands-on learner and visual learner
I bought Park Tool’s “Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair”, as I emailed the dealer I purchased the bike from and that is a manual they suggested (did not purchase from them as they didn’t have the book). Before that, I thought I would try to remove my chain to clean it a month ago or so as I can read and read about something but I learn by doing which is a problem—little did I know there was a master link until I tried to remove the chain pin on two links first (with a tool I purchased), but to no avail (“Why isn’t this coming off?!”). Hence the reason I thought I should learn a little more and not just jump into the ring without training first. Note, I eventually got it off (and my dad helped me), but have no idea how to get it back on as of now.

What to do without a specific manual?
Another related problem is that there are so many variations (slight in some cases within various models) Hence the generic manuals I presume to save cost) and it is hard for me to figure out what variation of a component my bike has—e.g.—what type of bottom bracket is on my bike? Trekbikes and the supplier sites don't really help too much. I don’t have a job right now, though my parents are supporting me financially—I’d still like to learn about the basics of bike maintenance and I’m trying to draw a line of what I should work on and worry about but I find my trouble with prioritizing and just trying to learn whatever is causing me to learn at frustrated snail's pace. Learning about my bike is more important to me than saving money but I am thinking it'd save me money to have a shop (and save the possibility of messing something up) do certain tasks.


Catch 22
I am just frustrated—I have a learning disability (A.D.D.) and also am not only a hands-on learner, but visual and bigger picture learner as well and I think all of that has something to do with how I go about reading in general but when it comes to bikes; I will start reading about one thing and then switch to and completely focus to something that is part of the bigger process and really try to understand that one part and how it fits in with the larger component. Really though, not knowing what components my bike has and being in a catch 22 doesn't help at all. I don't know what parts/variation/type my bike has on it exactly, yet it is difficult for me to figure out because I am not quite sure how to go about untightening and removing and examining a part...AH!!! I think if I were to be tortured, this would be it: It would be really nice weather and my bike isn't ready to go and I'm forced to figure out how to get it going in this circumstance (which is the case). This is borderline torture for me (or at least very frustrating).

BlueBrew

Thats an interesting story, I learned to wrench from first my dad. And then from a shop i worked at during a couple summers, and then from working on mine and friends bikes.

When ever i forget something or need something unknown, I check websites or ride over to where i had worked.

DTownDave22

There is a bike shop not far from where I go to school that has volunteer nights to learn about bikes. I haven't really had much time to attend those nights but I think I am learning. I'm just hitting these road bumps and I thought having my bike in my room would help a lot more.

I think what would help me the most is to know for sure what components my bike has so I can read up on it and know more how to work with it if I choose to start taking anything off to check it out.

TempestRS4

Post some pictures of it on here, maybe we can help ID it and its parts to help you out.

Retro Grouch 

I bought "Anybody's Bike Book". "Zinn and the Art of Bicycle Maintenance" has s similar foremat. I bought tools as I needed them and made a lot of mistakes along the way.

Bikes were simpler back then. We didn't have to adjust triple front derailleurs with index shifters. A Simplex front derailleur was either in or out. There wasn't so much to adjust.

On the other hand, today I often joke that brakes are over rated because they only slow you down. Back in those days, that wasn't so true because they didn't slow you down all that much. Modern bikes are better.

z415

I took apart my old Wal-Mart bike and my manual was Parktools.com

cerewa

Chances are very good that you have one of the most common bottom bracket types. If that's the case, the right side of the bottom bracket is "left hand thread".

Everything besides the right side of the bottom bracket and the left pedal should be "right hand thread". In all probability, your bike is made for the very most common types of bike tools and non-bike-specific tools.

Do you know approximately when your bike was first sold? And do you know whether it was bought at a store like wal-mart, or a shop specializing only in bicycles?

I learned basically everything I know about fixing bicycles either by teaching myself through trial and error, and reading on the internet. What I've learned on the internet has almost entirely come from www.sheldonbrown.com, bikeforums, and www.parktool.com . sheldonbrown.com includes a lot of pictures that can be helpful in figuring out what type of parts your bike has, for example bottom brackets:
https://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_bo-z.html#bottom

Wordbiker

I learned from my friends and just taking stuff apart and putting it back together again.

Then again, that was over 30 years ago.

Ingleside

I first learned how things work here and there from my dad. My grand father had a bike shop in Italy and my father owns a car repair shop. I guess wrenching is in my bood. When it came to more specific things I would pick up tips here and there from magazines like Bicycling, Mountain Bike Action and Mountain Bike (when Uncle Knobby was a contributor) back in the 90's. Today magazines don't seem to have as much tech info as back in the day. This is prob because of the internet. I did pick up a book on bicycle repair at a book store that helped alot. With the internet today there is no reason why someone cannot figure anything out. If you want specific info on parts look them up at the manufacturers web site.

Panthers007

I'd been doing most of my own wrenching from age 11 onwards. Despite my brother's desire to teach me - such as derailleur adjustment by kicking a Huret Alvit with his boots. And I kept learning by hanging out with folks who did/had worked with Harris Cyclery in Newton, Massachusetts. But I only had brief encounters with Sheldon Brown there - he was way busy (as you can imagine).

In 1984 I was bored. So I decided to take a trip to Oregon to attend the United Bicycle Institute's summer course. Though I knew most of the information presented, I didn't know all. And wheel-building was a new field to me. And building wheels was the first lesson. The moan in the class, right after Merrill Hayes announced this fact, was quite audible. But we all learned, about 12 of us, how to build wheels that day. And practiced through the weekend. This was, I believe, their 2nd year of operation. I hoped it would stay afloat - and I'm very happy to see it has.

From there I kept learning as much as I could and can. I was 24 in 1984. That should suffice as to carbon-date me currently.

Happy Wrenching!

sunburst

I have this attitude that bikes are something I should be able to figure out (I used to design computers for chrissakes!), and also, I'm cheap - I very rarely take a bike to a shop and pay to have it worked on.

But anyway, in the last year or so, I started buying old bikes, modifying them, upgrading parts, replacing cables, adjusting things, eventually attempting serious (to me) repairs.

Three things really stand out as a great help.

1) this book https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...slisearch=true
2) the bike guru down the street
3) this mechanic's forum

griftereck

I learned to fix bikes when I was 12
my dad had a shed full of old scrap bikes.
I went and sorted through them by trial and error.
I built up a bike using an adustable wrench and a nail, to hammer the chain rivet in.
I got Richards bike book, and The Complete Cyclist. A 1960s book
my first bikes were dangerous things.
but I did learn how to do it.

Mondoman

2nd both sunburst's and Retro Grouch's book suggestions. If your local library has either or both, check them out to see how helpful they are in your case.
Remember that you will have to use something like this:

most times when you mount one part on another. (Cheap to get at Home Depot)

scirocco

There is loads of information on the net. Google any of the names I mention below and you'll easily find them.

Sheldon Brown's website has a mass of information, easy to read and learn from. This is a good way to find out about all the different designs, sizes and standards without anyone trying to sell you anything.

Park Tools have a good website with "how to do" instructions for most common bike-related tasks, with photos.

If you have Shimano components, go to their website and search for instruction sheets which are pretty helpful, with diagrams and such-like.

And hang out on this forum and read it pretty often, you'll pick up a lot. Don't be intimidated, it's only a bike, not the Space Shuttle.

And like someone else said, post pictures and people will help you identify things.

BookFinder 

I can identify with the hands on and visual learner issue. I have to do the chore with the book there beside me.

Within the way you framed the question you stated the essence of why there are not model-specific manuals available to the general public. It all boils down to money.

Bike-shop techs likely "go to school" at a seminar on a particular manufacturer and they bicycles. Their factory rep may have a model specific manual on his shelf (more likely a DVD or CD on his laptop today), but the average local shop is not going to devote the shelf space or hard drive space to hundreds of expensive manuals on the constantly changing manufacturer line-ups. So the local techs start with a general body of knowledge, and then work out the details themselves on specific models, and call a toll-free number when they hit a snag they can't figure out.

I left this one in its entirety because it probably gets at the core of why all this is frustrating you.

Personally, I'm not clinically A.D.D., but if I drink a pot of coffee I get chemically induced A.D.D. Is there anything in your diet that is contributing to your A.D.D.?

Next, what you are describing in terms of learning style is not necessarily related to A.D.D., but to another way of viewing personality -- specifically the differences between the Sensing and iNtuitive functions in the Myers-Briggs typology.

Sensing types like details, and prefer to process information in a 1, 2, 3 order, that is, one piece at a time. Their mantra is, "I like the details." Every technical manual I have ever seen is written in a Sensing format.

iNtutive types, on the other hand, like to mentally "see" the big picture first. They gather information in mental handfuls and then sort it into broad categories. Their mantra is, "Just give me the big picture...”

So you have correctly stated the Catch 22. Technical manuals are written in a Sensing style; the iNtuitive personally type looks at that and wants to run screaming into the woods to hide.

How to proceed?

I settled that for myself (i.e., as a strong iNtuitive type) by purchasing several of the general mechanicking manuals at the local Books a Million, and then forcing myself to read through them and form my own “big picture.”

Finally, there a few video guides available, and probably more will come available in the future, to illustrate aspects of bicycle maintenance to the average rider who wants to do his own work. In fact, I recall seeing a link to some online video instruction a while back, but I don't recall the title. At any rate, if you can watch someone else do it once, taking if from there on your own should be much easier.

Granted, you are having to learn another "mental language" but the good thing about all this is that once you have it, the principles of the chore are the same for any and every bike, with only minor differences along the lines of your specific bike.

So best of luck with all that. And given some time the sense of being mentally tortured will diminish!

Rick

Jean Beetham Smith 

You may find this set of video tutorials helpful, especially if you have a laptop so you can have it near your bike. https://bicycletutor.com/

damocles1

20+ years in the shop. You can't learn to be a bike mechanic without turning wrenches. No amount of books or videos will give your the proper skills.
I have been lucky enough to work for, and with, two great mechanics and they taught me the framework. The meat was filled in by simple repetition.

Wanderer

I started "fixing" things when I oiled my first wheel in 194something.

It's been a long learning experience, as so much has changed over the last 60 years.

Now, my grandsons and grandaughters bring all of their friends stuff over for repairs, as they say grandpa can fix anything..... LOL

I make them help, and also make them do a lot of the work. (won't some boyfriend be surprised when she adjusts his derailleur?!!!)

That being said, mechanical things are pretty basic - you just have to look at them to see how they work. Once done, it's a lot easier after that.

Once you know how they work, it's easy to maintain and put them back together....

Good luck - it's fun. Saves quite a bit of money in the long run - so keep at it.

Jynx

When you first learn, especially if you are a hands on learner, you will end up figuring things out but in the process probably be breaking stuff.

If I were you I would first decide what it is you want to do (remove chain, remove cassette, change handlebars, ect...). Next post here with as much details as possible. Like you have noticed the manufacturers websites do not give a lot of info so a picture here will help us tell you what you have. We will explain how to do what it is you want to do. And finally attempt to do it. Hopefully with the info posted here you can figure the rest out while looking at it and not damage anything. Once you do something once you will know how to do it. Eventually you will have come across everything on a bike as they are not all that complicated and don't have that many parts.

Road Fan

I learned by doing, starting when I was 5. I used to turn my bike over and turn the pedals and work the brake, just watching what happenned. Next step was to remove/replace the front wheel. After that the rear wheel, seeing what the Bendix arm did and especially how it keeps the wheel from coming off!!

Like a chef who has to eat his mistakes, I always had to ride mine, so I learned what was successful and what was not.

With more sophisticated bikes, I had already become pretty good at visual inspection, so I could usually see how to proceed. As parts became more esoteric I found I needed to find print materials to see the intended way to do things, and sometimes see an exploded drawing.

I made a few big mistakes. One was not understanding how stems were held in. On my 3-speed I removed it, by beating it out with a pipe wrench. I destroyed the stem and the wrench, costing me 2 weeks allowance.

So I use books and printed materials, but I depend on visual inspection and, now (55 years old) experience. When I do use books, it's with a focused interest. Nothing is more boring than sitting down to read a repair manual. I'd rather find a Tom Clancy novel or a good bike mag.

Road Fan

HillRider

I'm completely self-taught about bike mechanics as I didn't start riding seriously until the mid-1980's when I was in my early 40's. I did have a fair mechanical background since I did almost all of my routine automobile repairs (brakes, exhaust systems, tune-ups, etc.) and did my own household repairs and modifications.

I started out reading everything I could about bike mechanics right after I got my first good bike. This, of course, was way before the internet, YouTube and other aids. As Retro Grouch mentioned, bikes were a bit simpler then. My first was a Bridgestone 400 with friction 6-speed downtube shifters so there was no indexing to worry about and you could reuse the same pin in a chain.

I gradually aquired the needed specialty tools as I was willing to take on more complex repairs and bikes got more involved and it sort of grew from there. I still use every information source available and there are way more than in the past.

Wanderer's "Grandpa can fix anything" story made me laugh. My son is, to be kind, not terribly mechanically proficient. A few years ago I was at his house in the middle of the week and one of my grandsons asked my daughter-in-law; "Grandpa's here. What's broken?"

CACycling

My dad was a capenter early in his life but wasn't very mechanical so I started figuring out the mechanical stuff myself from an early age. I used to cruise the alleys on trash day to pick up discarded bikes which I would take home and fix up. I always had a couple of bikes torn apart through my teenage years.

Got away from it for 30 years or so but started back a couple of years ago rebuilding an old MTB. It just all came back and this time I started investing in the proper tools instead of making due with whatever my dad had laying around. Having the internet makes it so much easier to get help if I get stuck that I'm willing to give pretty much anything a shot.

DOS

I learned project by project rather than trying to master everything at once. First I figured out basic tuning mostly via trial and error and consulting internet. When I graduated to bigger things (replacing shifters, e.g.) I got myself a book (Zinns Road bike maintenance). Finally, my wife sent me to a week-long class at United Bicycle Institute for my 40th birthday. Bottom line, my suggestion would be not to try and learn to be a "bike mechanic" but learn specific tasks one at a time, starting small (tuning gears, replacing chain, whatever) and building toward more complex projects as yout skills and confidence builds. Also, don't be too proud to go to the LBS for help if you get in over your head. Ususally they can fix what you broke or correct your mistakes at fairly low cost.

gbg

Learn by DIY.
Bicycle mechanics is not rocket science. It really is pretty easy, just sometimes a little frustrating if you want to fiddle with it to be perfect rather than 90%. The only semi difficult things are the ones that you need special tools for (headset installation/removal, facing/chasing bottom brackets or facing disc brake mounts). Because if you screw these up you can do some real damage. Some special tools (third hands) for centering brakes for adjustment are handy but not really necessary. A torque wrench is probably necessary if you want to work with carbon.
Wheel building is probably the most difficult, but the first set of MTB wheels I built myself (no truing stand no dish tool) are straight and true 5 years later. It all just takes a little patience.

Glenn1234

Learned mostly by DIY here. Got a couple of old bikes and started working on the one I wasn't riding and stopped worrying about costing me money ($5 at a garage sale, if you mess it up, no big deal, in comparison to these gold-plated bikes). Bicycletutor.com, parktool.com and sheldonbrown.com for references, when I've needed them, in order of usefulness.

But I'm more a process concept kind of person (I have to see how it works and I have to see why something is as it is to really understand), which makes most references very hard, but then things get very easy for me once I see it in that way. The problem I run into with references after the fact is usually a lack of clarity or thoroughness when it comes to the technical concepts.

For example, most references I encountered mentioned that I needed something called a freewheel remover to remove my freewheel, but didn't go into the fact that there are multiple kinds of them or how to tell which one you needed, and so on. This is truly the challenge once you get past a certain point, not what to do, but more how to identify parts, which parts you would want to buy, and so on. To a certain extent, that will always be the challenge. For example I built my first computer 15 years ago, and all those skills transfer if I were to build one today, but I would still have the challenge and learning curve of selecting the proper parts.

I'll say, though, too, the old junker bike route is probably the best, since you will inevitably mess something up in the process of learning, and it's a lot easier to fix a $5 mistake than a $500 one. And it's a lot easier to not have the thought that you can't go ride because you messed something up on your bike. I even have a junker wheel set aside for wheel truing/building lessons once I get to the point of doing that - I can mess it up all I want with no consequences.

Good luck!