dkyser

I by no means want to take away from my bike shop, but living in rural Pa its about a 30 minute drive to a decent shop.

For the average mechanically inclined man, can he do a fair amount of the maintenance required with a little research?

FastJake

You can do EVERYTHING yourself. But most jobs require special bike specific tools. If you'll be cycling for years to come, most of these tools pay for themselves.

I do everything myself except for the occasional tricky fork crown race install/removal. Don't have the right tools for that one yet.

fietsbob

Tell all about your tool buying budget .. ? that indicates what you are willing to tackle..

Me? .. back in '75 I bought the components to build a bike frame, & fork ..
still have it..

started working on my own bikes in the early 60's

JFK was still Breathing back Then.

Bill Kapaun

A person of "average" mechanical skills should be able to do most everything with a bit of training and proper tools.
Sometimes tool cost/benefit isn't worth it for some jobs that are done on a very infrequent basis.
Basic tune up/bearing servicing is relatively inexpensive and the most needed skill for frequency of use.

Start with cone wrenches my man!

02Giant 

Absolutely.

JohnDThompson 

All of it. But I haven't been shy about buying tools.

ultraman6970

Ultra doest it, but i had to make my own tools to lower the cost. If you know how to change a tire you can fix a bike.

Agree, start with the cone wrenches and a good set of metric allen tools.

dkyser

Wow thanks everyone.
If our local bike shop was still open I would not be so concerned, but he retired and the others wont even return a call or email. Also, since cycling here is so seasonal, summer time its a long wait to get work done. -8 degrees this morning, so most bikes are put up till late spring.

I have no problem buying tools, and thanks for the advice on cone wrenches.
I have 2 kids that ride as well so can get some practice in.

Retro Grouch 

There's truth in that statement but the price of a single bike shop tune up will buy enough tools to take you a very long way.

bradtx

dkyser, Along with the above info there's plenty of resources available for help. Besides the traditional bicycle maintenance manuals (suggested purchase) there is the Park Tools web site, You Tube and this forum.

Brad

a77impala

I do all my own repair and builds plus volunteer at local Yellow Bike. I buy tools as I need them the convenience of having a tool out weighs having to take a bike somewhere to get it fixed.

dsbrantjr

Resist the temptation to buy cheap, low-quality (not always the same) tools. Worn or ill-fitting tools can cause injury and damage to components and after you have replaced it with the tool you should have bought in the first place the savings will have evaporated. Be especially wary of multitools and universal spoke wrenches. There is little that they can do that a proper tool cannot do better and possibly cheaper. Cheap spoke wrenches are notorious for rounding off spoke nipples. Trying to install a water bottle cage with a multitool is exquisite torture. Get the correct spoke wrench and a good set of hex L-wrenches. Be aware that hex wrenches are consumable items; throw them out or grind the end back to sharp edges when they become worn. A good set of cable cutters is worth every penny they cost in aggravation saved.

elcruxio

Cheap and low quality are not always synonymous.
My cable cutters cost me something like 10 bucks and they perform as well as any park tool.
Some tools are such that you kinda want them to be quality (anything that requires torque, for example hollowtech 2 wrench) but some are just "meh" like a bb30 punch and the subsequent press cones.
So it pretty much depends. However I would like to have a good set of hex wreches but I've never gotten to getting them so I just use a tool which has all the sizes in package

Kopsis

Not only can a mechanically inclined individual do any and all maintenance on a bike, he/she may find it quite enjoyable. Bikes are an ideal machine to tinker with. Small enough to be manageable (no need for jackstands, lifts, impact wrenches, etc.) yet big enough you don't need magnifiers, tweezers and surgical dexterity. There are few enough components that you can know them all with a little study and practice and not have to constantly turn to a stack of service manuals.

I have some great LBSs in my area and I have full respect for those who use their services. But for me, it isn't a question of price or convenience -- wrenching on the bike is just fun

okane

wrenching on the bike is just fun

+1 But my wife doesn't understand this. Just finished rehabbing a practically unused Walmart BSO. When I got it home it would not shift corrrectly (that's an understatement) and the back wheel bearings were so tight the wheel would barely spin but the bottom bracked was loose. Also I could have done 2 bikes with the cables as they were much too long. New shifter (from parts bin, shortened cables, and new grease throughout and I ended up with a very low cost rider we intend to use for visitors who want to go for short social rides on the local rail trail.

For some strange reason I get a real high from taking a genuine POS and making it useable.

By the way, a quality bike stand would be on my list of must haves. They appear from time to time on our local CL for under $100. I got my almost new Park stand for $90 and he threw in an almost new Park ts2 for $40!

rpenmanparker 

Wrenching is what transforms cycling from a sport-fitness activity into a hobby. OP, if you have room for another hobby in your life, bike wrenching, building and modifying is a great one.

Robert

Amesja

I do all my own work. I don't like letting other people touch my bike. Other people never do as good of a job on my stuff that I would do. I'm a perfectionist. Then again, I do most all the work on my car. That brings us to tool budgets. Expect to pay more for tools than you would pay for a quality bike. The same goes for automotive tools if you want to do ALL your own work. This is why I don't exactly do all my own auto work. Then again, I only drive my car about 6-8k/year these days.

rydabent

I pretty much do everything except I have never built a wheel since I never have had to. The fact is a bike is a very simple machine, and only needs a moderate amount of mechanical skills.

rpenmanparker 

Tools can certainly be pricey. I advice NOT buying a do-all kit right off even though that can seem like a good deal. It is a lot of money out of pocket all at once, and there is no guarantee you will take to the wrenching and keep on with it. It is relatively painless to add the tools as you need them, and you only invest in what you actually need. I highly recommend a mix of tool quality that is appropriate for the jobs you do and the frequency you do them. I have had a $10 1" headset setting tool for 30 years consisting of a heavy steel pipe for the crown race and a threaded rod with big nuts and washers for pressing in the cups. It has never failed me the 10 or so times I have needed it. My wheel truing stand cost about$35 new (Minoura) many years ago and has likewise always done the job. On the other hand when I needed a spoke tensiometer and derailleur hanger gauge, I went right to Park Tools. For some things you need upscale, for some things you just don't. Try to figure out which is which.

L-Allen wrenches are great for the on-road kit, but Y-shaped or T-shaped three size ones are much better for the home shop. I recommend the Park ones. They are great.

Robert

rpenmanparker 

Everybody has had to build wheels. Some folks just never have known it!

Phil_gretz

I like doing things myself, too. Plus, I can't see the wasted time and gas to bring a bike to a shop for service.

When we were teenagers in the early 70s, I was the kid who helped his friends fix their bikes. It kind of stuck with me. I can't calculate the amount of money and time saved by maintaining things over a lifetime, but it's A LOT.

I guess that most of us really enjoy working on our bikes, keeping them in tip-top condition, never allowing a slight noise or sensation of "something not right" to get worse into a mechanical problem.

In the last couple of years, though, I have paid my friends at the bike shop to do two bottom bracket jobs for which I don't have the tools. One was a new Shimano external bearing install that I was doing, so I had them re-face the aluminum BB shell just to make sure that things were square and parallel.

The other was to correct a careless mistake I had made installing a fixed BB cup side, damaging the threads of an older (steel) bb shell, so I had them re-tap the threads on both sides, again, just to be sure.

So, even experienced home mechanics do make mistakes. Mistakes remind us to pay attention and think things through before acting, and they teach us to solve problems better. As is said, it's all good...

Phil_gretz

Oh, and another thing. I havn't built wheels from scratch yet. I'd like to someday, though. A few years ago, I had my friend at one shop build the set for my wife's touring bike. They're terrific, durable wheels...

arex

That said, while there is nothing on a bike that is difficult, there ARE a few things that have a trick to them...of course, once you learn the trick, you'll kick yourself for not spotting it sooner.

I try to do as much of the stuff on my bikes as possible, though admittedly I still have a lot to learn, I'm still a novice. I'm not yet brave enough to try to true or build my own wheels, I just know I'll bugger something up.

Amesja

Buying the kit saves a lot of money for the specialty tools buying them all at once. You can always sell the ones you don't need on CL bit by bit. You could even end up selling them for more than you paid for them parting them piece-by-piece. I wish I had bought the kit myself. Buying headset, BB, and cone wrenches piece-by-piece adds up to a pretty hefty chunk of change. But it depends on how old your bike is or if you have more than one bike. a lot of newer bikes will never need the older specialty tools. And many older bikes will not need the newer tools either.

According to Zinn I have a level 4+ bike tool kit. The only thing on his "extra" well-stocked shop page that I don't have is a crown race reamer. I'm thinking of getting the Ice Tools reamer as it's only $200. My LBS charges me $30+ every time I need to have a fork crown race reamed/faced. So many vintage forks have crown races that are so poorly faced that the race sits in there cocked. It'll never have "silky smooth" headset action with a cocked crown race...

Looigi

Woman, yes. Man, I'm not so sure.

What's average? I used to think absolutely the average mechanically inclined person could, but after frequenting these forums, I've lowered my expectations considerably.