Yep. I used to wrench at a shop a number of years ago.

Invest in good tools and a good stand, be patient and enjoy it!

Check out both the Park Tool Book and Zinn's art of Road Bike Maintenance.

No. You can start with a set of metric hex keys and small Phillips screw driver. That'll handle most the common adjustments on a contemporary bike that's not low-end (vintage and low-end bikes mean a bottom bracket lock-ring tool, adjustable cup spanner, and headset wrenches may be in your future). You may (or not - cartridge bearings are popular) need cone wrenches. A chain tool in your seat bag will get you home if you have a broken chain or derailleur and spoke wrench will avoid brake rub if you bend a rim or break a spoke.

Some time in the future you'll want a cassette tool, chain whip, torque wrench, and probably cable cutters.

For things you don't use much (bottom bracket tool - I got almost a decade out of the last bottom bracket) you might buy one, rent a stall at your local bike cooperative, or just farm it out to the shop although shop labor rates are expensive compared to many tools like $20 bottom bracket sockets.

Wheel building is a lot more pleasant with a truing stand, dish stick, and Park tension meter.

Yes. Most things are less hassle to fix than dealing with getting a bike to and from the shop. Building wheels is more work but you'll have a good wheel for tomorrow's ride.

There's a few cheap tool sets and stands at Evanscycles with free shipping and other stuff at Chainreactioncycle's, try there.

I've been eyeing them, I want a full toolset and a small work-stand.

If you have any mechanical abilty, you should really give it a shot. Modern bikes are so simple (at least road bikes). Common jobs don't require expensive tools, the tools quickly pay for themselves, and most jobs can be done quicker than the time it takes to drive to/from your LBS. It's also very satisfying if you enjoy that sort of thing. If you don't like doing it, take it to a shop.

+1. brakes and derailures take lots of practice/ patients. the thing that will get u is having a bent derailur hangar, which they have an alignment tool for. Mine got fixed at the trek100 for free.

I tried this do-it-yourself route with no mechanical background. I'm having decidedly mixed results. After spending about $300 on a good quality bike workstand and tools as needed, I'm not sure I've saved much in 3 years. For sure, my own work is inferior to the LBS work - I simply don't have access to as many tools and cleaners that they have, and it would take me too long to try and replicate that quality. At the same time, I've definitely learned bike basics, which is very helpful.

A few things that go against common knowledge that I was surprised to find:

- If you're going to actually do this, I would recommend buying a dedicated tool collection, as opposed to buying individual tools. You'll get everything you need in the collection if you get a good one (doesn't even have to be pro), whereas if you're getting them individually, they cost more, and you wonder if you've got the right one. Since tool kits are about $100-$200, that's a good investment.

- If you're NOT going to do self-repair, you can still do the vast majority of basic bike maintenance with minimal tools. An allen wrench goes a long way on the bike. For cleaning, Simplegreen, a hose, and one stiff brush will do pretty much everything. I def use these more than anything.

i have always done my own bike maintenance. I find it very soothing and a perfect end to a long day in the saddle. Not only does it you keep your bike in top working order it connects you to your bike on some deep level. Its an awesome feeling knowing that you keep your bike working flawlessly. Instead of paying someone to do it for you. I find it very soothing.

sure am but im also a bike mechanic for a lot of other people since thats my job right now. i was my own mechanic before i worked at a shop actually. ive never had anyone work on any of my bikes and when i buy a bike from a shop i take it home in the box it was shipped in just so i know everything is done right.

Nick Bain--- derailleurs and brakes are easy once you know how they work but a bent hanger is probably the most common reason someone brings there bike in saying something is up with the RD (even people that kinda know how to work on them on their own)

hhnngg1--- i agree about buying a tool kit thats really the best way to get going from home. in my opinion a bike stand is also a must. trying to tune the derailleurs while the bike is on the ground is probably why most people have trouble tuning them.

For years, I did my own wrenching with a couple hooks hung from my garage ceiling. Last year I bought a fairly expensive bike stand but I really didn't gain much from my old ceiling hooks. It isn't that expensive to buy the few tools you need to do the vast majority of repairs and adjustments.

The Park Tool tutorials are very good. I learned most of the skills I needed from their web site.

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help

Shop mechanic for a couple years. Working on bikes is second nature now.

I never recommend buying a tool kit. I always recommend buying individual tools that you need for your bikes.

This is my typical beginner's list:
-Chain tool
-Pedal wrench
-Cable cutters
-Allen key set
-Shimano or Campy cassette lock ring tool
-Chain whip
-Maybe cone wrenches if you're really getting down to it

My personal tool collection includes a crap ton more tools, including a complete Campagnolo tool kit with cutting, threading, alignment tools.

And this is how I went from working on my own boats to a full service marine company. Be warned, it's fun when your working on your own. Then one day you don't have time to work on your own and your customers will be waiting 2 days to get there bike back from you and they decide to work on there own and the pyramid expands.

Keep buying tools and equipment and working on bikes. 20 years from now the local bikes shops will be calling you up for help on the vintage bikes customers bring in and they don't have the knowledge or tools to deal with.

I've built both my road bike and mountain bike from the frame up. You tube, Park tool site along with the shimano site is all you need for info, no book needed. If you want to save some cash, omit the frame stand. It's more of a convenience thing than a necessity - I don't own one. A torque wrench with the appropriate range would be money better spent. The only thing that might take some practice is deraillure adjustment but you'll figure it out. If you get a truing stand, get the park 2.2, not the ts-8. The TS-8 is a POS imo. I found the money savings to be a wash with the cost of the tools but at least I don't have to rely on my lbs..

I bought pretty much that set. I guarantee that unless you're buying them all used at once, it's cheaper and WAY more convenient to get a complete toolset of some sort, like the ones that Park tools sells. It took me weeks to finally get all those tools as a beginner - would have been wayyyy easier to get all the tools at once and then know that I'm good to go one whatever repairs I'm interested in. If the tools was really pricey, I'd differ, but a very good toolset costs $100ish, and possibly less. I easily paied more than that for all my individual tools.

I get a lot of calls on things like this... people sometimes forget that I can service any bike and have a few racers as clients who trust me with their race rigs.

Have been doing all my own work for well over 30 years and started when I was a wee lad as my father thought that if you rode it or drove it, you needed to be able to maintain it.

+1 on this. I started doing my own work late last year. The initial investment was ~$250 or so (stand and tools and such) and the knowledge came mainly from sheldon or bicycletutor.com. Also, for that matter, I'm fortunate in that I have a good rapport with the mechanic at the LBS, so he was able to provide some guidance (he's cool like that). I started with an old rigid mtb that I bought in the early 90's and converted it to single speed; next project was tearing down an old touring bike and rebuilding it as a fixed gear - both were essentially free and non-daily riders, so if something didn't go back together, I could either take it to the LBS to get it fixed or let it languish for a while. Outside of the satisfaction of learning new skills, there's also the confidence that comes with it, as well, which helps when you set out for longer-distance rides...worrying about how to fix something in the boonies is lessened somewhat.

In short - do it!

All this would help if you're mechanically inclined to start with. Some people are and some arent. For me it was easy because I was born into it. My dad was a hot-rodder from the 50's and also a flat track motorcycle racer. Working on cars and motorcycles was hardwired into me since I was ten years old. Bicycles came soon after that, and have been doing all my own work ever since. The point I'm trying to make here is to not fret over the cost of tools. You have to want to work on bikes, if only for your own piece of mind, not just to save a few bucks over the LBS prices (although that will happen too). You want to 'enjoy' working on bikes, then the cost of tools becomes almost irrelevant. You pick up the needed tools as you go along, or if you have the money spring for a basic starter kit to get you going. Also get some of the many bike repair manuals out there. All this will help you and last you for years and years to come.

Another thing I want to point out (contrary to some), is to get you a good bike repair stand. They are invaluable. Some may argue that you dont need one when you're first starting out (and maybe you dont), but sooner or later you'll want to get one if you're serious about doing your own bike work. I have two bike repair stands and a bottom bracket cradle stand. All three of them are invaluable to me and I use them a lot.

I think this is a good message. Since bike is the extension of my body, I want to take care of it as much as possible. I've ordered Park Tool's bike stand and their tool set. I'm going to start with overhauling my headset, then replacing my Veloce bottom bracket and crankset with Centaur bottom bracket and crankset. Hope it goes well.

I used to say get an old beater and work on it as practice.

Now I have been around reasonable to good quality bikes for a decade, and done a few tear-downs of old frames... I say, start out on your good quality bike.

Parts won't be seized on, bolt heads won't be rounded off, cables won't be corrodes, and everything will be clean.

In short, I love working on a clean, modern, bicycle.

One thing that has been missed in the tool inventory, if you intend to work on carbon frames or components, is a torque wrench with appropriate socket and allen keys. The older, experienced bike wrenches have a pretty good feel for what is the right torque just through their fingers or hands, but someone starting out doesn't. Many of the fixings on bikes don't need the strength of an ape to tighten, including pedals spindles into cranks.

Also, ensure you have on hand at least grease for threads, but preferably something like thread antiseize (Loctite 777, for example).

And don't force a bolt if it doesn't want to go. Cross-threading is the bane of all new mechanics, with bottom brackets, bottle cage mounts and reaer derailleur threads all places to be extra cautious.

Same here-

Just keep it a secret that you do your own repairs, or else.

I tried to adjust my FD and I butchered it. I took it to a local bike tech and he made it look so easy. I was even thinking of attending that bike repair school in Colorado.

I can change tubes/tyres.

I'll 2nd working on a newer or current-gen bike first.

I tried once years ago with a beater, with no bike or mechanical background, and it was friggin impossible. Things were rusted, parts were too old to get replacements, and repairs that "should have worked" didn't because of variations in the ancient parts. I pretty much gave up on bike maintenance then, and only came back to it recently as I acquired new bikes.

Now that I've got relatively newer bikes, maintenance and following videos/books works very well. Stuff isn't broken beyond belief, and I can see what something is supposed to look like in generally functional form.

If you're a true noob, start with more recent stuff that's not totally out of whack before going for the problematic stuff.

I'll also add that with a bike that's <5 years old, you shouldn't need to do much at all on it if it came in good shape. While it's nice to be able to break down and build up a bike in entirety, there's absolutely no reason to if you're not riding through horrendous conditions. Outside fo tires/tubes and bartape, my 3-year old racing bike has only needed trivial barrel adjustment for derailleurs - I haven't even needed to pop it on the repair stand once, as I clean the drivetrain on the ground.

I do all my own work. I'm with you, don't want to be without a bike for x period of time, as I ride every day. I do have a second bike now, so I have a plan B, but it is best to know your equipment inside and out anyway.