The fallacy of "servicing" a bicycle.

[Shut Up Legs]

Nice idea. Problem is I tried it once and totally buggered up the gears on my bike. Then where do you go other than back to your LBS?

I believe a lot of cyclists go through this stage, a kind of transition stage where we're learning to replace and maintain parts ourselves, but don't always get it right. I posted in the Know How sub-forum just now about how excited I was that my latest derailleur adjustment (probably the most finicky, error-prone task in bicycle maintenance) left the gear-changing quiet and precise. However, I have taken a bike to a bike shop because I couldn't quite work out how to get a part running again, or just lacked the time to do it myself.

 

[Colin_P]

I cannot believe that so many of you don't attempt to try and fix and maintain your bikes.

I grew up in the 1970's and it was the done thing. As was fixing your own car and house. As for having better things to do, maybe, but not all the time. Sometimes get your hands dirty and physically doing something is joy itself not to mention the time and money saved as well.

Your Dad did it as did your Grandad probably more out of necessity back then but as people have mentioned above it is becoming a way of life we are losing. We are the nation that invented everything and a lot of it happened in garden sheds and garages. Sad to see that go.

I fix and maintain, our house, our cars and our bikes. It really isn't difficult to learn, especially a bike as they are very simple machines. I suppose if you grew up in a household where it was the norm to get a 'man' in then the inclination to do things yourself simply isn't there.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Love the idea of it, but I am utterly mechanically incompetent. I can strip a thread at 100 paces merely by glancing in its general direction, and the Cobra committee is automatically convened if I come within ten feet of a spanner.

I out-source my spannering.

 

[welsh dragon]

I cannot believe that so many of you don't attempt to try and fix and maintain your bikes.

I grew up in the 1970's and it was the done thing. As was fixing your own car and house. As for having better things to do, maybe, but not all the time. Sometimes get your hands dirty and physically doing something is joy itself not to mention the time and money saved as well.

Your Dad did it as did your Grandad probably more out of necessity back then but as people have mentioned above it is becoming a way of life we are losing. We are the nation that invented everything and a lot of it happened in garden sheds and garages. Sad to see that go.

I fix and maintain, our house, our cars and our bikes. It really isn't difficult to learn, especially a bike as they are very simple machines. I suppose if you grew up in a household where it was the norm to get a 'man' in then the inclination to do things yourself simply isn't there.

We always repaired our own home mainly because we couldn't afford to get someone In to do it, and even now we do all the jobs in and around the house. Cars nowadays aren't made to be worked on by owners, as often specialist tools are needed, and car companies don't want people to be able to do anything other than check your oil and spark plugs. And sweeping statements about people and theyre abilities and how they were brought up are really out of order. Good for you and the amount of work you do, but it is still my perogative to maintain my bike or get someone else to do it without someone trying to make me feel, that I am lacking in some way because I don't. as more than one person has said, each to his or her own.

 

[arch684]

I think I must be that sad old man in a shed.the local kids come and ask me to fix there bikes but instead of me fixing them I get them to do the work while I watch and make sure they are doing it right .

 

[mustang1]

A long time ago when I got into b

More tools to save more money.....

You must have a lot of money left over after spending a small part of your fortune.

 

[mustang1]

[QUOTE="Drago, post: 3283198, member: 22751"The journey alone to the bike shop takes longer than most repair jobs would.

Indeed, and then you've got to go back a few days later to collect it.

If your bike is your transport then this is not an option.[/QUOTE]

I have one lbs within one minute walking distance. I have 3 more lbs within 5 min walking distance. And I have one more lbs within 10 Min walking distance.

I also use my bike as a commuter. If there are any problems en route the I get the guy in the Skoda behind me to get a new bike off the roof rack. I usually give my old bike away so there is normally a queue of cyclists riding behind me INA peleton waiting for me to get a flat tire.

 

[the_mikey]

Your Dad did it as did your Grandad probably more out of necessity back then but as people have mentioned above it is becoming a way of life we are losing. We are the nation that invented everything and a lot of it happened in garden sheds and garages. Sad to see that go.

I agree, but more people than ever are living in poor quality flats with no garden, garage or sheds. Bicycles are often relegated to the less than secure 'communal bicycle storage area' since they're banned from the living area by the landlord or housing scheme, it leaves people with little incentive to invest in their bicycle, let alone invest time in maintaining it.

 

[summerdays]

I can do little bits but sometimes I lack the physical strength to do a job, for instance changing a gear cable. I can do most of it (jag wire ones so slightly more fiddley than normal), but I can't pull the cable tight enough to start the minor adjustment. I get Mr Summerdays at that point.

I also worry about doing it incorrectly and the fact that I don't want to find that out when I'm doing 20+ mph downhill, that it is wrong on a safety critical bit!

 

[John the Monkey]

If you had watched me trying to fit mudguards you might have a different opinoin

"I know, I'll save time by leaving the wheels in and fitting the mudguards around them."

NEVER AGAIN.

 

[youngoldbloke]

I grew up with Meccano and taking bikes apart and putting them back together was a natural and obvious thing to do. I had built my racebike from components - 2nd hand 531 frame, full Campag groupset etc etc - in my early teens, and serviced bearings, bottom bracket, headset, and glued on tubs etc, without a second thought. I have a theory that with the demise of constructional toys such as Meccano, and the huge success of less demanding push fit Lego, and then computer games, practical activities have become much less natural for most people.

 

[John the Monkey]

The longer jobs, I guess, are the sort of stuff I tend to do pre-winter (regreasing seat post, bb threads, steerer). I'd reckon on a cable change every year too, at least on a regularly used bike, and that can take a while, depending on how finicky the routing, indexing &c is.

I do most jobs myself, although I'd balk at fitting a headset, or facing a BB shell. I think one of the joys of bicycles (pre-electronic shifting, at least) is that they are, mechanically, very simple.

I like doing the maintenance I can do (as well as building wheels, &c) but some people don't, and that's fine - all you need is an LBS you can trust to do the work properly for you.

There seems to be an odd, hair shirt mentality around some things in cycling (the racers all want everyone to "suffer", the shed grumps all want everyone to sweat over every little task themselves) that I don't entirely understand. You're not a bad person if you don't do your own maintenance. It makes sense to know how to do some roadside repairs, but even then, if you'd sooner not and have a viable bail out method if you need to abandon a ride, so what?

 

[Ticktockmy]

Personally I think this post is about a age thing in the main, those of us who started a cycling as a kid in the 1950's did what all kids did then, pulled our nice shining cycle apart even thought it was not busted, we used to mess about with them to make them go faster, but of course they did not, we would make them sound really cool by clipping thin bits of wood on to the forks so it rattled on the spokes, which sounded cool to us but pee'ed off the adults that you whissed by making strange and magical noises that kids were want to do in those days. as I recall it was mainly spitfire noises and machine gun noises we made, after all we had been brought up thought WW2

When something went wrong, out would come an oversized spanner,big hammer and screwdriver, which we thought would do the job, but of course it did not. so it was down the road to the nice old man, well he was old to us 11 year old's, and he would help us fix it, the result is that over our teen years we learnt to fix our cycles, and the big hammer still has it uses. I have for so many years never though of going to the LSB, as nothing on a bike is complicated, and like when I was a kid, I tend to do a running service, service each part in an order each week. but I have friends my age who hate getting grease on there hands, so now it me who is the nice old man.LOL

 

[John the Monkey]

Personally I think this post is about a age thing in the main, those of us who started a cycling as a kid in the 1950's did what all kids did then...

I've been cycling "properly" since about 2007.

I'm not particularly handy, or mechanically minded in other ways (although I can turn my hand to carpentry, now I think of it). I learnt most of my maintenance from online resources like bicycle tutor, and the occasional trip to my local LBS. I learnt to build wheels from websites and Roger Musson's excellent e-book.

I'm not sure if I'm typical of cyclists who do their own maintenance or not, but at least one of us who does doesn't fit the narrative you have there.

 

[Longshot]

I can't be bothered. I'd rather pay someone else to do it.