Bicycle tech...money for old rope ?
- Thread starter Linford
- Start date
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PpPete
Legendary Member
- Location
- Chandler's Ford
Who bigs it up?
I've never been able to afford professional repairs, learned initially from a book, latterly from here and elsewhere on net, and then by making lots of mistakes.
No money in it for me though.
I've never been able to afford professional repairs, learned initially from a book, latterly from here and elsewhere on net, and then by making lots of mistakes.
No money in it for me though.
Glow worm
Legendary Member
- Location
- Near Newmarket
It's also a question of space. If you have a nice shed or garage, then great. I don't even have room for a stand, making some fettling much more complicated.
biggs682
Itching to get back on my bike's
- Location
- Northamptonshire
i have done a few simple repairs and yes easy enough but my biggest bug bear is clean working area
Boris Bajic
Guest
Nobody bigs it up. There are few moving parts and most of them can only be tightened one way.
Up to a point where you are adjusting things with springs that are operated by cable, there is room for experience to creep into the equation.
You do get the odd 'expert' who does lots of chin rubbing and blames some mishap on an under-tensioned this or an over-tightened that... it makes them feel good.
There are also the folk who feel that their hobby (sport) has to somehow be the exclusive preserve of 'real' practitioners and who deem anyone lacking mechanical knowledge an amateur or part-timer. That's just the human ego at work and is harmless.
But generally things are easy to get rightish - and rightish is all that most of us will ever need.
Having said that, little that I have ever adjusted has been set up as well or has stayed right so long as something done by my LBS.
I wish I had his skill, but I do not. I do OK, which is enough.
I do not build wheels, so to me that is a dark art and I do 'big it up'. The more people tell me it is simpl, methodical and therapeutic, the more convinced I am that it is really a Jedi dark art that I'll never grasp.
Up to a point where you are adjusting things with springs that are operated by cable, there is room for experience to creep into the equation.
You do get the odd 'expert' who does lots of chin rubbing and blames some mishap on an under-tensioned this or an over-tightened that... it makes them feel good.
There are also the folk who feel that their hobby (sport) has to somehow be the exclusive preserve of 'real' practitioners and who deem anyone lacking mechanical knowledge an amateur or part-timer. That's just the human ego at work and is harmless.
But generally things are easy to get rightish - and rightish is all that most of us will ever need.
Having said that, little that I have ever adjusted has been set up as well or has stayed right so long as something done by my LBS.
I wish I had his skill, but I do not. I do OK, which is enough.
I do not build wheels, so to me that is a dark art and I do 'big it up'. The more people tell me it is simpl, methodical and therapeutic, the more convinced I am that it is really a Jedi dark art that I'll never grasp.
Sheds are nice as are workstands. Both are nice but neither are really necessary. I worked for decades on bikes before I got a stand. I have totally stripped and rebuilt bikes without any problem. When it rained the kitchen became a substitute shed. Although I now have a workstand for outdoor use I don't have a shed suitable to work in so down goes the tarp in the hallway for bigger jobs. The space required to fettle a bike is actually very small.
Glow worm
Legendary Member
- Location
- Near Newmarket
Last edited:
Puddles
Do I need to get the spray plaster out?
- Location
- Hamble, Southampton
Cos after a lot of blood, sweat, tears and tantrums the lovely man from Urge came out had a whisper in Bertha's ear and sorted her hub brakes and gears then he got me to sit on her and adjusted the brake levers to a better place and I loved her again!
Starting this year, I've had a garage for the first time in 15 years but it never stopped me working on my own bikes, cars and motorbikes.
In my last flat the spare bedroom was also a junk room, wardrobe and workshop. Old sheet over the bed linen (pushed up to the wall), newspaper all over the floor and away you go, although working on it outside was easier if the weather was ok.
I believe there's a place in Islington where you can effectively hire part of a workshop by the hour. You use their space, tools and they even have a mechanic on hand to help you if you're not sure what you're doing, but for only £10 an hour or something.
Sounds like a great idea if you're a novice and/or you don't have your own space and tools to do your own repairs.
In my last flat the spare bedroom was also a junk room, wardrobe and workshop. Old sheet over the bed linen (pushed up to the wall), newspaper all over the floor and away you go, although working on it outside was easier if the weather was ok.
I believe there's a place in Islington where you can effectively hire part of a workshop by the hour. You use their space, tools and they even have a mechanic on hand to help you if you're not sure what you're doing, but for only £10 an hour or something.
Sounds like a great idea if you're a novice and/or you don't have your own space and tools to do your own repairs.
martint235
Dog on a bike
- Location
- Welling
I think the worst bit is all the proprietary tools you need. BB tool, cassette lockring tool. Why can't these just be standard? I don't need different screwdrivers to take a PC apart if it's from Dell or IBM
That's a very good point.
How much would it cost to have all the tools required to cover all repairs/routine maintenance on a bike?
Edit: Ah, Linford's answered. £20ish?
Bryony
Veteran
- Location
- Ramsgate, Kent
Agreed!! My fiance built his mountain bike in our front room of our 1 bedroom flat
morrisman
Guru
My problem is my Aldi cycle tool kit didn't come with the necessary skill to replace all the parts I can now remove and to make them work properly
