Cycle shops and servicing.

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HeyWayne

New Member
Location
Bedfordshire
Can anyone recommend a decent cycle shop in Bedfordshire that could service my bike?

Also, is it easy for a novice to service their own bike?
 

battered

Guru
Home servicing a bike is a piece of cake. If you draw up a schedule first (we can help here) then you just tick the jobs off one at a time. The first service will prob pay for all the tools you need, and the benefit of this approach is that the next time it breaks down you'll know more about why and be able to come up with a solution.
 

battered

Guru
No, seriously. One thing at a time, it's fine. Nobody's asking you to whip out a bottom bracket and rebuild a couple of wheel bearings before lunch, then go on to a spot of wheel building in the afternoon!

After all, what's in a basic service? Clean and lube the chain, check and adjust brakes, check gears all work, ensure nothing falling off, inflate tyres, return to customer. Money for jam.

Alternatively, have you got nothing you'd rather do with £30?
 

rh100

Well-Known Member
The sheldon brown website is excellent,

just google what you want to learn about, and any results with sheldon brown in them are worth looking at (it's easier to google his stuff than try to navigate the site IMO)

www.sheldonbrown.com

Also, get yourself a half decent bicycle manual, I have the haynes one which is OK'ish, thinking of getting the parktool one though. The books are good for out at the shed/garage.

Definitely worth getting a few tools, especially the basics, I've gone for cheaper options because I don't do loads, it may have worked out cheaper if I had bought a tool kit instead of buying individually.

A good tip I got from my manual, when checking the bike, work in a zig zag from from front axle to rear, going up via the brakes, fork headset and handle bar's and all levers etc, back down to the cranks and bottom bracket and pedals and front derailleur, up to the saddle and then back down to the brakes, rear axle and derailleur etc. Following that should mean you get to check everything on your way around the bike.

There is indeed a lot to learn, but if you have a bit of patience and ask people, you should be able to manage, just take care in your work on the bike. I only started riding again last August, couldn't even adjust my brakes (still have trouble there!) but I have now fully stripped and rebuilt an old touring bike, there were a few mistakes along the way but you learn for next time.

I found there is a lot of incompatibilities with bike parts, so be sure to check details before shelling out, can be expensive when buying online and getting stung for restocking fee's.

Just ask in this forum or in the know how section, plenty of people willing to offer advice normally.

Good luck

ps.....first bit of self help knowledge would be how change a tube IMO. Then maybe setting the rear derailleur if having problems shifting, and take it from there.
 
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HeyWayne

HeyWayne

New Member
Location
Bedfordshire
Well, I changed the tyres over last night which involved some arguing with my front brakes, and prizing the inner tubes out of the old tyres (they seemed to have 'stuck' themselves to the inner walls of the tyres).

There are just things that bother me - like the wheel doesn't seem absolutely straight (the brake blocks rub at certain points - only very slightly, but still), the front forks could probably do with an oil (if that's what you do with them?), the chain seems to 'catch' at certain points in certain gears.

That kind of thing.
 

battered

Guru
That's not too drastic.
Sticky tubes is nothing, they all do that Sir.
If you have a wobbly wheel then it needs trueing. This isn't novice territory TBH, you can do it, it's nt brain surgery, but if you get it wrong you can make it worse and in the worst case ruin a wheel. Like the old boy giving directions, "I wouldn't start from here mate". Having said that basic wheel trueing is easy with a bit of thought.

Are the forks suspension? If not then leave well alone other than checking the headset (steering) bearings are rotating smoothly. If they are susp, they may need a service which is generally just a case of removing a few bits, tipping out the old oil, replacing it and reassembling.

A clicky chain may be worn out or have tight links, or the teeth may be damaged (less likely). I'd start with a chain inspection.
 

rh100

Well-Known Member
Sounds like the wheel may be slightly out of true, trueing a wheel is too advanced for me so I got the bike shop to do it last time.

Do you have suspension forks? Someone here should be able to advise, don't have them myself.

As for the gears, could be a stiff link in the chain or a worn chain and or cassette, you could maybe sort that out yourself. Some people say to measure the links on the chain to look for chain 'stretch', but mine measured ok but was still worn. You could buy a chain checker, but I just changed mine anyway along with the cassette. If the gears are grinding a bit when when trying to change, it may need the gear cable tension adjusted or check and lube the cable.
 

Norm

Guest
I'd leave the forks. The oil in them may need changing if they are getting on but it'll take years to degrade enough to need it.

The clicking chain could be as much about adjusting the gears as the chain.

I've done most things to my bikes with the help of a Haynes, a couple of dozen YouTube videos and a few minutes spent at my LBS, who are remarkably helpful, lubricated bu the occasional ice cream & Coke. :wacko: If there's something new that I'm not sure about, I'll go in and happily pay for them to do the work, but I ask if I can watch and learn. I've also spent a few hours helping them, unboxing new bikes, for instance. As the chap there knows I buy all my hardware there and the "doing favours" thing is mutual, he has no concerns sharing his knowledge, he might lose a few quid in servicing costs but he's covered it in bike sales. ;)
 
Wayne was your rim catching the brake before you changed tyres? if not you have probably put the wheel back off kilter slightly. Its simple to fix just undo the quick release, pull the brakes hard and retighten the quick release.

Unfortunately if they were like that before it is probably trueing needed, unless they were off kilter before too.
 
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HeyWayne

HeyWayne

New Member
Location
Bedfordshire
HLaB said:
Wayne was your rim catching the brake before you changed tyres? if not you have probably put the wheel back off kilter slightly. Its simple to fix just undo the quick release, pull the brakes hard and retighten the quick release.

Unfortunately if they were like that before it is probably trueing needed, unless they were off kilter before too.

I seem to remember them being like it before. I 'adjusted' them a while back as they were properly rubbing and 'squeaking'. They still work though - as proven by the 38.5mph blat and subsequent stop afterwards.

By adjusting them I mean I twiddled the little grub screw on the brake arm (v-brakes).
 

mcr

Veteran
Location
North Bucks
If you're not persuaded to go the DIY route, there's Dorvic Cycles at the bottom end of Bridge Street in Leighton Buzzard (not sure where you are in Beds). I've no experience of using it yet, but was recently quoted £30 for a full service plus parts - seems like an old-fashioned, one-man-operated LBS.
 
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HeyWayne

HeyWayne

New Member
Location
Bedfordshire
mcr said:
If you're not persuaded to go the DIY route, there's Dorvic Cycles at the bottom end of Bridge Street in Leighton Buzzard (not sure where you are in Beds). I've no experience of using it yet, but was recently quoted £30 for a full service plus parts - seems like an old-fashioned, one-man-operated LBS.

That's not too far from me to be honest, cheers.

Oddly, I just had a look at them on google streetmap, and almost as if it was choreographed, there's a cyclist pedalling past the shop.

Cheers mcr
 
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