fixing bike at home - tips and tricks

[dirtybackbeat]

hey up all, recently had terrible service at a LBS in Leicester (long, quite boring story!), my bike is now still not working properly but i've almost been put off taking it to another shop as it cost £35 for a service that left my bike in a worse state than it was before it went into the shop.

what do you guys suggest is the best way of working on your bike at home? looking at stands but i'm completely broke! anyone have any tricks / tips to get the back wheel off the floor to work on gears without shelling out for a stand. or anyone know any REALLY stands out there?!

also out of interest what jobs do people do themselves and which jobs do people consider its best to take it to a bike shop.

cheers in advance for your tips etc!

 

[subaqua]

workmate and some 4x2 with a couple of hangers . or do the tweak then ride it . or if you have a partner get them to turn the pedals and lift the saddle while you fiddle with the adjustments

 

[rowan 46]

There's a scheme in birmingham where you can rent a workshop and all the tools for 3 hours a week for an up front sum of £10 a year ask at the local council whether they know of any such scheme in leicester

 

[Pennine-Paul]

Never take it to a shop,there's plenty of guides on youtube sheldon brown etc

I've never bothered with a stand they look far to wobbly to me

I do everything at home in the kitchen (I have a very understanding wife )

 

[Angelfishsolo]

I use my lounge (I live alone). I never use a stand. Tweak, select gear, lift bike, spin pedals. Unless you have no mechanical skill at all a service should be pretty straight forward.

 

[Dayvo]

Like most things, practice makes perfect and bike maintenance is no exception.

It isn't difficult, either, but for someone starting out on the DIY it can seem a bit daunting.

Start off familiarising yourself with the bike and its parts: http://www.jimlangley.net/wrench/bicycleparts.html

Now you need tools (there are many diferent kits ranging in price, quality and standard but a decent garage kit should be affordable) something like this, at the lower end of the market, is good for starters: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...er-_-Product_List_Zone_1-_-Blank&iozone=PLPz1

Buy a book on bicycle maintenance: http://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/total-bike-repair-maintenance-2/ or http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bicycle-Rep...394X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311016910&sr=8-1

And if you get stuck: http://www.velotique.com/clinic-r.htm

BUT get a stand! It'll make life, your back and knuckles happy!

 

[palinurus]

Don't try and do everything at once, fix stuff as required and buy tools as you need them. Start work early in the day so the bike shop is still open when you find you need a new part.

And wear thick gloves when undoing chainring bolts.

 

[palinurus]

Everyone has a different idea of what is a bike shop job and what they'll do themselves and this changes with experience. I'll replace a spoke but have the LBS build me a wheel. Others will build their own wheels. I met a guy on a trike at a TT once who made his own hubs.

 

[Black Sheep]

there is now not a job I won't do on my bikes

there are sometimes jobs I can't be bothered to do / don't have time to do that the bike shop does (bizarely, brake cables on the road bike being the recent ones)

I don't use a stand, for most jobs I have the bike stood under me and lean down, so my legs hold it up

two dining chairs and a block of wood hooked under the saddle nose have worked to hold it's back end in the air to take wheels out to work on etc

I'll happily build bikes without a stand.

park tools 'blue book' (think they call it 'the bike manual') has all you need to know

 

[Sittingduck]

RE: stands

I have this one from Decathlon. It's fairly basic but does the job. Looks like the price has gone up in the past 2 and a half years though, it was £30 when I got mine but now £40. Still fairly affordable though...

 

[doog]

cant you tell us what the problem was? Was it a basic gear service or similar for that price.

 

[biggs682]

i use a stand so much easier , came from halfords i think

find a local bike shop you can trust and who gives out free advice and does not overcharge , my local even rounded down my latest bill by £7 !! suew he still made a profit but it all helps .

i do cables , chains & swapping chainwheels , brake pads , have not tried headset or bottom brackets or wheel trueing yet i leave them for my local expert

 

[montage]

turn it upside down

 

[MontyVeda]

turn it upside down

I was hoping somebody would state the obvious


before I had bar ends, I used to put a short block of 3x2" under the handle bars to lift the off them ground a tad. Then putting a small mirror under the shifters means one can easily see what gear it's supposed to be in (when indexing gears).

 

[dirtybackbeat]

Cheers for ideas, I originally took the bike in after a nasty crash, left shifter slightly bent and cones slightly loose on back wheel, everything else worked great but I just wanted it checking over just incase there was something I couldn't spot. When I picked it up from the shop the gears where all over place so took it back in 2 more attempts to sort it and still rubbish, he then said shifter was faulty, took week to order one, he then worked out there was an extra click on the shifter (tiagra) so it was actually fine! Got bike home and gears are still skipping all over place. bit gutted to loose 35 quid AND have to do the work myself! I'm pretty good at repairs etc but just intregued to see how others worked on bikes at home, space is a premium (1 bed flat) and money is more than tight for me, I know my dad has the equivalent of a bike shop in his garage, if only he lived a few hundred miles closer!