I've bashed the credit card again!

[Nigeyy]

Congrats Magnatom, you are on your way to becoming self sufficient for bike maintenance! I have a lower end Park workstand, which is fine -got to be honest, after using one, you get to appreciate how handy they are.

I think I've had to go to a shop for bike mechanics only twice in the last 15 years -once for a crank arm that had the thread stripped so had problems removing the crank arm, and another time for removing a bottom bracket that was on really, really tight. Both times I was more than willing to do this, and thought it was more than sensible to let the bike shop take the risks and my money rather than risk damaging or destroying a frame.

Other tools I've found handy are:
-crank remover
-bb remover
-cassette remover
-chain whip (bought one, but I bet you could make one easily).
-*quality* spoke wrench
-*quality* set of allen keys
-pedal wrench
-various screwdrivers
-torque wrench
-not really a tool, but a ready print out reference to torque settings from the Park Tools web page (I have it pinned up in the basement where I work for ease of access).

Other things I have but aren't so important:

-various freewheel removers
-various other crankarm removers (some crank arm removers need to be different depending on your bb/crankarm interface design)
-star nut setter
-head race remover (home made from a piece of pipe!)
-headset press (home made from a large bolt and washers)
-spoke tensionometer (Park one)
-truing stand
-dishing tool
-pin wrenches
-big adjustable spanner

Interestingly as I build more and more wheels, I'm finding the spoke tensiometer and dishing tool to be less and less used. I also do my own maintenance on my Cannondale Headshok, so fabricated tools of my own for that.

Good luck with the mechanics!

 

[hackbike 6]

Christ it's all specialist stuff which would be useful if I knew what I was doing.

 

[magnatom]

I don't think I will be doing quite as much as you nigeyy but it's s start anyway.

I still reckon I will be at the bike shop every once in a while.
I've two jobs that I think will be needed fairly soon (next 3 or 4 months). The cassette and the chain will need replaced. I should manage that, hopefully! I will also have to replace the rims on both tyres (they are both showing wear). That I suspect is a job for the LBS.

 

[Crackle]

I don't think I will be doing quite as much as you nigeyy but it's s start anyway.

I still reckon I will be at the bike shop every once in a while.
I've two jobs that I think will be needed fairly soon (next 3 or 4 months). The cassette and the chain will need replaced. I should manage that, hopefully! I will also have to replace the rims on both tyres wheels (they are both showing wear). That I suspect is a job for the LBS.

Did they not cover the wheels on your course?

 

[Nigeyy]

I think you'll get along quite nicely -working on bikes isn't that hard. I think you'll find replacing the chain and cassette is not too bad (particularly if you use an SRAM chain with a gold link or similar, makes it very easy!). Sounds like you need new rims -you might even be better off just buying a new wheelset rather than pay for your current hubs and spokes to be relaced to new rims -and it may even be your old spokes may not be reusable depending on which replacement rims you choose to use. Just some food for thought.

I'm an enthusiastic amateur mechanic, but really hope I know when to stop (and think) and when to continue. I also think that may be a product of getting a little older... and wiser

My tools are mostly Park, and I've been acquiring them over the last 18 years!

I don't think I will be doing quite as much as you nigeyy but it's s start anyway.

I still reckon I will be at the bike shop every once in a while.
I've two jobs that I think will be needed fairly soon (next 3 or 4 months). The cassette and the chain will need replaced. I should manage that, hopefully! I will also have to replace the rims on both tyres (they are both showing wear). That I suspect is a job for the LBS.

 

[magnatom]

Did they not cover the wheels on your course?

No. That's a separate course! A whole day on wheel building!

 

[magnatom]

I think you'll get along quite nicely -working on bikes isn't that hard. I think you'll find replacing the chain and cassette is not too bad (particularly if you use an SRAM chain with a gold link or similar, makes it very easy!). Sounds like you need new rims -you might even be better off just buying a new wheelset rather than pay for your current hubs and spokes to be relaced to new rims -and it may even be your old spokes may not be reusable depending on which replacement rims you choose to use. Just some food for thought.

Both my hubs are, fairly new so I'd be loathed to replace them (I think at last service the bearings were replaced on my rear hub). Would it likely cost less money just to get a new wheelset, rather than replace the rims? I currently have mavic 717 rims, with deore hubs, I think.

 

[Nigeyy]

Deore hubs, while more than adequate (and nothing wrong with them either, use them myself, though I thought they were sealed hubs?) aren't exactly top of line stuff. It all depends on how much you'll be charged for having two wheels built, and how much your new rims will cost. All I can say it that over here, it would probably be cheaper to get a new wheelset from an online retailer (I got Mavic Open Pros with Ultegra hubs for about $140 or about 80 quid including shipping). But a word of caution with this approach -it may be you get a new wheelset that is machine built and not hand built -and usually machine built wheels come with poor spoke tensioning, etc, etc, and are more liable to warp. I had to hand tune those Open Pros to my satisfaction.

All I would say is do your homework for costs! If you do feel adventurous, you could try to build a wheel yourself -I found that my first wheels were pretty decent, just that it took me about 5-6 hours at first. There are a lot of resources online about wheel building -though I'd recommend you buy a truing stand and the right spoke wrench at least (not sure how your wife would think about that!).

Both my hubs are, fairly new so I'd be loathed to replace them (I think at last service the bearings were replaced on my rear hub). Would it likely cost less money just to get a new wheelset, rather than replace the rims? I currently have mavic 717 rims, with deore hubs, I think.