Servicing a bike myself

[Mike_Ayling]

I am a bike mechanic and I find that many cyclists use a shop to do the servicing because they can't be bothered getting their hands dirty. This picture shows the first of today's jobs. The bike can't be serviced until the gunk is picked off and the drivetrain cleaned. The owner would prefer someone else does the work.

Hope you charged accordingly!

[pwa]

I'm all in favour of paying someone else to do jobs for me when it makes sense. If I can afford it and they want the work. But with regular bicycle maintenance it just doesn't make sense. The jobs are small, they are frequent, and with most of them by the time you have got the bike in the boot of the car ready to go to the shop you could have done the job yourself. Taking the bike to a shop takes longer and works out as more faff. The clever solution is to find out how to do these relatively simple little bits of maintenance yourself.

[fossala]

I used to be in favour of EVERYONE working on their own bike, then I became a bicycle mechanic. People on here probably have the mechanical competence to do work themselves, not everyone does and they can cause a real mess trying. It’s ok helping people go forward and learn but some people just have very different skill sets.

[Oldjohnw]

I used to be in favour of EVERYONE working on their own bike, then I became a bicycle mechanic. People on here probably have the mechanical competence to do work themselves, not everyone does and they can cause a real mess trying. It’s ok helping people go forward and learn but some people just have very different skill sets.

I didn’t realise you knew me.

[Jdsk]

I used to be in favour of EVERYONE working on their own bike, then I became a bicycle mechanic. People on here probably have the mechanical competence to do work themselves, not everyone does and they can cause a real mess trying. It’s ok helping people go forward and learn but some people just have very different skill sets.

That's interesting.

"I've looked at life from both sides now..."

I'm all in favour of paying someone else to do jobs for me when it makes sense. If I can afford it and they want the work. But with regular bicycle maintenance it just doesn't make sense. The jobs are small, they are frequent, and with most of them by the time you have got the bike in the boot of the car ready to go to the shop you could have done the job yourself. Taking the bike to a shop takes longer and works out as more faff. The clever solution is to find out how to do these relatively simple little bits of maintenance yourself.

That's how it feels to me. But when I need help I ask a mobile mechanic rather than going to a shop. This is less faff, and I can watch and join in.

Jonathan

[Mike Sales]

I used to be in favour of EVERYONE working on their own bike, then I became a bicycle mechanic. People on here probably have the mechanical competence to do work themselves, not everyone does and they can cause a real mess trying. It’s ok helping people go forward and learn but some people just have very different skill sets.

The familiarity with and understanding of the macxhine's various mechanisms which is given by doing your own maintenance is very helpful. You more easily notice malfunctions as you ride and can do something about it on the spot, and avoid making problems worse. Sometimes a stitch in time avoids much worse problems.
It is true that mechanical abilities vary greatly, and certainly real messes are caused by incompetence, but on the other hand many small problems are ignored until they become big ones. Deterioration through wear is also ignored. The education given by working on your own bike will pay a dividend which goes on after the job is done.
I well remember noticing that another rider had a brake problem. One of his brake blocks was contacting the tyre when braking. The effect on him, and on other riders, could have been disastrous.
On the other hand I also noticed that another rider had converted his threaded stem arrangement to the ahead system by clamping the stem around the short threaded section of the old forks! This could also have caused us all a problem.
When a problem arises it may need fixing on the spot, rather than riding on. The face plate on my freewheel once came loose, so that many of the balls escaped. I was able to gather them up and replace the plate (LH thread) and finish the ride.

[Oldjohnw]

The discovery of escaping balls must have been awful. So glad you were able to gather them up.

[Mike Sales]

The discovery of escaping balls must have been awful. So glad you were able to gather them up.

I found enough of them. I tried to avoid freewheeling after that.

[CliveyT]

I've posted on here in the past about my experiences of cycling around Cambridge, where you almost can hear another cyclist before you see them and you regularly pass bits of bicycle (most commonly chains, often in a nice shade of rust brown) discarded on the road. Often it's students' bikes but a look around any bike rack outside any research department or biotech company will reveal the same lack of attention, and I guess it's where the bicycle is just a way of getting around and as long as it goes then why do anything?
I have been tempted to stop some of the worst offenders on humanitarian (cycletarian?) because bikes really shouldn't be crying out like that.

Who knows, a few maintenance lessons and some spares and we'd probably have defeated coronavirus months ago