# Bike maintenance learning



## Mattk50 (17 Sep 2019)

Hi,

I have to admit to being useless with my bike and I want to change. I can fix a puncture, replace an inner tube but that's about it. I'm sure my racing bike or chopper 30 years ago never had these problems.

Everytime something goes wrong I just take it to the bike shop and they charge me. This, of course, is fine but I think if I had an ounce of knowledge then I could save half these trips. Are there any decent you tube/online progressive videos I could watch? I checked with my local college but there's nothing like a bike repair course going there this year.

Thanks

Matt


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## CXRAndy (17 Sep 2019)

If there is something that needs attention, YouTube your problem and I'd bet there will be a video of someone fixing it. Just start with easy jobs, like adjustment of brakes, changing a chain, lubrication of parts that need it and those parts that dont. Dont jump in head first and strip a bike down-saying that with patience and research anyone could do it


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## vickster (17 Sep 2019)

Evans offer Fix it classes if you’ve one locally

There’s a YouTube video for virtually everything, just search for what you want


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## fossyant (17 Sep 2019)

Google it - You Tube - usually some fairly comprehensive instructions out there for even more complicated stuff like suspension !

Bikes aren't complicated.


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## roubaixtuesday (17 Sep 2019)

The Park Tool website is excellent, videos for everything and also text explanations.

The tools are good too.


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## tom73 (17 Sep 2019)

+1 park tool 
Calvin Jones becomes your friend 
What you wanting to start with ?


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## mjr (17 Sep 2019)

http://cyclingfortransport.com/plan/maintenance/ ParkTool.com, SheldonBrown.com and lots and lots of youtube searches.


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## Sharky (17 Sep 2019)

I learned all my stuff from my Dad when I was about 10 - perhaps this is why I could still knock out a cotter pin, but give me more then 5 gears and I'm scratching my head.


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## Rusty Nails (17 Sep 2019)

You could check out on the internet to see if you have a community bike workshop in your area. I volunteer at one in Cardiff and we run a range of courses from beginners to specialist courses like suspension and wheel-building. I know there are similar organisations in many other cities.

You may even be able to fit in a few hours volunteering which would give satisfaction, experience and on-job training.


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## Racing roadkill (17 Sep 2019)

https://www.cytech.training/

Take your pick. These are the industry recognised training courses.


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## SkipdiverJohn (17 Sep 2019)

CXRAndy said:


> Dont jump in head first and strip a bike down



Actually, that's exactly what I would do - as that's how you learn how things work and go together. All those of us who pre-date the internet and youtube, who rebuilt our own bikes as kids, learned by trial and error - so that tinkering with bikes as an adult is second nature. I would not dream of taking any bike of mine into a LBS for a run of the mill fault or maintenance job. I would consider that an abject fail on my part not do deal with it myself.


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## xxDarkRiderxx (17 Sep 2019)

Google then Youtube, there are some great video's out there. Make sure you get some good tools. Gears and brakes are the worse. If you have good wheels they should never need truing! but this can test your patience. Wish I had all of this information 30 years ago. Ride on.


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## Racing roadkill (18 Sep 2019)

xxDarkRiderxx said:


> there are some great video's out there.



There are also a lot of videos that are really bad, or just plain dangerously wrong.


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## ianrauk (18 Sep 2019)

Just get your hands dirty and learn on the hoof. As others have said. Bike are pretty simple things to muck about with. Nothing really complicated.
If you have a little bit of a mechanical brain then have a go yourself.


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## Racing roadkill (18 Sep 2019)

ianrauk said:


> Just get your hands dirty and learn on the hoof.



Most of the time I’d agree.



ianrauk said:


> As others have said. Bike are pretty simple things to muck about with. Nothing really complicated.



Some are starting to get a bit more complicated these days.



ianrauk said:


> If you have a little bit of a mechanical brain then have a go yourself
> .



I’d agree, but be aware that you may have to enlist a decent LBS, if you manage to balls something more complicated up.


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## Rusty Nails (18 Sep 2019)

Just remember it's not rocket science.

Many of us started working on bikes as kids.

If you want to get more complicated you can, but there's no need to start like that.


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## Widge (18 Sep 2019)

I would agree that it is surprisingly easy to get your head around most basic maintenance on yer average 'old-skool' road/MTB/hybrid bike with a bit of care, patience and online help. Look for more than one explanation (and any comments made) as sometimes there are conflicting (and; albeit rarely,) downright 'wrong' methods and bad practice. I learned to strip/replace/maintain most parts of my standard mechanical road bike armed with little more than a multi tool and a few simple/inexpensive extras as needed-such as a chain link separator, whip/cassette tool ,pedal spanner, cable-cutter etc. I drew the line at messing with bottom brackets, actually FITTING headsets and never really got confident truing wheels and fortunately never had reason to tackle these jobs.....they are still quite 'do-able' though if you have a mind,
Sadly-I now have a hydraulic braked, enclosed non-user adjustable motor assisted shimano 105 equipped electric Orbea Gain and am no longer sure where or even IF to start! The pain of tech advancement has reared it's head for me at the moment !!

Nil Desperandum

w


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## PaulSB (18 Sep 2019)

I would happily admit to being able to do no more than change a tube and join a broken chain. I'm not mechanically minded. I have been on cycle maintenance courses and coped while there. I made copious notes. In my garage I'm as hopeless as ever. My efforts often result in a trip to the LBS!!!

The maintenance I carry out on my bikes is to keep them scrupulously clean which means I'm looking at them closely, regularly. I clean my chain after every ride and pay great attention to keeping the whole drive train clean.

I have a full service at my LBS once a year which costs about £80 per bike. I doubt I could equip myself with the necessary tools for this. I pop in to the LBS for occasional, often free, tweaks during the year.

In the past 25 years I've suffered one major mechanical, a failed bottom bracket.

I would argue a cycle maintained by a good LBS will not let you down provided it is well treated.

By all means learn maintenance if you have the inclination and interest but don't feel it is something you must do.

Serious failures, in my own experience and years of riding tens of thousands of miles on group rides, are very rare.


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## Ubarrow (18 Sep 2019)

Buy yourself a bike stand. That’s the one “tool” that’s essential, even if you only clean and adjust things.


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## ianrauk (19 Sep 2019)

Ubarrow said:


> Buy yourself a bike stand. That’s the one “tool” that’s essential, even if you only clean and adjust things.




Very good call.


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## All uphill (24 Sep 2019)

Bike stand is a good start, and I would suggest you gradually collect a decent set of tools and workbench. 

I do everything on my bikes, except paintwork, with tools from Lidl, an old kitchen table and a good quality stand. I also find a kitchen stool and radio help!

Get started!


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## Ming the Merciless (24 Sep 2019)

A good old fashioned book covering bike maintenance, one you don't mind having next to bike whilst working on it, with dirty hands.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/zi...d-bike-maintenance/lennard-zinn/9781937715373

Containers for placing any bits you take off such as bolts. Nothing worse than dropping a bolt or part on the floor then not being able to find it to put back together .

Take photos as you go for anything that looks moderately complex. It'll help you reassemble later. For instance not sure which way round a brake block fits? Take a photo before you remove the existing one...


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## Ming the Merciless (24 Sep 2019)

@Mattk50

I see you are Herts based. Have you tried these cycle hub places , seem to offer maintenance course to get you started?

https://leavesdencyclehub.org.uk/bike-maintenance-training/


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## DSK (26 Sep 2019)

I have just got into cycling again. I used the GCN channel to learn how to change my own tyres and tubes. Even used it to check the gear indexing. As mentioned, YouTube is a good starting point.


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## Ticktockmy (26 Sep 2019)

Unless you have a top end cycle with electronic gears, there is nothing but basic mechanical engineering about a cycle. However without the correct tools to do the work, it becomes a nightmare. It is well worth purchasing a good cycle specific tool kit, which will save the anger and frustrating using the wrong tools to do the job.


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## 8mph (26 Sep 2019)

Give it a go and be careful not to scratch your paintwork, it's easily done in the beginning, especially if your bolts are worn.


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## Reynard (27 Sep 2019)

YukonBoy said:


> A good old fashioned book covering bike maintenance, one you don't mind having next to bike whilst working on it, with dirty hands.
> 
> https://www.waterstones.com/book/zi...d-bike-maintenance/lennard-zinn/9781937715373
> 
> ...



This is my approach for all things mechanical, not just bikes. 

I like using the clear plastic trays that pre-packed meat comes in to put all my bits, as they're big enough to lay things out in the order in which you take them apart. And then when you don't need them anymore, they can always go in the recycling. 



Ticktockmy said:


> Unless you have a top end cycle with electronic gears, there is nothing but basic mechanical engineering about a cycle. However without the correct tools to do the work, it becomes a nightmare. It is well worth purchasing a good cycle specific tool kit, which will save the anger and frustrating using the wrong tools to do the job.



The right tools for the job does save a lot of hassle. But I'm the sort of person that rather than buying a whole toolkit, I'd rather buy as I need. Guess it's because I already have a lot of tools knocking around, and that other than the true bike-specific stuff, I'll have something that works. I will say though, that a good multitool is an excellent starting point, and then just build up from there.



8mph said:


> Give it a go and be careful not to scratch your paintwork, it's easily done in the beginning, especially if your bolts are worn.



Masking tape.


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## 8mph (27 Sep 2019)

Reynard said:


> Masking tape.


Haha, too late but thanks for the tip!


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## Reynard (27 Sep 2019)

8mph said:


> Haha, too late but thanks for the tip!



Aaaargh, I feel your pain


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## Kempstonian (27 Sep 2019)

After watching RJ The Bike Guy's video on servicing a Sturmey Archer 3 speed, I managed to take apart a completely seized one (due to rust, as it turned out) and reassemble it. It was an interesting exercise.

I also watch Park Tools videos and Monkeyshred, who builds/restores bikes. Between those three, almost everything is covered. The GCN guys are also good for modern bikes.


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## Kempstonian (27 Sep 2019)

btw I can also recommend getting an old bike and pulling it apart to see how things work (I get bikes from a local scrap merchant). Better that than playing around with the bike you need use regularly. Last week I picked up two cheepish MTBs (an Apollo FS26 and a Raleigh Manic) for a tenner the pair - and all they need is recabling, brake shoes and a good clean. You learn a lot from working on bikes where it doesn't matter if you get it wrong!


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## SkipdiverJohn (27 Sep 2019)

Kempstonian said:


> Last week I picked up two cheepish MTBs (an Apollo FS26 and a Raleigh Manic) for a tenner the pair - and all they need is recabling, brake shoes and a good clean. You learn a lot from working on bikes where it doesn't matter if you get it wrong!



Agree that tinkering is the best way of learning about bikes - it's what we all did when we were kids. In fact I find it really weird when adults who ride bikes don't know anything about maintaining them. It makes me wonder who fixed their bikes when they were youngsters!
However, I would only regard either of the two bikes mentioned above as parts donors best used to harvest things like wheels and chainsets from, to keep other 26" MTB's running on the cheap. Low-end suspension MTB's will never feature in my fleet and I would not wish an FS26 or anything similar, on my worst enemy.
Cheap secondhand stuff is an ideal way to enjoy your cycling for peanuts, but I strongly advise anyone doing this to stick to fully rigid frames for riding bikes and only use the boingy bouncers for harvesting parts from.


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## vickster (27 Sep 2019)

SkipdiverJohn said:


> Agree that tinkering is the best way of learning about bikes - it's what we all did when we were kids.
> 
> It makes me wonder who fixed their bikes when they were youngsters!.


1. No we didn’t
2. Bike shop


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## SkipdiverJohn (27 Sep 2019)

No kid I grew up with would dream of taking their bike to a shop for repair, even if they had the money. Which mostly they didn't. We'd go in there for things like replacement brake blocks, spokes and axles then fit them ourselves at home. I reckon the bike shop did more trade in parts over the counter for DIY fitment than it did in selling bikes or servicing them.


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## Smudge (27 Sep 2019)

Same here, myself and all my mates had to repair/maintain our bikes ourselves. If we didn't, they would've just stayed in the shed broken and unuseable. I never even got a brand new bike until i was around 12 or 13. This was certainly the norm for a lot of kids in the 60's & 70's.
I'm sure there were better off parents that would pay a lbs to do this work, or possible just replace their kids bikes regularly. But that certainly wasn't my world, or any of my mates i hung around with.


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## Reynard (27 Sep 2019)

My dad used to do all the mechanical stuff here, but an incident where I ended up with an absence of brakes at a rather inopportune moment, encouraged me that it was probably much safer to do basic maintenance myself...

I use my old Emmelle Leopard 10 MTB to teach myself how to do the stuff I've not tackled before.


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## Ming the Merciless (27 Sep 2019)

I learnt as a kid with my parents showing me initially what to do. Seemed to spend many a time removing and refitting cranks with new cotter pins. Can't think why as the mileage back then wouldn't have worn them out.


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## 8mph (28 Sep 2019)

As others have said, you can pick up bikes from the tip and tinker around. Just be aware that unseizing rusted parts can take a toll on your tools. (unless your using lump hammers and scaffold poles )


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## vickster (28 Sep 2019)

Reynard said:


> My dad used to do all the mechanical stuff here, but an incident where I ended up with an absence of brakes at a rather inopportune moment, encouraged me that it was probably much safer to do basic maintenance myself...
> 
> I use my old Emmelle Leopard 10 MTB to teach myself how to do the stuff I've not tackled before.


My whole family are as mechanically disinterested as me. Time to do other stuff is more precious than the cost of paying others


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## Reynard (28 Sep 2019)

vickster said:


> My whole family are as mechanically disinterested as me. Time to do other stuff is more precious than the cost of paying others



In this case, it's not disinterested, but inept. Plus the motivation to do stuff due to a lack of funds.

Me, I trained as a mechanical engineer...


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## Skanker (28 Sep 2019)

I learnt cycle and motorcycle maintenance in Wandsworth Prison, anyone accepted as long as you are male, 3 meals a day for free, bed, tv, some company so you don’t get bored in the evening and they even give you £11 a week for turning up to class! Bargain!


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## Racing roadkill (24 Nov 2019)

With the increasing proliferation of Di2 ( other e shift stuff is available) and e-bikes, a lot of the ‘simple’ stuff, isn’t quite so ‘simple’ anymore. We are getting towards the sorts of ‘sealed unit’ shenanigans, which afflicts cars increasingly.


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## Pedropete (24 Nov 2019)

Some modern components and standards are astonishingly unintuitive, with even bike shops getting it wrong more often than they’d care to admit. Which is not to say you shouldn’t have a go yourself, you absolutely should, within reason.

Don’t strip your bike and plan to rebuild it as a baptism of fire as all that’ll happen is you’ll be without a bike until you can think of a sufficiently face-saving excuse to tell your LBS when you inevitably have to take it to them in a collection of oily boxes and plastic bags. In general...

DO start small and try jobs as they need doing.
DO look at Park Tool’s online tutorials, they‘re really good
DO invest in a copy of Park’s Big Blue Bicycle Maintenance Guide, it too is really good
DON’T buy expensive bike-brand general tools (Alan keys, spanner’s, sockets and drivers etc.) - buy ‘em from the Halfords advance range when they’re on offer instead
DO buy good quality specialist tools (crank-pullers, cassette spanner & whip, pedal spanner, chain splitters etc.) from the bike brands (Park, Unior, Pedros, Feedback, etc.) - shop around, read reviews
If you’re working on shimano derailleurs, DO buy a JIS #2 screwdriver off eBay or Amazon to avoid lunching the cross-headed limit screws (they ain’t Philips or pozi!!!)
DO buy a bike work-stand, preferably a reasonable quality one that can cope with occasional use as a wash-station
DO write really assertive and prescriptive/proscriptive lists for anyone asking about basic maintenance once you’ve nailed a few simple fixes yourself... it’s a bit of a giggle*
*I’m actually reasonably competent on a good day, according to some people, mostly me...


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## keithmac (24 Nov 2019)

Reynard said:


> My dad used to do all the mechanical stuff here, but an incident where I ended up with an absence of brakes at a rather inopportune moment, encouraged me that it was probably much safer to do basic maintenance myself...
> 
> I use my old Emmelle Leopard 10 MTB to teach myself how to do the stuff I've not tackled before.



I had an Emmelle Leopard 10 as well!, stripped it down to the frame for a repaint when I was 10 or 11.


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## keithmac (24 Nov 2019)

YukonBoy said:


> A good old fashioned book covering bike maintenance, one you don't mind having next to bike whilst working on it, with dirty hands.
> 
> https://www.waterstones.com/book/zi...d-bike-maintenance/lennard-zinn/9781937715373
> 
> ...



I started keeping old margarine and butter tubs a while back, they're a godsend when you need to strip something down and they stack neatly as well. 

Nothing worse than putting a part down and losing it..


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## Kempstonian (25 Nov 2019)

keithmac said:


> I started keeping old margarine and butter tubs a while back, they're a godsend when you need to strip something down and they stack neatly as well.
> 
> Nothing worse than putting a part down and losing it..


Except putting several things down and losing them all (I've done that more than once!)


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## SkipdiverJohn (25 Nov 2019)

Racing roadkill said:


> With the increasing proliferation of Di2 ( other e shift stuff is available) and e-bikes, a lot of the ‘simple’ stuff, isn’t quite so ‘simple’ anymore. We are getting towards the sorts of ‘sealed unit’ shenanigans, which afflicts cars increasingly.



That's perfectly true, but we all have the choice not to buy all this non-DIY friendly stuff in the first place. If you don't want to be at the mercy of the LBS who want to charge you silly money for what could and should be basic DIY work, then don't buy bikes stuffed with electronics, and stay away from junk engineering like press fit BB's, and sealed cartridge bearings. Everything I ride is steel, has cup & cone ball bearings, threaded headsets, no electronics, no-hydraulics, and can be maintained by anyone with a few tools and a bit of basic mechanical savvy. Bikes ain't rocket science, and if they are, you're riding the wrong sort of bike.


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## mickle (25 Nov 2019)

Now that the Internet has stolen away so much business from high street cycle retail the only thing keeping many local bike shops afloat is service work.


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## mjr (27 Nov 2019)

Pedropete said:


> [*]If you’re working on shimano derailleurs, DO buy a JIS #2 screwdriver off eBay or Amazon to avoid lunching the cross-headed limit screws (they ain’t Philips or pozi!!!)


You can tell JIS heads by a dot cut in one of the quarters - but I never find out a JIS driver because all I have are double-cut heads that also accept a small straight screwdriver. Just never try to tighten the limit when it's on that limit and never ever be tempted to try a ph or pz!


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## iluvmybike (27 Nov 2019)

E-bikes & electronic geared bikes are not DIY unfriendly - they are just different. Once you have learned the 'new' tech then it's no harder


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## Gravity Aided (22 Dec 2019)

Reynard said:


> In this case, it's not disinterested, but inept. Plus the motivation to do stuff due to a lack of funds.
> 
> Me, I trained as a mechanical engineer...


I trained as a journalist, but have always worked on my own bikes. There were books before the internet. Frank Berto wrote a good many of them, he just passed last week, GRHS. We had some books on almost every aspect of cycling. Lack of funds is a great motivator. Local bike shop told someone I knew they had no idea I was involved in cycling. I had no idea where I would get the money to pay for them to fix my bicycle.


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## Gravity Aided (22 Dec 2019)

Nothing beats a co-op for hands on experience with a wide variety of bicycles and equipment. At mine, working on other peoples' bikes earns you the equivalent in trade of dollars per hour, usable in the purchase of used bikes and gear. YouTube is great. Actual experience is greater. Experience across several bikes is better yet. For YouTube, I recommend _RJ The Bike Guy, Monkey Shred, GCN, Park Tool,and Bike Radar._


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## simongt (22 Dec 2019)

Pedropete said:


> If you’re working on shimano derailleurs, DO buy a JIS #2 screwdriver off eBay or Amazon to avoid lunching the cross-headed limit screws (they ain’t Philips or pozi!!!)


Agree completely. After seeing a rewiew about JIS screwdrivers on YouTube, I bought a set and they're an absolute boon - ! First job I tackled was shifting the rusted in Pozi screws holding the 'throne' down in the bathroom. Pozi @ Phillips screwdrivers wouldn't budge them without the risk of camming out & wrecking the head.  JIS screwdriver; Doddle - ! 
I've also invested in some Robertson screwdrivers & screws 'cos of the camming out issue with Pozi & Phillips. Check them out - !


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## biggs682 (22 Dec 2019)

@Mattk50 the best way to learn is to try and do it yourself with the help of you tube


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## Reynard (22 Dec 2019)

Gravity Aided said:


> I trained as a journalist, but have always worked on my own bikes. There were books before the internet. Frank Berto wrote a good many of them, he just passed last week, GRHS. We had some books on almost every aspect of cycling. Lack of funds is a great motivator. Local bike shop told someone I knew they had no idea I was involved in cycling. I had no idea where I would get the money to pay for them to fix my bicycle.



And hardcopy manuals as well... The local library was always a good source of "how to" books.


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## Gravity Aided (23 Dec 2019)

simongt said:


> Agree completely. After seeing a rewiew about JIS screwdrivers on YouTube, I bought a set and they're an absolute boon - ! First job I tackled was shifting the rusted in Pozi screws holding the 'throne' down in the bathroom. Pozi @ Phillips screwdrivers wouldn't budge them without the risk of camming out & wrecking the head.  JIS screwdriver; Doddle - !
> I've also invested in some Robertson screwdrivers & screws 'cos of the camming out issue with Pozi & Phillips. Check them out - !


I like Robertson screwdrivers and screws, although they only seem to be common in Canada. It's a good, reliable system.


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## Pedropete (23 Dec 2019)

[/QUOTE]


Gravity Aided said:


> I like Robertson screwdrivers and screws, although they only seem to be common in Canada. It's a good, reliable system.


Used in a lot of pockethole joinery systems too. Robertson vs Philips was a bit like the VHS vs Betamax debacle, with the inferior format winning due to a dominant market position.

EDIT: actually, less like VHS vs Betamax and more a result of unfortunate decisions by the IP owner. Good vid on this by the History Guy, if you can tolerate the presenting style: 
View: https://youtu.be/R-mDqKtivuI


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## Gravity Aided (23 Dec 2019)

Used in a lot of pockethole joinery systems too. Robertson vs Philips was a bit like the VHS vs Betamax debacle, with the inferior format winning due to a dominant market position.
[/QUOTE]
Thinking it might be nice for marine applications as well.


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## Kempstonian (9 Feb 2020)

Further to my earlier post about the two MTBs I got from a scrap man, I ended up stripping the Raleigh and giving the frame back to him. The Apollo, I fixed up and eventually swapped it for this Giant OCR from another local scrap man...







It needed a saddle, front mech (and bracket) and, as can be seen in the photo a spoke was broken in the back wheel. I called at Halfords but they didn't have a black poke in the right size but upon searching in my shed I found another wheel which suits the bike better than the one that was on it. This has a black rim, like the front wheel and the same 8 speed cassette. So an easy fix in the end for less than £30.


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## Mattk50 (27 Feb 2020)

YukonBoy said:


> @Mattk50
> 
> I see you are Herts based. Have you tried these cycle hub places , seem to offer maintenance course to get you started?
> 
> https://leavesdencyclehub.org.uk/bike-maintenance-training/


Thanks for this.Stevenage isn't too far. Sorry for replying so late. I'll look into it


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## boydj (28 Feb 2020)

When I bought my first racer for doing triathlons I knew nothing about bike maintenance and rode that bike until the whole drive train needed replacing, which was done by the lbs. When I got into cycling properly, I started by building up a bike from a bare frameset. It took a while to discover and acquire all the parts that you don't immediately know that you need, and to acquire the minimum toolkit to get the work done. But it's very satisfying when you finally get it out on the road and you know that you'll be able to handle just about any repair. 

It's also a bit addictive and no doubt part of the reason why many of us have multiple N+1's. (Or maybe it's so there is a backup while you fix a bodged repair.)


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## keithmac (28 Feb 2020)

SkipdiverJohn said:


> Actually, that's exactly what I would do - as that's how you learn how things work and go together. All those of us who pre-date the internet and youtube, who rebuilt our own bikes as kids, learned by trial and error - so that tinkering with bikes as an adult is second nature. I would not dream of taking any bike of mine into a LBS for a run of the mill fault or maintenance job. I would consider that an abject fail on my part not do deal with it myself.



I did that with bikes as a kid, which lead on to motorcycles and cars.

Can't beat learning by doing imho.


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