How much for a service?

[ELL]

I bought my bike last year and had a great time riding it and its now set up in the turbo for the colder months. As the weather is getting better I will be wanting to go out on it more and just want to get a service to tighten everything up and just wondered how much I should be looking at for a service?

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

My LBS charges £35 for a service, plus whatever parts are needed. Which fits nicely with Lee's figure.

I'll also second what he says about DIY. I am mechanically inept, but have managed to sort out the brakes on my bike. My next job is a new cable for my front mech which I'm plucking up the courage to attempt. I'm hoping to do more and more work on the bike myself as time goes by ..

 

[jimboalee]

You don't even have to buy a book.
Go to your local library. Photo the relavent pages.

Someone mentioned Richard Ballentine on another thread.

 

[tyred]

Sheldon Brown's website contains just about anything you need to know.

www.sheldonbrown.com

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

You don't even have to buy a book.
Go to your local library. Photo the relavent pages.

Someone mentioned Richard Ballentine on another thread.

I'll second that. I spent an instructive 10 minutes with our local authority's online book reservation service. I reserved six books - at 25p each - and had a good read a couple of weeks later when they all arrived at my local branch.

I've got a better idea of the theory now, though I still worry about my general ham-fistedness. Still, my brakes are working well.

The whole library reservation thing is an excellent service.

 

[ianrauk]

You Tube is also your friend
Some great videos on there for bike maintenence.

 

[Scoosh]

These are good too - http://bicycletutor.com/

 

[BIGSESAL]

These are good too - http://bicycletutor.com/

+1 for this website, it's great. Youtube is also good. Although, I think that a service is a good idea. It gives you someone to complain to if the bike has problems.

 

[Cubist]

+1 for bicycle tutor.

Trust me, once you have learnt how to do most of the simple common maintenance tasks you'll have a sense of achievement and your bike will never really need a major overhaul/service because you'll tend to keep up to the job. Only one piece of advice: buy quality tools as and when you need them. Skimping here or trying to get all the you MIGHT one day need on a tight budget will mean you end up with spanners made from cheese, and hex-keys fashioned from elder pith.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Huge amount of information out there on the web. The site I find most useful and tend to visit first is ParkTool http://www.parktool.com/repair/
If you need the information on paper click on print friendly version. Their online stuff is great in that it is kept very much up to date, and is make and model specific. Well illustrated too.

 

[Over The Hill]

I look at it this way;

You are going to be out and about a lot on your bike. Mostly they work without trouble but sometimes they do not. Fortunately 90% of the jobs on a bike can be done with a few tools that are easy to carry. So carry them and you can do 90% of the jobs on your bike by the road side.

The thing that is stopping you will be knowing how to fix it. So it is essential that you know how your bike works by taking it apart, adjusting it and repairing it. If not a simple two minute easy fix can be turned into an expensive ruined day.

So not for cost or any other reason than keeping you on the road and confident that you can tackle problems learn to do it yourself.

 

[jimboalee]

Nahh, don't listen to Bicycletutor.com ...

Take for example the simple procedure of changing a handlebar grip.

They say - squirt WD40 up the grip. ????
They say - use hairspray to slide the new grip on. ????

Jim says - dribble boiling water from a kettle over the grip ( to expand it ) and it will fly off.
Jim says - submerge the new grip in boiling water ( to expand it ) and it will slide on over a single winding of Nitto-Tape.

Do you really want a mixture of WD40 and hairspray between grip and bars when you are hurtling down a mountain track?