I'm an idiot.

[Angelfishsolo]

I would suggest it would not be a good idea for the OP to fix the brakes, or try a rebuild a wheel.

That's a rather harsh attitude. I guess you were either born with perfect mechanical skills or none at all and pay the LBS to fix punctures.

 

[screenman]

Some people are a natural with spanners and some are not, I may sound harsh but we have to look at the reality of the situation.

I do most of my own mechanical repairs, having trained as a mechanic in my early years, however I am lucky enough to also be able to afford the use of a very skilled cycle mechanic when I feel like it or need to.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Some people are a natural with spanners and some are not, I may sound harsh but we have to look at the reality of the situation.

I do most of my own mechanical repairs, having trained as a mechanic in my early years, however I am lucky enough to also be able to afford the use of a very skilled cycle mechanic when I feel like it or need to.

I did a mech eng apprenticeship and hated it. I was one of the worst apprentices the firm had ever had. Once I had cause to rebuild a bike however I had an interest in learning and became pretty good. I would never put anyone off doing their own work on a bike. I would suggest they ask advice or look at tutorials.

 

[screenman]

I am sure there are courses about that may be worth attending, however my point stands. Bikes can and do go fast at times, along with quick reactions we need fast working equipment that is properly serviced. That clinch bolt on the front cable not quite tight enough, brake blocks in the wrong way around, neither of these and few many others would you want to find out at the bottom of a hill.

M.O.T for cycles now that would be another thing to talk about.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

I am sure there are courses about that may be worth attending, however my point stands. Bikes can and do go fast at times, along with quick reactions we need fast working equipment that is properly serviced. That clinch bolt on the front cable not quite tight enough, brake blocks in the wrong way around, neither of these and few many others would you want to find out at the bottom of a hill.

M.O.T for cycles now that would be another thing to talk about.

Sounds like you are trying to make business for yourself.

 

[screenman]

Not sure how I could do that, cycling is my hobby certainly not my business. I cannot imagine anybody wanting to pay my hourly rates for training to fix cycles.

I do own and run a training centre, but I teach PDR and windscreen repair, have a look www.dentex-pdr.co.uk or www.deltakits.co.uk

I know my posts do sometime come across harsh, it is the way my poorly educated brain writes them, that said if one person just thinks about how dangerous a poorly maintained bike could be then I will happily take the flak.

I am passionate about cycling which I have been actively involved in for about 45 years and i hope for many more.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Not sure how I could do that, cycling is my hobby certainly not my business. I cannot imagine anybody wanting to pay my hourly rates for training to fix cycles.

I do own and run a training centre, but I teach PDR and windscreen repair, have a look www.dentex-pdr.co.uk or www.deltakits.co.uk

I know my posts do sometime come across harsh, it is the way my poorly educated brain writes them, that said if one person just thinks about how dangerous a poorly maintained bike could be then I will happily take the flak.

I am passionate about cycling which I have been actively involved in for about 45 years and i hope for many more.

I am also passionate about cycling and believe maintenance is one of the best skills to learn. I would encourage anyone to build at least one bike from scratch.

 

[screenman]

I agree with building from scratch, just get it checked by somebody skilled before you ride it on the road. Built my first one from bits when I was 11, I had however been fixing them before that. I made sure my kids could fix punctures etc. at a very early age certainly before they were 10, I did of course check their handywork

 

[Angelfishsolo]

I agree with building from scratch, just get it checked by somebody killed before you ride it on the road. Built my first one from bits when I was 11, I had however been fixing them before that. I made sure my kids could fix punctures etc. at a very early age certainly before they were 10, I did of course check their handywork

How would getting a dead person to check the bike help

 

[screenman]

You would think this keyboard would know how to spell by now. Well spotted

 

[Angelfishsolo]

You would think this keyboard would know how to spell by now. Well spotted

Mine doesn't either.

 

[Fiona N]

I'm having a problem seeing what the problem is here The joining link must be up to the job or chains would fail at that join, which would be very bad for business. Therefore joining links, used properly, can't introduce a significant weakness into the system. Now, sensibly, one wouldn't wish to construct the whole chain from them (way too expensive and they may be less mechanically efficient, not having the factory packed grease in the rollers) but I would be surprised if there was a problem with any proportion of them.

 

[youngoldbloke]

I would always use a KMC quicklink, whatever brand chain. I am using a Campag Veloce chain at the moment, with a Campag specific KMC link - not the Campag joining pin, (of course according to Campag's leaflet I leave myself open to death or worse as a result . Then if you manage to feed the chain the wrong way round any of the jockey wheels or cages - and, yes, I've done it too - it is so easy to undo it and put it right.

 

[Glover Fan]

Well all is well, just done a hill climbing training session and as expected everything was OK. These 105 chains seem to have a not so great reputation, but gear changes are a lot more slick with this new chain compared to my KMC one that was on it. This is the 5701 series chain which is directional.

In response to the chap who suggested I retire from doing any sort of mechanical work on a bike my response would be that in all cases my mistakes were largely due to rushing which I fully except. Also the manual I was using and indeed the instructions with the chain did not elaborate about routing the chain between the jockey wheels correctly and until I made the mistake I didn't even know the piece of metal there existed!

I suppose I could just go down to the LBS and have them do absolutely everything for me, I can afford too, but the self gratification and satisfaction is far greater when you achieve things yourself. At least now I know when in the howling rain and gale force wind if I ever have a chain snap I won't be sat in the gutter looking at my chain tool thinking "WTF am I supposed to do with this" and will actually be able to continue. I am very much someone who will self teach myself pretty much anything. I taught myself how to dismantle computers and actually built one from scratch but to be fair it is very easy to do and 3 years on it's still working beautifully (i'm on it now!). I also used a Haynes manual to take apart a large motorcycle and take out some power restrictors from the carburettors to enable full power which involved a lot of patience.

In conclusion I made some silly mistakes. But trust me, I will have a go at changing brakes and plenty of other maintenance jobs. Not because I am tight, but because i'm not lazy. My ambition is to do the LEL in 2013, I want to go into an event like that where I know at least 50% of mechanical failures can be repaired by myself.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Well all is well, just done a hill climbing training session and as expected everything was OK. These 105 chains seem to have a not so great reputation, but gear changes are a lot more slick with this new chain compared to my KMC one that was on it. This is the 5701 series chain which is directional.

In response to the chap who suggested I retire from doing any sort of mechanical work on a bike my response would be that in all cases my mistakes were largely due to rushing which I fully except. Also the manual I was using and indeed the instructions with the chain did not elaborate about routing the chain between the jockey wheels correctly and until I made the mistake I didn't even know the piece of metal there existed!

I suppose I could just go down to the LBS and have them do absolutely everything for me, I can afford too, but the self gratification and satisfaction is far greater when you achieve things yourself. At least now I know when in the howling rain and gale force wind if I ever have a chain snap I won't be sat in the gutter looking at my chain tool thinking "WTF am I supposed to do with this" and will actually be able to continue. I am very much someone who will self teach myself pretty much anything. I taught myself how to dismantle computers and actually built one from scratch but to be fair it is very easy to do and 3 years on it's still working beautifully (i'm on it now!). I also used a Haynes manual to take apart a large motorcycle and take out some power restrictors from the carburettors to enable full power which involved a lot of patience.

In conclusion I made some silly mistakes. But trust me, I will have a go at changing brakes and plenty of other maintenance jobs. Not because I am tight, but because i'm not lazy. My ambition is to do the LEL in 2013, I want to go into an event like that where I know at least 50% of mechanical failures can be repaired by myself.

Congratulations. The sense of achievement is great isn't it.