Hi! Enthusiastic commuter/fitness type that knows f all about technical stuff, but would like to learn so I can stop apologising for not knowing how to fix bikes every time I put my bike in the shop to get fixed! I've had some humiliating experiences with snooty shop types...
Scared of bike shops!
- Thread starter RubySoho
- Start date
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shouldbeinbed
Rollin' along
- Location
- Manchester way
Seek a bike maintenance course, Edinburgh Bike Cooperative (the shop chain) do them & female specific events if that is an issue, local city cycling groups may do workshop sessions &/or tool hire with friendly advice thrown in, the local council or transport executive will run them too.
You can pick your level and have guided hands on tuition for a few tenners.
Youtube is also your friend - plenty of how to vids from companies and individuals. Have a google for Park Tools, they have a comprehensive and v good tech section. When you're feeling a bit more confident have a look online for Sheldon Brown's site.
You can either practice on your own pride and joy or maybe hunt Gumtree or the local free ads for a dirt cheap beaten up bike that you can use as your guinea pig without worrying about hurting the one you love
. Simple things to practice like Chains, cables, brake blocks can be got from Asda for a few quid. You never know you could fettle up a nice usable runabout for peanuts and a wealth of experience to keep you away from snotty bike shop snobbery.
I'd also shop around for a nicer bike shop to be your local one, there are some lovely people with a yen for bikes. I only know Edinburgh as a tourist tho so no local recommendations, sorry.
You can pick your level and have guided hands on tuition for a few tenners.
Youtube is also your friend - plenty of how to vids from companies and individuals. Have a google for Park Tools, they have a comprehensive and v good tech section. When you're feeling a bit more confident have a look online for Sheldon Brown's site.
You can either practice on your own pride and joy or maybe hunt Gumtree or the local free ads for a dirt cheap beaten up bike that you can use as your guinea pig without worrying about hurting the one you love
. Simple things to practice like Chains, cables, brake blocks can be got from Asda for a few quid. You never know you could fettle up a nice usable runabout for peanuts and a wealth of experience to keep you away from snotty bike shop snobbery.I'd also shop around for a nicer bike shop to be your local one, there are some lovely people with a yen for bikes. I only know Edinburgh as a tourist tho so no local recommendations, sorry.
Jimidh
Veteran
- Location
- Midlothian
I'm crap at fixing things and not in the slightest bit embarrassed about it.
I'll do punctures and tyre changes but anything else goes to the bike shop so guys that actually know what they are doing can fix it properly.
I'll do punctures and tyre changes but anything else goes to the bike shop so guys that actually know what they are doing can fix it properly.
Jimidh
Veteran
- Location
- Midlothian
Edinburgh Bike Coop guys are good so are Criterium Cycles and none of them are snooty.
Also great guys at Ronde in Stockbridge.
My LBS is actually ok, depending on who is there, there did used to be someone who worked there that apparently wasn't supposed to speak to customers, because he kept putting them off, who was the cause of much embarrassment on my part, I also don't like not knowing things. I'm a chef, I can butcher a deer, make a souffle, fix a dishwasher, build a smoker, dont know how to fix bikes though...yet
Thanks! Heard good things about ronde, bit far away from me though, my LBS is actually almost always fine, think I just need to be a bit less sensitive/more informed!
doog
....
- Location
- The beautiful south
Youtube a bike stand and a few choice tools.
Servicing bikes is the new and totally unregulated rip off akin to the motoring industry in many places.
How do you work the rip off bit out, unless of course you are being charged for work not carried out. If you mean they charge for labour, hw on earth could they run a business without doing so.
doog
....
- Location
- The beautiful south
Im on about the 'you need a new cassette and of course a chain as well as cables ' bollox when you stick it in for a simple gear service... lets be honest its easy money.
Are you kidding, how many bike shops have gone out of business due to not making enough money? Easy pennies if you have no overheads.
I would imagine most bikes going into a shop for a gear service do indeed need new parts, lets face it a chain which is not looked after will last say 1,000 miles or less and we know what a worn chain does to a cassette.
Whatever business you are in I would imagine some of your customers think you are ripping them, it is the nature of paying customers or some to think that way.
bozmandb9
Insert witty title here
- Location
- South Oxfordshire
Terrible, this is what I hate about some of the pratts who work in bike shops. If everybody knew how to fix bikes, they would be down the job centre, or sitting watching Jeremy Kyle! By all means, if you want to learn about bike maintenance, do so. But if you go into a bike shop, and encounter 'snooty shop types' I'd suggest putting them in their place, or tell their manager that you find them unhelpful/ intimidating!
And it's not just you. I was chatting to my LBS owner about it, and it's a perennial problem in the industry. Many people who work in the LBS want to do so because they're bike nerds. What they need to be, is good at their job, which is helping people get the bike they want, or get their bike fixed, and doing so politely and helpfully, recognising that it's your custom which pays their wages!
Rant over!
doog
....
- Location
- The beautiful south
and this is the thing...you ring up for a £20 gear service and you end up with a £100 bill.....
I agree its so much easier for them to stick on a new chain / cassette and adjust it than fanny around with something that may or may not be worn.....but how many tell you that when you put it in ? .....few in my experience.
We both seem to have different experiences.
Hip Priest
Veteran
In the interest of balance, I took my bike into my LBS for a service (first one in a long while) and was expecting to need a new chain and cassette. I even told the mechanic as I handed it over that it 'probably needs a new cassette'. They returned it with a new chain, but said the cassette was fine. No ripping off here.
