Any of them.
Working on your own bike
- Thread starter rydabent
- Start date
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Any of them.
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
I hoped you'd add value (and knowledge) to this thread, beyond asserting that bike maintenance is simple (bear in mind the regular readership of this sub-forum).
Sorry you didn't feel able so to do, and btw, they can't all be the least complicated. Or are you really unable to differentiate?
Did you get caught by the IBM pension scheme changes dilemma as well?
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Which is why I spend a lot of time cleaning and checking my bike for signs of trouble. It's tedious but necessary. But as soon as significant work is needed on it, it's off to the LBS with it.
Some people enjoy fettling bikes, and make a hobby out of it. Not me. I'd rather mow the lawn than change a bottom bracket.
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All uphill
Still rolling along
- Location
- Somerset
Ummm, I have a brilliant idea.
I'll change your bike's bottom bracket whenever it's needed, and you come and mow my lawn whenever it's needed.
Deal?
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
Pretty much every maintenance operation is well covered by clips on YouTube. Just prop your laptop next to your bike and go to work. The Americans tend to gabble at high speed so you'll probably have to re-wind multiple times if you use a US clip, but you'll get there in the end.
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
Here's the very best, clearly explained instructions on indexing a rear deralleur.
[media]
]View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzvfCaIbyQ[/media]
Notice the features....
No gabbling.
No baseball cap worn backwards.
No T shirt smothered in daft lettering.
Just a very clear explanation that you don't need to be on speed to follow.
[media]
]View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzvfCaIbyQ[/media]
Notice the features....
No gabbling.
No baseball cap worn backwards.
No T shirt smothered in daft lettering.
Just a very clear explanation that you don't need to be on speed to follow.
presta
Guru
Not cycle-related, but this is what I mean:
The last time I hired anyone to do a job was when the washer dryer needed repairing. The condenser was choked with fluff and needed unblocking, but as I'm not well enough to do it now and can't manage without it, I called a repair man. Having stood over them and watched until they correctly diagnosed the fault, I left them to it and went into the other room. After they finished they told me that it also needed a new fan motor, and would get the office to send a quote (another £165 on top of the £90 already paid), so I took the lid off after they'd gone and found they've slashed the winding on the motor with a Stanley knife:
Slick
Guru
To be fair, that just suggests you haven't done your homework on who you are letting into your house. There's nothing to guarantee success, but even the basics like going by a recommendation from someone you know, helps.
presta
Guru
It was the same company I had the previous time, surprisingly, they get 65% 5* on Trustpilot. I hadn't realised, but they tried to scam me then, too.
From Trustpilot, one scam is finding something else wrong each time they come back to fix the last fault, like with the motor above. The other one is telling the customer there's nothing wrong so that they can charge you for another callout when you have to get them back again a couple of days later. When I called them out to replace the dampers he said he couldn't find anything wrong, but I insisted he change them anyway because I knew what the problem was.
classic33
Leg End Member
If you knew what the problem was, why didn't you change the parts yourself?
presta
Guru
Because I'm not well enough to do it, as I said above.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Look in the YouTube settings - there is a playback speed control. You can slow speedfreaks down to 75/50/25% of the original speed.
It can work the other way too - If a speaker... talks... as... if... VERY... stoned... you can speed them up to a more bearable pace!
The trouble with YouTube videos is that some show you the correct technique to complete a job and some show you a bad technique. As a novice how do you know which is which?
I agree with the original post a bicycle isn't complicated if you have a mechanical mind, I built my first with help from dad when I was about twelve and for most of my life was paid to mend mechanical machinery and mostly enjoyed the work.
But there are lots of people who have no interest in such things and I am sometimes exasperated by people's lack of mechanical nounce, but these people invariabley have skills and interest far beyond my comprehension, "horses for courses" is the saying that springs to mind.
But there are lots of people who have no interest in such things and I am sometimes exasperated by people's lack of mechanical nounce, but these people invariabley have skills and interest far beyond my comprehension, "horses for courses" is the saying that springs to mind.
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ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Z’ha’dum
I used to do a lot of thimgs with my old bike
in fact it never occurred to me that bike shops fixed bike - I just bought new bikes from them and any bits I needed
But I have never got a pedal or crank off a bike
my mate and I did try with my old Peugeot in about 1980 - it had cotter pins - but never succeeded
tried it with my Raleigh Motus ebike but I couldn;t find any information on how to do it
some things said both come off in the same direction - i.e. forward I think
otehr things said NOOOOOO - these are different and both come off anti clockwise
I got a hex key that fitted - couldn;t budge either of them and didn;t want to try harder than I was doing it in case I broke something
breaking something on a modern ebike can be serious!!
even the local Raleigh dealer sometimes has to have 2 or 3 goes
there was a horrible creaking under high pedal power for ages
he tried alls sorts but couldn;t find the problem - it was difficult to diagnose as you had to be on a steep hill to make it creak
Eventually it got worse and creaked even when stationary when you stood on the pedals with the brakes on (before you fell off !)
Even then he had to have 2 goes to fix it and I had to leave it there all day
he eventually took every bolt off the motor - regreased them and put them back with the right torque
which fixed it - far better now even than when it was new!
WIthout the proper maintenance manual, and several complete sets of different types of screwdriver bits, I would have no chance
especially with no proper maintenance stand
(BTW - one delay with the motor was that he had to order new screwdriver bits because it uses ones he had never seen before - in spite of being a bike mechanic all his life!!!
In my opinion some bikes have just got too complicated
It is fine for professionals and high end amateurs
but for normal people everything should be kept simple and standard and not have difference that are specific to one manufacturer to gain advantages that are not relevant to 99% or people
in fact it never occurred to me that bike shops fixed bike - I just bought new bikes from them and any bits I needed
But I have never got a pedal or crank off a bike
my mate and I did try with my old Peugeot in about 1980 - it had cotter pins - but never succeeded
tried it with my Raleigh Motus ebike but I couldn;t find any information on how to do it
some things said both come off in the same direction - i.e. forward I think
otehr things said NOOOOOO - these are different and both come off anti clockwise
I got a hex key that fitted - couldn;t budge either of them and didn;t want to try harder than I was doing it in case I broke something
breaking something on a modern ebike can be serious!!
even the local Raleigh dealer sometimes has to have 2 or 3 goes
there was a horrible creaking under high pedal power for ages
he tried alls sorts but couldn;t find the problem - it was difficult to diagnose as you had to be on a steep hill to make it creak
Eventually it got worse and creaked even when stationary when you stood on the pedals with the brakes on (before you fell off !)
Even then he had to have 2 goes to fix it and I had to leave it there all day
he eventually took every bolt off the motor - regreased them and put them back with the right torque
which fixed it - far better now even than when it was new!
WIthout the proper maintenance manual, and several complete sets of different types of screwdriver bits, I would have no chance
especially with no proper maintenance stand
(BTW - one delay with the motor was that he had to order new screwdriver bits because it uses ones he had never seen before - in spite of being a bike mechanic all his life!!!
In my opinion some bikes have just got too complicated
It is fine for professionals and high end amateurs
but for normal people everything should be kept simple and standard and not have difference that are specific to one manufacturer to gain advantages that are not relevant to 99% or people