I wanted to put the feelers out to see if people would be interested in attending a basic bike repair/maintenance workshop. The workshop would cover the basic things of keeping your bike up and running, nothing too advanced.
I have seen a lot of people posting, “I would love to go for a ride but my bike is broken” so I feel like there might be a need for this kind of knowledge to be disseminated.
Please sign up if you’re interested in learning these basic things such as:
Changing a flat tire
Adjusting your derailleur/shifters
Adjusting or replacing the brakes
When to get a new chain
When to get a new bottom bracket
Nothing too complicated, so I would like to keep the group small to make sure the bike repair padawans get as much attention as they need.
If there is enough interest, I will try to set something up in the coming weeks.
I can help out too if you want (and assuming I’m actually in town). What about more “advanced” topics like torquing components, bearing service? etc?
I’m actually in the process of building up a bike so you can use that as a demo if you want to do a full build tutorial, the only thing done right now is the crank and I’m not happy with the job I did anyway.
I have limited experience in changing my brake/shifter cables but that’s as far as it goes. If the group isn’t too big I will be glad to join and learn a bit more.
Once you’ve got a handle on the basics, this should take perfect care of anyone looking to do advanced repair. Especially considering it involves heavy tool investment and a certain kind of obsessive owner (don’t worry, I’m talking about myself here) it’s probably not worth covering that in any sort of informal intro-course setting.
Thanks for the advice Ikthir, I will include that in the workshop.
Jason, this will be strictly an intro class. All of the topics should be capable of being performed with a good multi-tool. You can’t feed steak to a baby.
Jocelyn, you should come since this workshop was inspired in a big way by your cassette shenanigans
I can also help / provide some tools / a bike stand. Or if there’s enough interest to hold a second one, I can probably host one, although a mini one given the size of my apartment.
[quote=John Turtle]
Once you’ve got a handle on the basics, this should take perfect care of anyone looking to do advanced repair. Especially considering it involves heavy tool investment and a certain kind of obsessive owner (don’t worry, I’m talking about myself here) it’s probably not worth covering that in any sort of informal intro-course setting.[/quote]
Fair enough.
But, I’m actually of the opinion that you simply should not own a carbon bike without owning a torque wrench. Hell, I don’t even like wailing on alloy components. Stuff comes lose, posts need to be moved, bars removed for transport, etc.
You can get a perfectly functional, reversible, ratcheted, twist grip, click style wrench for $50. Thats like a pair of cleats or a chain.
Lets do this Sunday evening. It will be at my house, and cover the following topics:
1 - What to bring on a ride, (and what to do with it).
2 - What everyone needs to have in their toolbox, (and what to do with it).
3 - Knowing when to replace components
4 - How to adjust your derailleur
Please let me know if there are any special topics you want me to cover. Bring whatever tools you bring with you on a ride.
Umm How hard is replacing Bar tape… I will be using whats left of my frame on a trainer and I will replacing the bar tape to make it a comfortable winter…