BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I also have 0 bike repair skill. I have tried changing flats a few times and It usually takes an hour per tire and a huge bulge and blow out. Getting some skills would be great.

Freeride offers classes that are pretty good.

http://freeridepgh.org/learn/adult-classes/

I took the 6 week course and learned stuff even in classes ("fixing flats") where I thought I knew the stuff.

They also have "drop in" classes on one subject- great for specific repairs.

I should go to the "Deraileur " class on Sudnay to get my gears adjusted.

Venture Outdoors is offering a series of bike rides this summer that will teach you the basics of bike repair as part of the "curriculum." I think they are on Thursday evenings. It might be a good way to learn from folks who are experienced, while also learning to be confident with riding with a group, etc. More information available at www.ventureoutdoors.org

freeride is an excellent resource for this, as mick mentioned. it's part of their raison d'être, even.

additionally, next time you find your bike is ailing, take it to kraynick's, buy the part, and have someone who's hanging around show you how to fix it. great place!

This guy's got a fairly straightforward, short video demonstration for just about every type of bike repair and maintenance job-

http://bicycletutor.com/

Not a class per se, but about as close as you can get and free. Seems to work for people I know who are having a hard time figuring out how to fix their bikes reading a repair manual.

I definitely recommend Freeride. I took their classes too and I thought they were great - *especially* if you have no prior experience. If you take the series, the first class is about fixing flats, etc. and it goes from there to a lot of other basic repairs and maintenance.

They're very "hands on" - you'll get to actually do the work yourself (with an instructor there to help if needed), either on your own bike or one of the bikes in the shop.

Yeah, I'd say Freeride is the way to go too. I was able to give my bike a decent tune-up taking their courses last summer, and my previous bike repair experience consisted mostly of kicking things and seeing if that helped.

(And as for tubes, the size of tube you need should be printed on the outside of your tire somewhere.)

Learning from others is the best way to do it; so Freeride sounds like a good place to go to. Failing that you might do what I did (way back when I didn't know any other riders). If you can afford it, buy a stand. Also a book. I started with Ballantine's, but it's way out of date at this point (and surprisingly light on details).

1. Take your tires and tubes off and put them back on again, enough times so that you know what you're doing. You'll screw something up the first couple of times, but that's the point. Do the same for the chain and the brake pads.

2. Play with all the adjustable stuff on your bike (brakes, derailleurs, cables). Keep it up until you understand what's going on. Try to true a wheel.

That should take care of most of your needs; for anything else it's ok to go to the bike shop. If you want to go on, you'll have to start buying funny-looking tools.

3. Take each system apart and put it back together (hubs, bottom bracket). Learn, hopefully not the hard way, to keep track of all those bitty parts and how they go together.

Most of what you learn should transfer to other bikes (of the same general type).

I'd check out communiteach.org as well. You could try and set up a skill swap with someone on there. (like you teach them some cooking skills, they teach you some bike repair).

I bought a bike repair manual and have started futzing with it, when something goes wrong or "that doesn't sound right" I pull it out. But I live at the top of the hill and my favorite repair shop is at the bottom, about 2 miles away, so I'm not so afraid anymore, I can pretty easily roll the thing down and have them fix my "fixes" if needed.

Take your bike apart. Put it back together. Ask for some help with the fine adjustments and extra parts you have left over.

Much to my mom's horror I did this to my first "real" bike when I was about 12 (as encouraged by my dad) and have been working on bikes ever since.

A second plug for BicycleTutor, it's a great site but unfortunately they charge now. Buying the DVDs would be the most cost effective approach, but they are good quality. Other than that, books, magazines, and good old trial and error.

Youtube is a real treasure-trove of info, I don't know how we survived the days without internet. :p

I'm also willing to bet that there are many on this list that could easily be bribed to show you something simple with a cup of coffee.

The park tools website and a noisy bike did the trick for me.

+1 on Free Ride classes.

+1 on reading up via SheldonBrown.com and other sites mentioned above.

+1 on YouTube videos on a particular topic.

I do simple stuff like changing tires & brake pads, lubricating moving parts, & minor adjustments, but I don't have the tools, space, time or inclination to get into pulling machinery apart. That's some of why I have several bikes: Always have one good backup for your main ride, and know the hours for your favorite bike shop.

@BradQ: Perhaps documenting the disassembly with photos or wee little drawings might prevent the "extra parts" bit of your method, and provide a more satisfying learning experience for the OP?

@headloss: Coffee and pie.

@orionz06 et al: These days I google "sheldon" with any bike information request, much as I google "alton" with most recipe research. (Though I do google "kasma" with any Thai inquiries.) I've been finding Sheldon has little blurbs all over the web. He was a prolific poster apparently, and no one's accreted his postings it seems. He hasn't let me down yet, and I thought I had the most esoteric question ever, yet he popped up and had already answered it on some obscure board. I have no proof but suspect Zombie Sheldon is still answering queries of befuddled pedalcyclists. That said, always consult multiple sources.

@OP: Freeride. I have never taken a class there or anywhere, but everyone who has tells me they learned something. We now have internet, so you can pull up Sheldon's or whomever's instructions on how to adjust your derailer or whatever. There's a staff mechanic at the rare open shop now, who can help you learn how to learn about maintaining your ride. Most anyone at Open Shop will lend you a hand if you ask, so ask. Don't drink the water. (Really, don't drink the tap water. In all my time up there, no one has been able to explain what's wrong with it, but everyone says not to drink it. This may also be an accurate metaphor for how freeride "works".)

Might I suggest something a little less extreme than disassembling your primary ride? On your neighborhood trash night, take a toodle around the neighborhood and look for a junked bike, drag it home, figure out what's wrong with it, and try to fix it. Preferably one with most parts visibly left. At the very least, take it's parts apart and put them back together. Modern alloy bike components don't take well to cross threading bolts or overtightening, so you don't want to go uh-oh with a new $50 derailleur. If you are successful, you now have a back-up beater.

For a work stand, unless you have excess money you need to spend before the rapture, get an old trunk rack for a car, you can find these dirt cheap because they are semi-disposable, find a place to hang it, like the back of your garage door, there's your workstand. I worked on my bike for many years right on the back of my car. Cause I'm as cheap as the day is long. In June.

Holy tripods, Batman! I have two of those things that I don't/can't use. I may have to rejigger some space in the basement (I have a carport instead of a garage), but that might just solve my lack-of-workstand problem. Thanks!

@headloss: pint of beer.

The one thing I forgot to add is, keep practicing. It's in the nature of things that you eventually forget the details of just how exactly that headset is supposed to go back together. (Yet another thing I learned the hard way.)

Per @BradQ: if possible, do plan for a gear-head (cog-head?) Dad to be on call.

Also, @BradQ, I did take apart (though not completely) my first "real" bike (a 10-speed!). Sadly all that I learned was that I had a crappy bike, with really low-end components. But, for whatever reason, I kept going.

Will teach for beer.

@robjdic one case or two

Depends how much I'm teaching and what kind of beer

@edmonds: that is a fabulous solution. (And I have a junky trunk rack in the garage!)

I used to get by flipping my bike over and have it rest on the handlebars and seat. But modern dashboard configurations don't seem to allow for that. (Also, you're a lot more limber in your early twenties...)

But I do have a real bike-stand at this point. And I can set it up in the driveway on really nice days. That's hard to beat.

For the OP: Don't be afraid to ask the fine folks on this board a question. Like I did about a year ago, here.

@Edmonds

We have the same stand!

OMG That's brilliant! Now I know why I never threw out that bike rack! (although it baffles me that I never bought a stand).

additionally, next time you find your bike is ailing, take it to kraynick's, buy the part, and have someone who's hanging around show you how to fix it. great place!

Spend some time at Kraynick's. I've been to Free Ride a few times but their hours don't really work for me the same way Kraynick's do. (Allow me also to feel ever so slightly aggrieved for being excluded from Free Ride's Wednesday sessions.) If I lived a bit closer and/or had a different schedule I might go to Free Ride more, but as it is I go to Kraynick's fairly frequently, learn a lot, and strongly second the recommendation for Kraynick's.

@edmonds59: Brilliant. Kudos.