Do It Yourself Bicycle Maintenance

Bicycle Repair and Maintenance

Here’s a question:

How much do you spend on bicycle repairs and maintenance per year?

Well I guess it depends on how much riding you do, and whether you road cycle or mountain bike, and how many bikes you own.

Either way I suspect it will run into the hundreds of dollars for each bike you have.

Unless you’re mechanically minded, I bet like me, every time you need something fixed, no matter how small, it is off to the bike shop to have the bike mechanic fix it.

Now imagine how satisfying would it be if you were able to do it yourself?

For me it’s not even the cost that used to bug me, it’s the inconvenience of being without my bike for at least a day, and quite honestly the powerlessness of being unable to fix even the most basic of problems.

Well not anymore.

I’ve now learnt how to do it myself. By following some step by step instructions on how to repair and maintain a bike.

This has been a revelation to me. A lot of this work is easy once you know how, I can now confidently tackle basic repairs with ease.

Why just today, I tightened up a loose headset, and removed an old cassette from my wheel and replaced it with a new one. This took just minutes to do, yet a week ago I had no clue how to do this.

Next I’m going to replace the handlebar tape.

Of course that's fairly easy stuff, but the more complex repairs, such as adjusting the derailleur and gears, something that’s always mean a complete mystery to me, can also be readily achieved, and I'm well on the way to learning this.

Learning proper bike maintenance and repair isn't rocket science. It's just a skill that takes practice and patience, and it’s something that really anybody can do.

You just need to go to the right place to get the qualified information, and proper teaching techniques so that you too can do your own repair and maintenance.

Of course there are specific tools you will need for certain jobs, but these are all readily available, and anyway doesn’t it make sense to build up a proper bike tool box.

If you have more than one bike, or have ever wanted to do up an old bike, then you simply must learn this. You will save hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

On top of that doing your own repairs is fun and immensely satisfying.