Servicing

"Saxman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have had my new bike about a year now and I thought it might need a
service. Being practical, I thought it was something that I could
accomplish myself.

Is there any advice/tutorials available or would it be best to take it to
a
cycle dealer?

I'd say best to learn to DIY it.

Others will be along shortly to tell you where the advice is :-)

(sheldon brown, park tools, for a start. Most of it is pretty obvious. Wheel
truing is definitely a useful skill to learn. Cup and cone bearings are
probably the main 'service' item (assuming wearing parts like cables and
brake pads get replaced as needed rather than in a planned manner)).

cheers,
clive

Saxman said:

I have had my new bike about a year now and I thought it might need a
service. Being practical, I thought it was something that I could
accomplish myself.

Is there any advice/tutorials available or would it be best to take it to a
cycle dealer?

What is the going rate these days?

With the proper tools you can service your bike easily yourself.
There's a useful set of maintenance articles at http://www.bikemagic.com
- they're mountain biked based but generally applicable.

For shop prices, try Google. A quick look suggests about 30 quid for a
very basic service plus various rates for any maintenance jobs required.

--
Brian G

in message <[email hidden]>, Saxman

(') said:

I have had my new bike about a year now and I thought it might need a
service. Being practical, I thought it was something that I could
accomplish myself.

Is there any advice/tutorials available or would it be best to take it
to a cycle dealer?

There's nothing very complicated about most modern bikes. Bikes are, in
my experience, a pleasure to work on, provided you start by getting the
bike really clean. There are a few jobs which require expensive
specialised tools, but most of the special tools you need are cheap.

A very good book which is worth the money is Zinn and the Art of Mountain
Bike Maintenance (he also has one called 'Zinn and the Art of Road Bike
Maintenance' but I haven't got that so can't recommend it).

<URL:http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1884737994/thewebenginee-21>

Quoted message said:

What is the going rate these days?

About £25/hour, depending on where. The level of skill and care also
varies from place to place, and the good places may well have quite a
long waiting list.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

<p>Schroedinger's cat is <blink><strong>NOT</strong></blink> dead.</p>

"Brian G" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Saxman said:

I have had my new bike about a year now and I thought it might need a
service. Being practical, I thought it was something that I could
accomplish myself.

Is there any advice/tutorials available or would it be best to take it to
a
cycle dealer?

What is the going rate these days?

With the proper tools you can service your bike easily yourself. There's a
useful set of maintenance articles at http://www.bikemagic.com - they're
mountain biked based but generally applicable.

For shop prices, try Google. A quick look suggests about 30 quid for a
very basic service plus various rates for any maintenance jobs required.

--
Brian G

And if you want the sort of lo-tech solution you can refer to in the garage
or the shed the Haynes manual for bike maintenance is adequate to good
unless your bike is very old.

Quoted message said:

Is there any advice/tutorials available or would it be best to take it
to a cycle dealer?

What is the going rate these days?

<http://www.harryhallcycles.co.uk/workshop_price_list.htm>

At a guess I'd say they'd be at the higher end of prices (they certainly
sell some nice bikes). Many LBSs will only carry out work on bikes they've
sold themselves (and even then some aren't too keen!).

In summer most bike shops have waiting lists longer than a doctor's in the
middle of a flu epidemic, so if you are taking it to a LBS do it before it
gets warmer.

The good news is that a tool kit will pay for itself after one use.

Thats reasonable Evans are much more expensive than that

Saxman said:

What is the going rate these days?

More than the cost of the tools you'll need to do the job yourself. And
if you buy the tools yourself, next time you do the job it will be
free.

In fact, you'll probably have most of the tools you need in your
toolbox already - screwdrivers, allen keys, spanners, pliers, etc.
Specialist tools you might need would be things like chainwhip, cone
spanners, spoke keys, chain-breaker and splined cassette/bottom bracket
tools, but these are not expensive (get them in Halfords, or from
www.mikedyason.co.uk).

The only really expensive bit of kit you need for bike servicing is a
stand. You can manage the job without one of these but it would be a
worthwhile long-term investment and would make the job a fair bit
easier. Having said that, it's not something I have got round to buying
for myself yet.

For the how-tos, see Sheldon Brown's website and/or the Park Tools
website - don't have the links handy but they are easily googlable.
Also try the Haynes Bike Book and/or the Zinn bike maintenance book --
I have the Haynes one myself and it's fine, but the Zinn is highly
recommended by others and is probably more technical.

If you've had your bike for a year, you'd be sensible to buy a new
chain, and you might need a new cassette too if the current one is
badly worn. Probably not a bad idea to replace brake and gear cables,
too. Also buy a tube of grease for use on hubs and bits where seizing
might be a problem, and light oil for other moving parts (brake
calipers, derailleurs). That lot shouldn't come to any more than £20
total. Apart from that, chances are you probably won't have to spend
much on parts unless you discover something seriously wrong.

d.

"davek" <[email hidden]> wrote

<snip>

Quoted message said:

The only really expensive bit of kit you need for bike servicing
is a stand.

Quoted message said:

You can manage the job without one of these but it would be
a worthwhile long-term investment and would make the job a
fair bit easier. Having said that, it's not something I have got
round to buying for myself yet.

I got one for Christmas, it's the best 50 quid I've spent on bike
related stuff. It's really good being able to adjust the rear mech
while sat on the sofa in the living room ;-)

The stand is a really nice bit of engineering with cast aluminium
parts and some hefty steel tubing.

It really looks like it should cost a lot more than it did.

I got it from www.sjscycles.com
" SJSC Bike Star/Planet Professional freestanding workstand "

Best Regards

Dave.