Tssssk, another month goes by and no posting - shoddy! Talking of shoddy, when I first started this whole bike thing, I didn't have a clue about bike maintenance. Three years later, I'm still not very good at it, but most jobs are reasonably easy, provided you've got three things....
1. A bike tool kit
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| A bike tool kit, yesterday |
It doesn't need to cost very much - this one came from Planet X online shop I think, and cost around 30 euro. The tools may not be the best quality, but, for the most part, as you won't be using them all day, every day, they should be fine. Such kits should have the main tools needed for the main jobs, for instance with this kit I have changed the bottom bracket, the crankset, replaced chains, and headsets. Make sure the kit has a set of Allan keys as these will be essential.
If you're changing cables and cable housings, its also worth investing in a set of proper bike cable cutters. Otherwise you'll end up damaging cable and housing ends trying to cut them with pliers or other unsuitable tools. Again, the set I got cost about 25 euro, and they are fine. Not pro level, but then I'm certainly not a pro!
2. A bike maintenance manual
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| Well worth the money! |
My brother in law got me this for my birthday, six months after I'd first got into cycling. I wasn't sure I'd need it at first, but after an unsatisfactory experience at a (since closed) local bike shop, I decided to put it to use. Its a good book as it explains pretty much every job, in good detail, although it can sometimes be hard to track down the right section containing the specific job you want to do. Its worth scrawling the page number of jobs you are likely to do regularly inside the front cover, to save you searching next time!
Finally, if you've got a bit stuck, and you're unsure quite how to proceed, you need:
3. Youtube
Yes indeed - there are YouTube videos of almost every bike job you can think of, and more. Some are better than others, but you'll most likely find a video to demonstrate exactly what you are looking for pretty quickly, so you can be back out on your recently successfully overhauled bike in no time!
Happy days!
