Bike repair and service - what do you do?
Are you DIY?
You know nothing and always take it to a shop? How is that going?
Anything that requires more skills than taking the bike apart to put in my bike box for flight, I take it to the shop. I can change brake pads, tires, and some screw adjustments … that’s about it.
One of my bikes, I get free lifetime tuneups from the LBS. I take that bike in, on a yearly basis, for tuneups. If they recommend other stuff, like new chain or drivetrain cleaning, I let them do it. My other bike, I take it in for a tuneup once every other year.
My way has worked out well for me so far … no real inconvenience or sticker shock for anything. The money that I’ve paid out hasn’t been anything that would cause me to say to myself, “hey, maybe I should learn how to do this to save a few dollars.”
For any work where I don’t have the tool(s) required, and buying the tool(s) far outweighs the cost of paying the shop to do the work, I take it to the shop.
Everything else I do myself.
Since buying Zinn and the art of bicycle maintenance, YouTube, a good torque wrench, a few misc tools, and a workstand I haven’t taken my bike to shop for service in 3ish years. Between my wife and me we have 4 bikes so the investment has paid for itself several times over. Haven’t encountered anything that I wasn’t able to DIY so far.
I’ve always enjoyed working on things and knowing how they work. With that mentality I immediately started wrenching on my bikes when I started cycling in 2012. Over the past few years I’ve become a pretty adept bike wrench and find that in most circumstances that it’s therapeutic for me, just like training.
The only bike related item I won’t work on is truing a wheel or installing a new hub. It’s not because I don’t want to learn though, it’s just because I haven’t invested in the proper equipment yet.
Bike repair and service - what do you do?
Are you DIY?
You know nothing and always take it to a shop? How is that going?
I try to do as much DIY as I can. What can i do? I started this about 5 years ago or so when I flatted on my commuter and had no idea how to get me rolling again. I stopped at a LBS in Provo, UT - - Taylor’s Bike Shop. They were super friendly and told me I experienced a pinch flat from not pumping up my tires. They fixed the flat for free after i bought a new tube and a bike pump.
After that day I decided I’d try to be more self-sufficient. Anytime since then I’ve had something go wrong with my bike I’ve tried my best to fix it myself. There are some things I still take to the LBS, like free tune-ups if I still get them for a particular bike. I’ve slowly expanded my toolset over the years based on different projects. I can’t say I’m an expert but I at least know the basics. I can do basic tune-ups, change flats, tubes, brake/shifter cables/housing, swap pedals, chains, cassettes, seats, handlebars, brakes, brakepads, etc. Just about the only thing I won’t touch currently is the crank and BB and that’s just a matter of time since I haven’t had a need to mess with those yet.
Note: I do not have any affiliation with Taylor’s Bike Shop.
I’m a strong believer in knowing everything except perhaps preparing a new frame (which can required specilized tools). Maybe not how to do it fast, but how it’s done.
Once you know it all, whether to do it yourself or not is up to you. Is a shop close, reliable and fast? How much does it cost? Etc. But know it all. It’s just a bike.
I do almost everything myself - I just don’t want to deal with schlepping to a shop, finding the person I trust, picking it up, paying, etc.
For any work where I don’t have the tool(s) required, and buying the tool(s) far outweighs the cost of paying the shop to do the work, I take it to the shop.
Everything else I do myself.
x2 with the exception that I don’t do any ‘advanced’ wheel stuff: I’ll true a wheel, but won’t build one
DIY for everything other than crank/BB, and cassette removal and mounting. I kinda know how that’s done. Watched mechanics do it. But have never attempted myself and don’t have the tools. A good set of tools is necessary. Torque wrench for sure. And a repair stand.
I do it all myself.
I’d rather buy a tool than pay someone to do the work.
I do it all myself.
I’d rather buy a tool than pay someone to do the work.
Just the opposite. I have all the skills, none of the time, and see no reason to buy a tool to remove a bottom bracket that will hang in the garage for next 3 or 4 years until I might need it again.
The mechanic at the LBS needs to eat also, so why not let him do it.
I do everything myself, although I must admit to having very little in the way of major trouble with my bikes. Its pretty much minor adjustments, chaining drive train parts, replacing cables and the annual bar tape job. None of which are by any means hard to do. That being said, I still can not seem to get the hang of doing a major wheel truing without totally F’ing up the spoke tension so I do let the pros work on my wheels.
I have to take a wheel into the shop once or twice a year and I do buy parts at my LBS (and on the internet too) and confer with the mechanics as necessary. But I have not taken any actual bike into a shop since 2005, and that was just to get a steerer tube cut down. Before that is was 1985 for some repairs after I got hit by a car. (I actually could have done those repairs myself but I wanted them to check out the frame).
I have no beef with bike shops, I just like playing bike mechanic. Messing around with my bikes was always been part of the fun even back in the Schwinn Stingray days.
I am mid-50s with very little spare time on my hands. And any time there is, I’d rather put into training. (when I retire soon, I’d like to do my own repairs)
While I currently do some basic stuff, the other stuff I have enlisted to a mobile mechanic. It saves me the grief of loading my bike into the car, driving it over to the LBS, showing up or phoning a few days later - quite often to be to be told “it’s still not ready, we’ve been busy, blah blah blah”, and heading back there to get it. I also noticed the quality of the repairs had decreased over the years. I tried other bike shops, some of the fees were ridiculous. The mobile guy either does the work in the driveway in his van, or takes my bike for a day or two (I have several bikes, so no issue), and returns it looking “brand new”. Yes, the service is pricey, but it saves me time, and my bikes have never run better, the quality of the work is amazing.
I don’t install headsets, but I will service them. I don’t do bottom brackets (I have 4 bikes that would all require different tools). Otherwise I am pretty fine doing most other things. I’ll even build wheels for my commuter bikes.
I started this about 5 years ago or so when I flatted on my commuter and had no idea how to get me rolling again. I stopped at a LBS in Provo, UT - - Taylor’s Bike Shop. They were super friendly and told me I experienced a pinch flat from not pumping up my tires. They fixed the flat for free after i bought a new tube and a bike pump.
After that day I decided I’d try to be more self-sufficient.Cool shop!
I am good buddies with my LBS mechanic so I take most stuff in to him. If it wasn’t my friend and I was paying full price I would do more on my own.
I will swap stems, change brake pads, clean drivetrain, swap pedals, change tires, etc. I recently bought the tools to change a cassette as I have two sets of wheels and like different cassettes for different rides. Drivetrain adjustment, BB work, headset, goes to the mechanic. I don’t have a work stand which is a pain in the rear and reduces my motivation to DIY.
My bike is made from organics. It fixes itself.
**My bike is made from organics. It fixes itself. **
Vegan? And hopefully Gluten Free to! 
When I got into the sport I rode MTB only. You quickly learn how to fix everything the breaks, because when you ride hard and often everything breaks often. Nothing is hard to do if you are remotely mechanically inclined, and there are tutorial videos everywhere.
Anything that requires more skills than taking the bike apart to put in my bike box for flight, I take it to the shop. I can change brake pads, tires, and some screw adjustments … that’s about it.
One of my bikes, I get free lifetime tuneups from the LBS. I take that bike in, on a yearly basis, for tuneups. If they recommend other stuff, like new chain or drivetrain cleaning, I let them do it. My other bike, I take it in for a tuneup once every other year.
My way has worked out well for me so far … no real inconvenience or sticker shock for anything. The money that I’ve paid out hasn’t been anything that would cause me to say to myself, “hey, maybe I should learn how to do this to save a few dollars.”
This is almost exactly my situation, even to the point that one of my bikes came from a shop with free lifetime tune-ups, although I always keep my drivetrain clean. I know how to do some other things (I really need to practice replacing links on a chain), but there have been a couple times when something has gone wrong during a ride, I got it good enough to get home, then took it into the shop to get everything just right.