UKH

I'd love to be able to maintain, repair and upgrade my MTB and road bike myself; like say index the gears, change cables, even replace the whole gearset from 2x10 to a 1x11 on the MTB, and replace the Sora on the road bike with 105. Maybe one day even build a whole bike! 

Unfortunately my knowledge of bicycle maintenance stretches to repairing punctures and that's about it. I've looked at a few videos on YouTube and there are so many elements to it I have no exposure to - like grease, lubricants, Nm of torque, cable tension, hydraulics, alignment... It's too much to get my head around in one go.

How do I get into it? Do bike shops do courses or something like that? I wouldn't want to break either of my bikes using them as guinea pigs! Or do you just dive in and watch videos....??? A book perhaps?!

I'm also very intrigued to know what the benefit of maintenance is because my MTB I've had for about 5 years, I don't think I've ever had either of the suspensions serviced and in MBUK this month it says you should do the front forks every 50 hours of riding! I don't have the 'palate' so to speak to know whether my suspension is not operating as well as it should and the bike seems fine to me so I don't really understand what several hundred pounds worth of suspension services would have benefited me? 

I also don't have the experience to tell how far through their life span various components are, like the cassettes for all I know could be 99% as good as new or all worn and in need of replacement...

I seem to have one bike which I keep in good condition and it is very noticeable if anything isn’t working as well as it should. And my commuting bike which I expect to be a bit clunky and so don’t notice when things are a bit worn (although I did replace brake cables recently for the first time in 5 years and it did feel much nicer)

 In terms of getting into it I’ve just made sure that whenever something needs doing I do it and used YouTube videos. For example I wanted to have easier gears so had to learn to change a cassette, rear derailleur and then index gears.

It’s good fun once you get into it (well apart from the cleaning of several years grime ) and I’m now trying to find a argument for why I should build up a bike from parts.

Just dive in !

There isn't much i can't do no after 25 years of building and maintaining bikes,

The Park Tool website is a great place for resource:

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help

Oh, and buy some decent tools !

Then sell them all for pence when the standards change. 

I've headset spanners, wheel cup and cone spanners, multiple BB tools... All of no use.

I'm the same but i was more thinking torque wrench, screwdrivers and Allen keys !

Thankfully you don't need hardly any of those now and if you do they are that rarely used you can buy cheaper ones, it's worth having a decent cassette removal tool though, had my Shimano one for years and that's never changed

I've just looked at how much 105 gears cost and it comes to about £400 nearly... but you can get a whole bike with 105 for £900 odd... makes me question whether it's good value for money me attempting to upgrade myself and potentially either breaking it, or not setting it up optimally - compared to just getting a whole new bike. I thought gears were cheaper than that

I agree with the general "just start doing it" attitude on here. When I started riding a few years ago I decided I wanted to try to do some maintenance to keep the bikes running well and reduce down time and missed days. just started to try to replace things as they wore out or broke and I was rubbish at it!. I used youtube, bought the tools I needed for the specific job (I think this is key to being successful- doesn't cost a lot if you just buy what you need at the time you need it - you'll reuse the tools lots) and have a friendly mobile bike maintenance guy local to me who helps when I mess something up. Now I'm much more confident and really enjoy it and it gives me a sense of satisfaction. I've found that things wear in a certain order and with different time scales. I've now changed lots of cables/chains/cassettes, a few rear derailleurs/bottom brackets/wheel bearings/headset bearings, etc. Never changed a chain-ring but if you can do a bottom bracket you can change a change ring. I've not built a wheel up or a whole bike but I suspect I could make a pretty good go at it if I wanted to try now. Being able to at least change break pads/cables/index gears is a good start and keeps you moving for longer between the bigger/harder jobs.

Getting the parts online can be tricky due to a lack of standardisation but you can always return them or go down the local bike shop to get advice if need be. I've found the local shop is pretty supportive of people like me who want a bit of help to do their own maintenance as they know they'll get some work out of it in the long run and referrals.

Good luck.

A good book is handy so when working on your bike you can refer to it.

Lidl had bike workstands last week and you might still find one. A decent work stand makes any work so much easier.

Absolutely. I changed the groupset on my road bike to R800. There are loads of YouTube videos to help. A workstand is invaluable. I got the Aldi one. A bike specific torque wrench is very good for piece of mind. Also a set of high quality Allen keys. The easiest things to mess up are cables and handlebar tape but these are cheap to get replacements for.

I agree with the just dive in encouragement!

Before you buy any parts or embark on a job, do some YouTube research about that specfic task.  There are good beginner maintenance/upgrade job videos that can be easily found from GCN or BikeRadar for example.  If confused by standards and compatibility, I find the Sheldon Brown website very useful.

It can be useful to take a few photographs of your bike/parts to be replaced before you take them off your bike.  Take things off slowly and thoughtfully, putting things down on a clear surface in the order they came off your bike.  Put small parts in a container so they don't roll away. Work over a clear, swept floor so that you can easily find things that you drop and may bounce away in a random direction.

A good range of standard and part specific tools will be neccessary and just build these up over time.  A chain whip, lockring tool, cable cutters, bottom bracket tool, needle nose pliers, allen keys, spoke key to supplement regular toolbox is probably the minimum starter set.  If you have disc brakes, a bleed kit is helpful.  A collapsing bike maintenance stand also helpful but I survived without one for years.

You will come across irregular issues and frustratingly stuck/knackered parts but I've always (eventually) found a way to solve - thanks to Google and YouTube.  Keep selected worn parts, all bolts, washers, useful bits as I have salvaged many a bike project from cannabilising from other dead parts.  You'll need some good degreaser, grease, gt85, lube etc.

Good luck!

Depends what your bike is if its worth upgrading, if its got Sora then maybe not, i would suggest a better way to upgrade would be eBay your current bike and buy new in the sales, new bikes will always be better value than buying the constituent parts as the manufacturers have massive buying power on components etc.

I've never used a torque wrench on a pushbike and not often on a car.  So just have a go, it's not as complex as all that makes out.

One exception: wheel trueing and spoke replacement.  That really *is* a dark art.

Oh, and if you want to get a bottom bracket out you need a *long* breaker bar!

With carbon components you need to be careful, stem, bars, seat posts etc are all around 5nm which isn't that tight, but generally tight enough is tight enough

Good point - I've never had a bike that posh!

Just dive in. You'll be trying hard to do any real damage to most modern components, but you could always get something cheap off eBay to practice on.

Mostly, you'll just need a set of hex keys, maybe 8mm, 9mm and 10mm spanners, a pair of decent cable cutters and not much else - buy what you need as you go along.

A chain checker will tell you if the chain, and therefore the cassette, are worn. Lots of strategies for prolonging the life of both, including rotating several chains.

Go and buy something like the Park Big Blue Book of bike repairs, or the Haynes equivalent, and work through it, supplemented with the YouTube videos from Park and others. Road.cc and others have "how to" and "when to" guides.

Some things are fiddly, like bleeding brakes, and I personally hate re-building hubs.

I haven't serviced my MTB forks in almost 20 years and they're still fine.

Edit - definitely get a torque wrench if you're dealing with anything involving carbon! Otherwise, I don't tend to bother and go with feel. The 5nm pre-set torque keys will do you for most things.

Edit 2 - check for a local bike "kitchen" type place, as they will rent you a work stand and tools for a nominal fee and there'll be some experienced people there to help you. For example, http://www.readingbicyclekitchen.org/

Same here, never had a carbon bike so never worried too much about torque ratings. Pretty tight but not stupid tight has always worked fine for me! 

I've picked up a lot from YouTube during lockdown, my front derailleur was acting up on a ride because it was frayed so I had to replace it and reindex the gears - pretty straightforward. Also learned that you can't cut cable tubing with pliers but can reuse the old stuff at a pinch. I've since dropped the bars and got better at cleaning the chain and lubing the drivetrain. And today I even figured out how to add a geotagged photo to Strava! I think it's just having the confidence to go for it.

I've just replaced the groupset on my bike using a 35 quid bike tool set from Halfords and watching the park tool website. That website has clear nd easy instructions for literally every aspect of maintenance. None of it is actually that difficult when you try it. Only thing I didn't have confidence doing was replacing the bottom bracket so got a shop to do that

Maintaining your suspension isn't as difficult as it sounds if you are just replacing the rubber seals and foam bits, which is typically what they suggest as a 50 hour service but I dont know many people who follow this to the letter. Most people tend to do this twice a year and a full service once a year if they are riding about 8 -10 hours a week on a mtb. If you only go out once a week on some local trails or to a trail center then a basic service once a year and a full service every two years would be fine if keeping an eye on the forks. If your forks are a really basic model or an old 26" then just getting it done once might be enough or you might be spending more than a replacement would cost.

A collapsing bike stand is just going to be annoying. I would go for a collapsible one. Sorry😁

Agree about proper cable cutters. Absolute revelation how cleanly they cut. Fraying ends are most unsatisfactory.