The only time I've paid someone to work on my bike was the time I had a shop lace up a BMX wheel to a freecoaster hub when I was perhaps 15. there were no internet tutorials around 1996 to help me. since then, I've built dozens of wheels. I'm going to service my Fox fork sometime this month. none of these things are hard. you just need the patience to accept the learning curve and a budget to invest in tools.
personally, I take great pride in fixing things myself. bicycles are really SO simple that I would feel like a total chump doing anything but the most complex tasks. it's not a matter of time or money, just feeling like "what kind of weakling would I be if I paid someone to install a new bottom bracket instead of doing it myself like a functioning adult?"
I also don't know that I can trust all mechanics. I've seen some SLOPPY work come out of bike shops. in the US, at least, there are no training requirements for bike shop mechanics. any doofus can turn a wrench and call themself a professional bike mechanic. there are some very good, professional, trustworthy mechanics out there, but there are many, many lousy ones. I don't want to take that chance.
The only thing I probably won't do is rebuilding the damper on my Fox fork. I've read the tutorials and there's $200 worth of proprietary tools (that's after I found the off-brand ones, not the overprices Fox ones), and I don't want to screw that up.
Last edited by mack_turtle; 03-03-21 at 08:20 AM.