BobbyG

My trusted Local Bike Shops' service departments are busy and back-logged so I'm doing a more wrenching than I used to.

Back in my 20s and 30s I did a lot of my own maintenance and repair including cleaning and repacking bearings. But when I entered my 40s (18 years ago) I started having my mechanics do more of the things I could do myself, as I didn't want to spend the time and effort, and because I have bike techs who know more and do a better job than I can, and can prevent future problems instead of causing them like me.

One exception was last fall when I converted my old MTB to drop bars myself to keep the cost down (along with using mostly used parts...~$80 total).

However, today I removed and replaced the pedals on my main commuter as the right pedal of a cheap pair I bought and had the LBS install last spring disintegrated. (It was metal and plastic and possibly hit a rock or curb, I don't remember, but it was enough to send it on a downward spiral. The new ones are all-metal Origin 8's)

Then I added in-line barrel adjusters to the brake cables on my old MTB. Four years ago I had the LBS replace the cantilever brakes with V-brakes. The new brakes had no trim adjustment. And when I converted from straight bars to drops last fall, the new long-pull drop-bar brake levers had no adjustment provision either. That worked out for the first year, but I just bought a second wheel set (used) to mount my studded snow tires, so I could more easily swap wheelsets instead of mounting and unmounting tires. Well, as careful as I was choosing wheels with similar rim widths, there is still a big enough difference to necessitate adjustment to the cable.

I was successful and was able to swap wheel sets in under 5 minutes as opposed to the 30 to 45 minutes it takes to change tires.

I enjoyed the sense of accomplishment and the money I saved by doing it myself, but I would still have prefered the shops to do it if it wasn't going to take a week or more for the turnaround.

How about you? Are you doing more of your own work these days?

Ghazmh

I have a stand and do what I can. Chains, cassettes, mechanical brakes and sometimes cables. I think a mechanic who wrenches on Force, Red, Ultegra and Dura Ace will know the nuances of how to tune it just right.

GlennR

I always do my own work.... I trust no one.

Koyote

I'm like you. I can afford to have shops take care of my repairs and more advanced maintenance, and that is my preference. They can do much of it more quickly, more competently, and they already have the tools and other supplies. Also, when I find a good shop, I enjoy supporting them. It all leaves more time for me to ride my bikes.

With that said, routine tasks like chain and cassette replacement, overhauling hubs, dealing with tires and such? I'll do that myself just because its easier than running the bike to a shop.

Clyde1820

Yes, I'm doing more wrenching.

Though, I'm a relative noob to some things. It's been decades since I last did a full build-up. And other than a number of individual parts swaps and re-cabling jobs, there are a number of things I've never done. Don't have all of the tools, though I've got all of the basics. So, I have the shop do the couple of things I can't yet (for lack of tools, knowledge), and I do the rest. That is, when I can get the parts.

veganbikes

I don't have time. The shop is so busy that my job takes care of most of my free time and the time I do have off I kind of usually want a little break from dealing with bikes.

frogman

Thats a nice collection of 4 cyl distributers !

Gresp15C

I do all of my own wrenching. It's not that I don't trust a mechanic, but a bike is such a simple machine, and doing my own maintenance greatly improves my enjoyment of riding. I don't have to spend time driving with my bike in a car, twice, to get basic work done.

Darth Lefty 

The reason I do most of my own stuff is that most bike stuff is trivial, and it takes my bike offline for only an hour or something. Earlier this year I replaced the exhaust gasket on my truck, which was non trivial because it’s a turbo. Spilled coolant and oil everywhere, even though I drained it. It seemed like every time I undid a bolt it would let more air into the water lines and here comes some more antifreeze. Let me tell you, those of you who imagine leaking a few ounces of fluid out of your brakes or tubeless tires... holy crap. Some of the bolts were really blind and all the holes wouldn’t line up to put it back together. And it took me three weekends.

bwilli88 

I have always done my own wrenching. Here is my shop today.

SurferRosa

Nobody can or would show as much love to my bikes as I do.

GlennR

I restore them. VW, Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Saab.

rsche

2cam16

Old news.
Always have and always will do my own work on my bikes. I enjoy it plus I can't afford bike shops.

ofajen

I taught myself how to do the basics back in fifth grade (circa 1973) and have pretty much done everything myself since then. And I’m riding old bikes that are super simple to work on.

Very glad at this point because it would seem silly to have to take a bike out of action for a couple of weeks for something simple and easy that I could actually do myself.

OTOH, I really haven’t worked on cars much since I got rid of the ‘73 Super Beetle in about 1990.

Otto

Thomas15

I have nothing against bike shops or those that use them for repairs but for me personally the only time I would use a shop for repairs is if it required a very expensive tool that I didn't want to buy. Even then I might consider buying the tool. As others have said bikes are simple and I rather spend 30 minutes in my garage with my bike than taking it to a shop, leaving it there, and then going back and paying to do something I can do. To that end I have tools and many replacement parts and consumables.

kcblair

For the 50+ years i've been cycling, I consider it part of the sport/hobby. Except , pressing on headset races, which I take to the LBS. Maybe 4-5 times in that span of time. If it aint on Youtube, , it doesn't happen KB.

wipekitty

Same here, right down to headset races.

My day job is not mechanical in any way, and I like tinkering with things. Wrenching is usually kind of relaxing.

GeneO 

Had as stuck SRAM Force 1 crankset. Self extracting bolt wouldn't budge, I would normally take it into a shop to break it. With some Blaster 16-PB penetrating catalyst , some pipe, some straps to bind the crankarm to the chainstay, and the usual tools I was finally able to get it free. That crack when it unlocked was a heavenly sound. The self extracting bolt was fine in the end.

Drew Eckhardt 

I've always done all my own work, because apart from wheel building that takes less time than dropping off and picking up a bicycle and tool costs the first time aren't out of line with labor charges.

Wheel building takes longer but guarantees the job is done right.

While building great wheels is not difficult, doing it fast enough for hourly profit comparable to other jobs takes a lot of practice which fewer mechanics have since the market moved to pre-built wheels. Most compromise and do a bad job fast.

indyfabz

I do almost no maintenance myself.

BoraxKid

As someone else already pointed out, it's almost always cheaper to buy the parts & tools online and do the job yourself than it is to pay for parts & labor from the LBS. And you can return the tools for a full refund if you don't need them anymore. I don't know why LBSs are so scammy with their pricing structure, but it's the #1 reason why I won't go to a bike shop unless I've exhausted all other options.

If it weren't pandemic season, I would still be going to the local bicycle co-op to borrow tools and a workstand. The local bike shops have nothing of value to offer me, and I let them know by spending my money elsewhere.

superpletch

all those distributors? its a 4 cylinder with rim brakes?

Darth Lefty 

By my count it's a 292 cylinder engine. Guess 300 was too obvious...

Miele Man

I do all my own maintenance and repairs. I have most of the tools I need/want and it saves a lot of time going to the LBS, waiting until the repair is done (sometimes that can be days) and the cost. Labour here is in the $40.00+ range and a time per repair is not given.

I've had LBS make a mistake a couple of times that could have caused a serious accident. I don't trust others as much as I trust myself now to do the work.

Cheers

andychrist

Only thing I can’t do well myself is true wheels — boy do I suck at that. But last time I took a wheel in for truing and to replace some bent spokes at the one remaining bike shop in this hick town, they installed a Velox rim tape without consulting me, adding like $15 to a bill that came to an amount exceeding what I’d originally paid for the wheel brand new. Really pi$$ed me off especially since I’d just purchased about $60 of Velox elsewhere so did not need that from them at all.

Apart from truing wheels, wouldn’t trust them to do anything else right at all. Senior and most experienced mechanic there (and I gather, recently retired) who was actually pretty great at building wheels, really screwed up the threaded headset and external bottom bracket installation on a new bike of mine. Have since learned to do those tasks myself, though must admit the cost of all the requisite equipment was kinda staggering. Anyway really appreciate having my own bike stand now, makes everything so much easier. With dedicated tools, knocking out old headsets and installing new races is a cinch (only tricky part is reinstalling the quill stem on threaded jobbies, which I won’t go into here.)

TL;DR: “If a job is worth doing, do it yourself.”
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