DIY Bike Servicing

I am slowly teaching myself to be a bike mechanic. In the seven months since I bought my Raleigh Oakland I have done all the servicing. I have been learning the rudiments of servicing bikes. If you have no experience in working with hand tools it will take a while to master bike maintenance but if you have any aptitude for manual labour you will soon get it.

Raleigh Oakland

I studied diesel engines in college, bikes are much easier than engined vehicles. The working parts (with a few exceptions, like hub gears) are all open. Unlike an engined vehicle it’s usually easy to figure out what is wrong with a bike and how to fix it.

After that you need a good reference book, a basic set of tools, decent workspace, lots of practice, a willingness to get your hands dirty and a desire to learn. YouTube is an invaluable resource for the apprentice bike mechanic. If you only service your own bike you only need to master the components on one machine, a professional mechanic must master a vast range of  different bike components.

In my local bike shop a full service costs a minimum of 175 euros. Parts and extra labour will cost more. It has to be booked a week in advance, left in the shop and collected. I do about 1000 km a month on my Oakland, on rough rural roads, in all weathers. To keep it running in top form, would need at least two services as year. I am saving around 400 euros in labour every year.

Because I can do all the little ongoing servicing jobs my bike is always running in tip top condition. In the event of a breakdown, with a modest tool kit and a few spare parts I can do most roadside repairs and make it home under my own steam.

The Haynes Manual

My Bible

Halford' Tool Kit