I took my bike to get serviced!

[non geordie beth]

I haven't ridden my bike in 7+ years (I only know that because I stopped when I started my current job... long story). It's been sitting in our coal hole for all that time. I was expecting it to need the full whammy super-duper £70 service but the guy told me it only needs the £18 one and a £2 cable replaced. I'd budgeted for the expensive one so the extra money is going on a bike maintenance course :)

Now all I need to do is get over the crushing fear ;)

Goodness knows why I'm scared! I traveled to work by bike nearly every day for 6 months, so I'm obviously capable of it. But now I'm nearly a decade older and need to not fall off and die because I have a two year old who needs me :-/

But... yeah. I won't decide about getting a trailer for DS yet as right now the idea is just ridiculous, but once I get up some confidence it might seem more do-able. So I won't be able to bike very much for the minute. But we've all got to start somewhere, so I'll start with to work once a week, and I think I might enjoy it :)

Go me!

[MrMook]

Bike repair isn't that scary. You can do it! There are a few specialty tools and procedures, but you can keep most bikes going forever with a simple set of hex wrenches, or a $20 multi-tool, and a decent floor pump. There's so much information online, you may not even need to pay for a course. Also, see if there are any bicycle co-ops in your area. There are lots of community bike shops here in the states that have volunteer days. You lend a hand fixing up donated bikes, and they teach you everything you'd need to know.

These are my favorite sites for repair tips and bike info:

ParkTool has a pretty comprehensive repair wizard on their site: http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help
Sheldon Brown's site is a treasure trove of bike knowledge. Especially if you're keeping an older bike going: http://sheldonbrown.com/

[Left]

I need those links too :( I've been trying to adjust my rear derailer so it can hit biggest gear but no luck :S I'm run out of ideas to try, I've already moved the L screw and it still doesn't go in far enough

Same with rear brakes. I can't get the tension right on it. The handle bar pulls in too far. It hits the handles and I don't know how to get it to stop before it hits it. I've tried what I found online to no success. Plus the line is getting frayed so I'll need to replace it soon anyways.

@non, are you in the UK? From what I've seen of it, you shouldn't have too much problems getting hit by cars right? I thought it was pretty bike friendly over there.

[Nancy]

I fell off my bike twice this year due to road conditions. I didn't die, and I'm no longer afraid of falling. Hop on that bike and give it a go! It might just be a bunch of fun :)

[BlueMR2]

I need those links too :( I've been trying to adjust my rear derailer so it can hit biggest gear but no luck :S I'm run out of ideas to try, I've already moved the L screw and it still doesn't go in far enough

Same with rear brakes. I can't get the tension right on it. The handle bar pulls in too far. It hits the handles and I don't know how to get it to stop before it hits it. I've tried what I found online to no success. Plus the line is getting frayed so I'll need to replace it soon anyways.

Look at the Park "3rd hand" tool.  That plus a pair of vice grips (if you have them laying around anyways) or the Park "4th hand" tool make setting brakes a lot less frustrating.  I can still take a little time to get them set exactly the way you want them, but it's MUCH easier!

[non geordie beth]

Bike repair isn't that scary. You can do it! There are a few specialty tools and procedures, but you can keep most bikes going forever with a simple set of hex wrenches, or a $20 multi-tool, and a decent floor pump. There's so much information online, you may not even need to pay for a course. Also, see if there are any bicycle co-ops in your area. There are lots of community bike shops here in the states that have volunteer days. You lend a hand fixing up donated bikes, and they teach you everything you'd need to know.

Thank you for the enthusiasm and for the links! The place I'm going to for the course is a charity (really unlikely anyone local to me is reading this, but just in case it's this place) and there's probably quite a good chance that I'll be able to volunteer some time to help them refurbish bikes and as a side benefit learn more from them. I am not naturally mechanically minded and am honestly quite terrified of things going wrong (once something went wrong, can't remember what now, and I had to call my DH in tears to get him to come and pick me up, which was one of the nails in the coffin of my previous bike commute) and I am hoping that having some confidence will help me on all levels.

I picked my bike up today from the service and rode it home. It was a bit scary, and the chain came off at one point, but I got it back on. I was proud of myself and my oily fingers!

I need those links too :( I've been trying to adjust my rear derailer so it can hit biggest gear but no luck :S I'm run out of ideas to try, I've already moved the L screw and it still doesn't go in far enough

It's like you're talking Hungarian! Don't understand a word! Hehe.

<snip>

@non, are you in the UK? From what I've seen of it, you shouldn't have too much problems getting hit by cars right? I thought it was pretty bike friendly over there.

Depends where you are. Round where I live, I can get most places on either traffic free paths or side roads, but not everywhere. I did used to work with a guy who was evangelistic about cycling and he always used to reinforce to me to ride right in the road, not in the gutters, as it encourages cars to see you as something that needs to be properly overtaken, not just something to squeeze past, and when I was biking to work previously I did find that good advice.

I fell off my bike twice this year due to road conditions. I didn't die, and I'm no longer afraid of falling. Hop on that bike and give it a go! It might just be a bunch of fun :)

Thank you! I'm getting quite excited. My circumstances have changed now and although I'm going to be able to cycle to work for most of the next two weeks, after that I'm unlikely to be able to at all... unless I develop a lot of confidence and my husband trusts me enough to put our 2 year old in a trailer... right now it looks unlikely, but you never know eh?!

[Left]

I got the brakes fixed/adjusted. It wasn't that hard once I figured out how the mechanism works.

Only thing I got left is the rear derailer. It still doesn't hit the largest gear :S No amount of turning the L screw on it (I even removed it completely) seems to make it work. I still think it's possible that the chain is too short but I'm hoping it isn't. I also read about the B screw but I have no idea what this is and don't want to use it until I do :S Anyone have suggestions on this problem?

[TygerTung]

The L screw wont help. You need to find a thingy on the derelliuer which you can turn with your fingers, it's where the cable goes in. You need to make that so it goes out. Just turn it in the correct direction and it will put more tension on the cable and you will be able to get the big gear.

Those screws are the limit screws which you are adjusting, they just adjust the derelliuer so that it can't go too far in either direction so that the chain doesn't fall off either side of the sprockets.

Check on sheldon brown.

[Left]

Do you know where I can find this "thingy" you are referring to? I think my problem is the cable tension but I'd like to look into your "thingy" but I don't know what to look for lol.

I'm not sure where to look on sheldon brown, I read through http://sheldonbrown.com/derailer-adjustment.html, and nothing mentions anything like a thingy that helps derailer hit largest gear

[iamlindoro]

The thingy is an adjustment barrel that can be right at the entry point of the cable to the derailleur, along the cable somewhere, or most commonly in new bikes, right where the cable enters the shifter.  It's an adjustable nut/barrel which allows adjustment of the cable tension without limit screw adjustment.  NOTE:  It can also not exist at all, but check all along the lengths of the cable including at the shifter.  It is not always obvious that the terminal/barrel can turn, so experiment. 

[iamlindoro]

At the derailleur:



Along the cable:



At the shifter:

[Left]

oh, I did this the hard way, and probably wrong way :S

I screwed in the adjusters completely, and manually tightened the cable at the derailer to the right tension :S I didn't know those knobs did anything but keep the cable attached. I did this to my brake cables too, tightened knobs all the way in then pulled the brake line to where it connects to brake attachment and got it to right distance.

[iamlindoro]

Yeah, it's not the end of the world, but it's wrong in that now you can't make minute adjustments in the middle of your ride.  The idea behind the fine adjustment connectors is that if your chain starts to rub perceptibly in the middle of a ride, you can reach down and make the minute adjustment to stop the rubbing and keep right on going.  If the adjusters are at their extreme end, you can't make an adjustment in that direction.