can anyone recommend a good place to go for a bike maintenance course. i had to take my beloved blue pig to the local bike shop today as i was having trouble with the maxle. The guy had never seen a maxle before and his solution was to hit it with a mallet and a stick! granted it did the job but it made me realise that i really should know more about how to look after my bike. i live in blackpool but dont mind travelling

That’s totally unprofessional. I always make sure the customer is out of sight before I start hitting bikes with sticks.

Google is your friend

I live near Preston and would be happy to go over the bike and show you the basics on how to look after it.

Courses are available through places like Edinburgh cycle coop (Manchester) sites .Have a look at their website.

Finding a decent shop is tricky, local cycle shops see a lot of kids bikes and do pram wheel repairs and often don’t have any experience of MTb specific issues. I’ve used places like Leisure Lakes at Tarleton and found them ok but they tend to have long lead times for workshop bookings. So much so I got qualified and I’m running a mobile cycle repair business based in Preston .

Regards
Richard

Stuart Rider does an excellent course ar Riders Cycle Centre in Skipton north yorkshire (about an hour from Blackpool)

http://www.mountainbikeinstruction.co.uk/csmaint.asp?session=91852121021152231939671220721

Dates here-

http://www.mountainbikeinstruction.co.uk/courseray.asp?session=91852121021152231939671220721

I have been running maintenance courses since 2002. They receive excellent feedback –

http://www.mountainbikeinstruction.co.uk/fback.asp?session=91852121021152231939671220721&course=maint

Based near Wigan

Hi,

This is something we’ll be running in the near future – following the Park Tool School programme and book.

We’re in the Peak District.

info@18bikes.co.uk if you’d like more info.

Si

Cyclewise at whinlatter forrest do maintenance courses

Courses are available through places like Edinburgh cycle coop (Manchester) sites .Have a look at their website.

I wouldn’t recommend the day long course I did there. It was mainly puncture fix, and gear and brake cable adjust…all useful but I’ve been shown more in less time before (I was hoping to get to a hub service but perhaps that was ambitious in a day !?)

Like 18Bikes I do maintenance course based on the Park tool school courses.
Done a few 1to1’s based on rider and bike and has worked well.
Based in Wiltshire thou.
Rob
Finely Tuned Ride

Thanks guys. i’ll follow up on some of those recommendations and see what i can get sorted. im not too ambitious about learning the big stuff but i know that for safetys sake i should know some basics.

http://www.freewheelersbicycleworkshop.org.uk/ are based in Lancaster. Not used them personally, but have heard nothing but good about them.

About 10 tears ago, I did the Park Tool School as mentioned above at a LBS. IIRC, it took about 12 hours, spread out over 3 or 4 Saturdays. The course consisted of basically dismantling the bike a piece at a time, cleaning, greasing, adjusting, truing, etc. At the end of the course, the bike basically had a complete overhaul. Some shops set them up for Jan and Feb when they’re often slow.

You’ll get to know whoever is teaching it pretty well; that could be mutually beneficial if it is the wrench at the LBS. Also, you get to see what tools you need for your bike so you can figure out what you will need if you want to do certain work on your own.

It wasn’t cheap, but worth it IMO.

Home

Steve woods from Skedaddle Cycle Holidays runs some maintenance courses from here (Newcastle) and near Penrith in cumbria..

If you’re near Glasgow, I run courses, bespoke or pre structured.

nik@edscyclecoop.org.uk

Its a bike, not a spaceship. Everything on it can be fixed with a mallet/spanner/allen key/screw driver and the park tools website.

get one of these.

Then get a decent stand and start collecting a few tools.

The Park Tool Help Section is excellent too.

And remember, despite what your wife/girlfriend says,messing around with your bike(s) for hours in the garage is NOT “wasting time” !!!!!