This morning I spent 2 hrs recabling summer road bike – nice new ultegra inners and outers, brakes and gears. Also nice DSP bar tape 😆

Would probably have taken a pro half an hour but was a great way to spend a wet morning !!

Wheel building has to be top of the list.

The pro mechanic would have been paid for it so will be measured on his cost/results balance.

I’m of the opinion that if your doing it yourself take your time and do it right first time.

^^^ agreed, and quite happy doing these types of jobs where patience goes a long way. Always find getting inners into Ultega STI’s a right fiddle, but the therapy of new bar tape wrapping makes up for it !

Have you guys thought about taking up Airfix modelling?
AFAIC any time spent fixing bikes is a waste of riding time

So what do you do about mantainance then ?

@mtbel

riding a badly maintained bike, that does not work properly or makes horrible noises, is a waste of good riding time 😉

I love bikes and bike maintenance. On my top ten list of favourite bike jobs, I’d rank polishing one. Off over my bike with a rag and polish till it shines, there’s nothing better.

mtbel – you are TJ, and I claim my £5.

take a quarter of the time 😉

iain, that’s what I did yesterday after a few weeks procrastination. Needed adjustment as well (2nd hand Allez) so it was bit of a palaver. Cables, outers (budget for me) and funnily enough swanky plush DSP tape..

The tape took I think 4 goes to get right !! :0)

AFAIC any time spent fixing bikes is a waste of riding time

Shame you don’t feel the same way about the hours you seem to spend “posting” on here 🙄

Changing the oil in the suspension I always think is really satisfying. You just know how well it´s going to ride afterwards.

Other than that I really like the once a month service which involves checking bolts, truing the wheels, deep clean and grease of anything that needs it, changing brake pads and tyres as needed and a close look at everything. At the same time I clean out all the rubbish in my camelback and top up the first aid kit and spares. It´s very satisfying and it´s a great feeling to know you´re all ready for the next day.

I used to be of the mind that I´d ride it ´till it broke but in reality it means wasting time riding a bike that´s got something annoying wrong with it. Now I´m with esther shore, keep it working right and enjoy your time on the bike as much as possible.

due to the amount of times it has gone wrong and spent learning when to replace bits, I really enjoyed overhauling Avid Elixir levers – replacing the seals, rebuilding and bleeding – good as new afterwards for the price of a £10 seal.

Learning to service forks is next now I have the garage to work in.

I find building bikes up from scratch most satisfying.you have a mass of boxes full of bits and just a frame on the stand and within an hour or so you’ve created a bike

Got to agree with mrblobby , building wheels is one of my favourite jobs.

Built 2 pairs for a mate of a mate last week (including my first 27.5 pair) and now I want to get out riding again (I’m turning into a proper STW poster as I haven’t swung a leg over a bike since October due to injury).

I rebuild my race bike each spring. New cables, block, chain, tape and BB. Strip it down to the frame regrease all the bolts threads and oil various bits. Probably takes 4-5 hours over 2 evenings. But it comes out like a new bike. A slight niggle on a mtb I can live, nothing ever works properly when covered in mud after the first off road section but on a road bike even the slightest creak or grind is annoying and doesn’t inspire confidence when over 40mph in a bunch.

Normally it is a satisfying job because I have the tools and parts. Anything a bit wrong and it can be the most frustrating. Like having a bent hanger which stops gears from working properly. Normally obvious though (because some whopper has crashed into me) and I order a spare in advance.

Setting up tubeless must be the bottom list.. Pumping like mad to inflate, spilling stans fluid in the floor, not sealing..messing with soap.. Blah blah blah…..

On the top lost must be recabling and setting up gear, love the way the crisp sound of shifting of a perfectly set up gears

Stripping, cleaning, rebuilding cup and cone hubs. Always a joy.

mtbel – Member

Have you guys thought about taking up Airfix modelling?
AFAIC any time spent fixing bikes is a waste of riding time

mtbel, you no doubt have an open account at the LBS? 😉

“Have you guys thought about taking up Airfix modelling”

I’m to big, I’d be all out of scale against a little aeroplane

Wheelbuilding – definitely. There’s something wonderful about lacing, tensioning and trueing your own wheels. The first ride is sublime.

Getting your brakes setup “just so” no rub, perfect centre, perfect pad spacing…just the right bite. Sweet!

Complete bike assembly – not the iterative type of build, bit by bit as you come across them on STW, ebay etc, but having already got all of the kit together, laid out in front of you, you start the process. The end result is almost always greater than the sum of the parts that were laid out in front of you.

replacing cables on bike as said above esp on my new one with no inner lining doh..

and wheel building is the best 😉