I haven’t been confident about working on my bike for very long and have relied on mates help, until the last few years..

I remember one time taking my bike in for extensive upgrades and a full ground up rebuild (was minted for a brief time so allowed myself this luxury) the bike felt brand new and it was really comforting to know that it had all been done to a pro standard..

Does anyone stick their bikes into the LBS for regular maintenance? My bikes always seem to have fettling pending these days, partly through skintness and often through lack of time..
I’d love to have my bikes permanently in tip top condition… If you’re in the enviable position to be able to afford it, how often do you get it done?

Me! I only trust me.

Meeeeeee. I’d like to use the LBS but I have the spare time to do everything myself so can’t really justify the cost and quite like knowing how to do it all.

never had a full service done

Just sent a FS frame in for bearings but

1. they are stuck
2. its £25 more than the price of the bearings alone

I think that is the first time in 15 odd years I have sent a bike elsewhere.

I do it. ’tis easy.

Normally do it myself. A few times, if it’s something I am doing for the first time like setting up my Shimano RS685s, then I will take it to the shop to check my working.

me, had a shock serviced once, I did really want to get a nitrogen tank.

Lawmanmx – Member
Me! I only trust me.
POSTED 2 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

This. Trust my own wrenching over that of the shop, experience has taught me that this isn’t a bad way of thinking.

Me, unless it’s something requiring spendy tools or that will just be too annoying to do on the landing outside my flat.

really comforting to know that it had all been done to a pro standard

Personally I’d not assume that ‘pro standard’ is any better, or even as good as, what I’d do myself.

That said there’s a place I’ve used for a few things lately that I’m very happy with, so they’re repairing some of the damage done by crap jobs done over the years.

If it’s the daily grind of cleaning and tweaking I’ll happily do it. Servicing bearings and chopping steerers down and again I’ll do it.. More than happy to tinker and tweet but once every year, or when I think it needs doing, I’ll hand the roadie into Condor or the CX’er into Giant for them to fettle cables/mechs and give the bike(s) a good old service.

It’s always been this way for me, a decent LBS and I’ll happily let them fettle, all the other stuff and it’s just moi.

Always do it myself. Apart from forks and shocks.

Will probably do forks myself next time too if I can borrow the correct X-Fusion tool from somewhere or find a bodge round it.

Mostly me. I don’t like the idea of something going wrong with my bikes & having to rely on someone else to fix it. That and I’m the kind of person that likes to know how stuff works.

The only thing I’ve not taught myself yet is building & truing wheels. And due to the cost of the tools I use an LBS for chasing & facing BB shells.

35 quid on a set of tools was the best money I ever spent, a few additions like a bushing tool and decent wire cutters and there’s very little I can’t do at home. Still can’t build wheels though.

Me! I only trust me.

+1

Always me, started messing with forks as well now. It’s good for the soul!!

Me…

I find it relaxing – bikes are pretty simple and not as hard to work on as cars and theres a certain amount of satisfaction in doing it.

Just got a made up fatty delivered and its just not the same as the one I lovingly assembled from a frame kit
its the weird thing of knowing how every single thing fits – weird…

Me, except for wheels but I know someone local who is good and very reasonable priced so I’ve never bothered to learn how to do them.

Me, I did a strip and rebuild course a couple of years ago at cyclewise and it`s given me the skills and confidence to do most things on my bikes. I service the air can and give the forks an oil and seal change on my mtb

I’m another ‘I service my bikes because I don’t trust anyone else’ type, but I have the added confidence that I was good enough to be a bike mechanic off the back of my self taught expertise.

Me…I figured that the cost of many bike specific tools is normally cheaper than the cost of labour at a bike shop so i started buying the tools myself and just getting on with it

Me! I only trust me.
+2

i know some people who profess to not trusting bike shop mechanics – their bikes always sound great….. oh no i mean usually like a bag of spanners 😀

some peoples shops are just poor.

either way can end up with a shit bike 😀

good mechanics are good mechanics be they found in shops or garden sheds.

unfortunantly shit mechanics find confidence and can be found both in shops or garden sheds.

Me. I’d happily trust a mechanic, but I like tinkering and bike maintenance is so refreshingly simple compared to playing with cars.

lbs cos I really have zero interest in fixing them myself.

There has to be one, doesn’t there? 😉

Road and XC bikes go into the shop, I can’t be arsed faffing with bar tape, re-cableing is so cheap I’d rather pay and I’d prefer not to be mauling press fit BB’s out myself. ENDURO bike gets done by myself.

I d most maintenance on my bikes and on Mrs NBT’s bikes myself. Occasionally I just don’t have time, at which point I use Bicycle Smithy

I’ve gradually built up to doing a fair amount myself, most stuff is very basic and easy to lean (using YouTube). The most important thing is having the right tool, my pa always used to say any jobs way if you have the right tools and he’s right!

The only things I avoid is headsets as I change them infrequently and can not be bothered to make/buy a tool and fork/shock servicing…I have no intention of even going there!

Me , I fix my bikes , build my own wheels , service my own forks (and mates too)
As above I just don’t trust anyone else to do it.

A bloke in a shed. 😉

The only thing I havnt done myself in the past 15 or so years is get the nitrogen recharged in a fox rp23. Nearly £100 for the service including seals etc it still makes me weep in quieter moments.
It’s cheaper to buy the appropriate tool than get the lbs to do it most of the time and you get the benefit of learning how the bike fits together and works.

Apart from fork servicing or replacing a bunch of frame bearings I’m sure I can do most jobs in less time it would take to drive to lbs and back never mind them keeping it for an indeterminate amount of time inbetween.

I’ll happily build a bike from the frame upwards, replace parts and do day to day fettling but put bikes into lbs a couple of times a year for a service.
My lbs has a great mechanic who’s experience can spot things I might miss and a few hours of his time is well worth the cost.

I play about with most bits, but wheels (re-tensioning or spoke replacement) + gears (indexing) go the shop.

My Road bike goes back to the Giant store, and my MTB/Hybrid go to the local (and very good) LBS.

Another me. Including wheels, (very satisfying, but an expensive hobby) and the easy suspension jobs.

It seems it’s not the internet that is killing the LBS, its all the home mechanics!

I’m happy doing gears (I’ve just fitted 1×9 to a bike this afternoon) but wheels would probably go to the LBS. I’ll happily take some forks apart too if I’ve got a diagram or manual to work from.

It’s not so much the hassle or faff that’d stop me from attempting something, more the need for stupid special tools that only work for that one job.

I use 2 bike shops, 1 very good one 10 miles down the road for most stuff and another 40 miles away for new builds and Pace fork servicing.

i can change a tyre but anything else and i can’t be arsed tbh, these 2 shops have great mechanics and everything comes back bother free on time.

Me. As above I only really trust me and maybe two other folks as well. I repair bikes for a living so mine are pretty much tip top all the time.

Me, unless its a specific task and I don’t have the tools. I’ve yet to build my own wheels though, so that is on the learn-to-do list.

I’ll try and do most things myself, but if there’s a chance of me breaking something expensive I’ll get the LBS to do it.

Me for everything but :
Bent mech hangers (non replaceable ones)
Suspension (other than oil changes)
Wheel building
and next time I have to replace stuck hub bearings some poor sod can do that too

I trust my lbs and could afford to send the bike in when needed, I just enjoy doing it myself and have since my early teens- when you sit behind a desk most of your day there is to me a lot of joy in working on something mechanical.

Me. I can’t imagine handing over my prize possessions to some hamfisted monkey to massacre.
Cytech doesn’t cut it I’m afraid.