UBI April 14-25

[DebW]

I signed up for the UBI Professional Repair course on April 14-25. I got turned down by 2 shops for a part-time jobs this year, so decided to do the course and become employable. So, questions to you in the PNW:

What will Ashland, Oregon be like in April? I'll have my bike, so should be able to enjoy some local riding. Apparently lots to see and do in the area. Anyone want to recommend the best things for a limited time (one weekend)?

Any way I can meet some of you PNW/No. Cali riders? On the middle/before/after weekend? In Ashland, Portland, Seattle?

[Starfish]

Wow, Ashland should be glorious in April. I love it down there. (Someone more local down that way will have to tell you what to do and where to go, though...I just love the country and have always enjoyed the Shakespeare festival in the summer.)

It is about 10-11 hours from where I am, though, so probably no meet-up for me! (I'm also 3 hours from Seattle.)

Just wanted to encourage you. I REALLY love that part of the PNW.

[KnottedYet]

I'd really like to come down and say "howdy." We'll see what transpires here in my crazy world.

[Tuckervill]

I'm so jealous!

I did look at UBI's website extensively a few months ago, and it seems there are some links on there to stuff around town. I hear Asheville is a fabulous town, too.

Karen

[Thorn]

Oh, please, please, please, post a review when you're done?!?!?!?! I'm seriously thinking that next winter's "vacation" will be a trip to either UBI or Barnett.

I used to do all my own wrenching 25 years ago (not to your level--just the garage mechanic level for a couple of people). I'm thinking the fastest way to get up to speed again would be to take a course. No one here locally is even doing the Park Tool courses. But, more importantly, the certification, would be very useful when I decide to retire into a different career.

[newfsmith]

I'll be going to the women's maintenence course at UBI in late June. I figure I will be able to more of my own wrenching, but I'm hoping to learn more about fitting bikes for women. With my arthritic hands I don't see much chance of me being able to actually work full time as a mechanic, but I might be able to get a sales job if I could show some credentials as a fitter. I will really want to hear what you think of the course.

[KnottedYet]

newf - consider taking the Serrotta fitting course, or the course from Michael Sylvester (who designed the Serrotta fit system) www.bicyclefittingservices.com Michael is an amazing teacher and his course is just wonderful!

[DebW]

Bad news. UBI was booked for the April class. The next class with openings is July 7-18, so I signed up for that one.

[Starfish]

Bad news. UBI was booked for the April class. The next class with openings is July 7-18, so I signed up for that one.

Even better!! Sign up NOW for some plays. The festival is great.

ETA: And then hang around and do the Shasta ride on 8/3!!

[DebW]

UBI had a cancellation for the April 14-25 course, so I'm going there in less than two weeks! Just bought my plane ticket.

[KnottedYet]

Road trip in the offing to UBI and DebW!!

(dependent on child care and dog care on my end)

TE camping party in the nearest campground, anyone?

[DebW]

I can probably bring camping gear and drive to some intermediate place (in northern Oregon?). Will this be the first TE camping party? Does Stinky Butt Dog like to camp?

[MM_QFC!]

good luck with the course, Deb; I'm sure you'll enjoy it and beautiful southern Oregon too.
I'll be going north to ride in the Skagit Valley (you'll be in/near the Rogue River valley - gorgeous!) with Jesvetmed and hopefully a few other TE riders that weekend, as I need to spend more time in the saddle, rather than behind the wheel!
Have tons o' fun...Mary

[DebW]

The middle weekend I'm at UBI, there is an open club ride by the Siskiyou Velo Club: 50 mile moderate ride to Rogue River and return, tandems welcome. What more could I ask for?

[DebW]

I arrived yesterday around 1 pm to warm sunny weather. Checked into the hostel, bought some groceries, and took a 20 mile ride on the Bear Creek multi-use trail. Today it's rainy. UBI is loads of fun. My only complain so far is that they give you too many breaks (10-15 minutes every hour). Today we learned to use vernier calipers and thread pitch gages, then overhauled hubs. I learned 1 new thing about Shimano rear hubs (a rubber washer that can bind if you don't watch it). We did Campy hubs too, and they were very different. I used a torque wrench today too.

Only 15 minutes per day of internet time at the library, so have to go. Bye.

[KnottedYet]

Hi, Deb!!!
(ok, you've only got 15 minutes, move along!)

[Starfish]

Rogue River

Oh, I have such happy memories of this area! Enjoy!!! :) :)

[DebW]

Hello again. Only 5 minutes left. I'm loving the class. Overhauled 4 different hubs, built 2 wheels, 3 different bottom brackets, two shifter systems. We do both road and mtb bikes. Today I road 5 miles up Dead Indian Road, a good climb with nice views. Then stopped at the Earth Day festival. Supposed to rain today but hasn't yet.

[sgtiger]

DebW, I'm glad you're enjoying the UBI classes. They sound like they're a lot of work, but a lot of fun too!

[KnottedYet]

Hey, Deb!

My offer still stands of flying you out here for a TE wheel-building party!

[DebW]

At UBI, they use boiled linseed oil on spoke threads and grease on nipple seats in the rim when wheelbuilding. I learned that optimum spoke tension is 110 kgF on the drive side, or 100 kgF on both sides for symmetrical front wheels. But they made us build disk brake front wheels so we had to dish front wheels too. One guy in the hostel has the textbook for the advanced wheelbuilding seminar, so I've been reading that. Laced up a 3-cross/2-cross rear wheel this morning.

DT/Swiss star-ratchet hubs are very cool and very easy to disassemble. DT/Swiss Onyx are a pain to overhaul. New Campy hubs have a side-access pinch-bolt that tightens the cone locknut, making adjustments super-easy, even on the bike. But I wasn't fond of their cone design.

When you take a class here, you get to buy tools from their supplier at wholesale+10%. Yes, I have discovered tool that I don't have! Must buy torque wrenches.

Tomorrow we do brakes, caliper, canti, and disk. Tuesday headsets, front shocks, some facing and tapping. We even spend some time on bike fitting, and then a whole day on shop operation, writing repair tickets, etc.

[Popoki_Nui]

Very cool DebW! Sounds like you're in your element.

[DebW]

Yesterday was headsets. During open evening hours, I cut down the top of my steerer tube by 3 mm to lose one spacer above my stem, and make the fit in my travel case easier. Otherwise we didn't cut any steerer tubes, so glad I got to do that, and pull out my Chris King headset with supervision. Today we did suspension forks in the morning and overhauled one. This afternoon we chased threads in a bottom bracket and faced a BB and headtube. Cool stuff. Tomorrow we do a complete overhaul on a bike, stripping it down to frame and overhauling all bearing. Also some bike fit info tomorrow.

[DebW]

I'm back home, so time to post some info on the UBI course and answer questions if anyone else is thinking of going. Also some pictures of the UBI classroom.

I did the two week "Professional Repair and Shop Operation" course. In this course, you work on shop bikes only, never your own bike (you are allowed to work on your own bike at any of the extra hours, 5-7 pm on Tue and Thur). The shop bikes have never been ridden outdoors but are overhauled constantly, which means that the grease you get on your hands in class is only clean grease, never black dirty grease, and even the chains are clean. An interesting change from working on normal bikes. There were 4 instructors for the course, who alternated the lectures. A second instructor was always present during lectures, and during our hands-on exercises there were always three instructors present to help and check our work. They were quite punctual, always starting on time and keeping to schedule. For the hands-on exercises, there was always a time limit, and when it was up you went back to your seat for the next lecture or demonstration and caught up later or during an evening session. So sometime you were done early and had a few minutes to wait, but you never waited indefinitely until everyone was finished. They tried to give us a break once an hour - sometimes it was the end of a practical session which allowed some catch-up time, but if we'd been working on something a long time, they insisted that everyone stop working for 15 minutes. There were a couple days when we listened to lectures for 1/2 a day, but most often the lectures never lasted more than an hour, followed by a demonstration and a student hands-on exercise. Most exercises were to disassemble something, at which point we returned to our seats for a demonstration of the reassembly, and then did the reassembly ourselves. Each sub-assembly that we disassembled and reassembled had to be checked by an instructor and checked-off in our student sign-off sheet. They were particular that we did things to professional standards: brake pads exactly centered on the rim, derailleurs adjusted precisely, absolutely no play in bearing assemblies. We even got checked off on cleaning our workbenches and putting our tools back in the proper places at the end of the day.

The pictures show the instructor bench and lecture area, one of the 8 student benches, the bikes we worked on (one road and one MTB per bench), and our class photo from the last day. We were assigned a new bench partner every day so got to know most of our fellow students. If anyone wants more detail on the curriculum or the background of the instructors, I can add more.