Learned more today than I ever thought...

So, I decided that instead of spending $$$ to my LBS for a tune up and cleaning, I'd learn how to do it myself. I have a mountain bike that I'm using for my first triathlon in 2 weeks, so I'm trying to get it ready to go. I swapped out the MTB tires and put road tires and new tubes on it last week, and figured out how to change tires.

So, this week, I cleaned my chain and gears, relubed it all. Wow - what a difference. My brakes had been squeaky, so I cleaned and adjusted them, and then I started playing with the adjustments for the gears. In the process, I lost a bunch of gears and had to figure out how to get them back. The good news is that I figured it out, all by myself, and feel pretty good about the whole thing.

Thank goodness for the internet, or I probably would have been in trouble, but the resources are great, and very helpful to the newbie cyclist. Now, if I like this triathlon stuff, I may be looking at a road bike next year... ;)

Way to go! I love that feeling of accomplishment. Also makes me feel like I can rely more on my own bike and trust that it'll get me home again! The nice thing about bikes is it's all more or less visible - I can see what's sposed to happen if I look long enough.

Are there particular resources that you found helpful? I need to do this also. My road bike's chain is skipping and when I just adjusted the barrel roller, I made it worse :eek:

FYI - bicycletutor.com has some really good videos on bicycle repair and maintenance.

Besides the bicycletutor.com, you can also check out Park Tool's Repair Help.

If you have Shimano components, they have installation and adjustment instructions for all their components on their website.

And Sheldon Brown's site, although much of it is dated. RIP.

I like the online resources, but sometimes it's also useful to have a book in hand. I use and recommend Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance (there's also a mountain bike-specific version). I find his blown-apart drawings and writing style to be very helpful.

I also ask lots of questions at our LBS.

...oh, and Malkin bought me the most fab bag of tools for my birthday.

Cheers!