http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Bike Maintenance for Beginners en Wed, 13 May 2026 02:49:12 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20868#post-358909 Fri, 11 Mar 2022 22:17:47 +0000 Frenchy 358909@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Does the Bike Station still have Fix Your Own Bike sessions?</p> <p>If so, you can borrow their tools to fix your bike, and they'll provide advice or look over your shoulder to check you're not doing anything stupid if you ask them to. Think it cost about ~£5/hr the last time I was there, but that wasn't recently. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20868#post-358907 Fri, 11 Mar 2022 21:46:25 +0000 Dave 358907@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Another way to look at it is, for the price of a bike maintenance course you can probably get your local bike shop to fix almost anything that you manage to do wrong. So you could just learn on the job, so to speak, with some youtube videos. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20868#post-358903 Fri, 11 Mar 2022 14:51:40 +0000 mccolville0221 358903@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Thanks for your advice.</p> <p>I've got a couple of bike maintenance books from the library but I don't really feel confident enough to work on my own bike yet. I feel like I need some instruction on the basics first. I'd probably do something wrong and then have to take it to a bike shop to get it sorted!</p> <p>I thought about buying a really cheap second hand bike just for learning maintenance on. So if i did something wrong it wouldn't matter. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20868#post-358893 Fri, 11 Mar 2022 11:34:02 +0000 Yodhrin 358893@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I think the main benefit of attending an actual class would be they either provide crappy old bikes to practice on or there's at least an expert on-hand to help you if you completely bork something. The thought of trying to take apart the chaincased, hub-geared, all-bolts rear assembly on my ebike to change a flat makes me break out in cold sweats and I've built plenty of IKEA stuff - IKEA stuff doesn't cost several grand :P </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20868#post-358890 Fri, 11 Mar 2022 11:27:05 +0000 nevelbell 358890@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>YouTube has tones of bike maintenance vids. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20868#post-358887 Fri, 11 Mar 2022 11:02:06 +0000 ejstubbs 358887@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm pretty sure that the bike co-op used to do maintenance classes but there doesn't seem to be any mention of it on their web site at the moment. I think Edinburgh Council used to offer courses as well, through the <a href="https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/adult-learning/adult-education">Adult Education Programme</a>, but again those seem to have fallen by the wayside for the moment.</p> <p>EDIT: Tell a lie: it looks like EBC does still list maintenance classes on its website: <a href="https://www.edinburghbicycle.com/catalogsearch/result?q=classes" rel="nofollow">https://www.edinburghbicycle.com/catalogsearch/result?q=classes</a>, but you have to ring up to find out when they're on (if they are).</p> <p>TBH it's not difficult to pick up the basics from a decent book (I'm sure others will be able to recommend their favourites) and/or online if you are moderately competent with screwdrivers and spanners e.g. if you can contemplate the prospect of assembling IKEA furniture without breaking out in a nervous sweat. I'm a devotee of the Park Tool online maintenance tutorials and videos, which cover specific jobs in easily digestible bite-size chunks - but you may perhaps need a bit of a grounding in some of the basic tasks if you're not to find yourself out of your depth with some of the more esoteric jobs.</p> <p>One of the nice things about doing your own bike maintenance is being able to justify building up a collection of (initially) shiny, good quality tools. Mmm, tools... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20868#post-358878 Thu, 10 Mar 2022 16:10:44 +0000 steveo 358878@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Hey, I'm not sure if the bikestation has resumed its classes after everything was locked down (avoiding saying post covid) but thats where I would start.</p> <p><a href="https://thebikestation.org.uk/bike-maintenance-classes/" rel="nofollow">https://thebikestation.org.uk/bike-maintenance-classes/</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20868#post-358875 Thu, 10 Mar 2022 14:48:27 +0000 mccolville0221 358875@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Hi,</p> <p>I'm a complete beginner but I'm keen to learn about bike maintenance. I wondered if anybody could recommend classes or courses preferably in the west of the city?</p> <p>Thanks :) </p>