Bike Maintenance - Why and What

Why have I decided to do more bike maintenance you might ask - why not I think is a better question!

I have always changed my own tyres and brake pads, fiddled a bit with brake cables and brake set up but not really done any more than that. I have known that my gears need indexing but felt slightly anxious about making things worse so not changed anything, not been brave enough to re-do cables or bar tape and never understood 'bottom brackets' and headsets. I have built a bike from scratch (cutting and brazing the tubing on a weeks course, possibly worthy of another blog), but even then I took it to a shop and built it up with the help of a bike mechanic who did more than I did.
This year I entered (and persuaded my parents and girlfriend to enter too) the Eroica Britannia - a weekend festival of cycling that includes a ride where the bike has to be pre-1987. For this I really wanted to build up my own bike and realised that without a bit of a better understanding this could go horribly wrong!
Being someone who likes learning, and is often a bit anxious about just having a go I decided to do some form of bike maintenance course. I considered getting a proper qualification in bike maintenance but struggled with the time commitment to get this done - then I found Cyclewise in Whinlatter and the weekend courses that they do, including one where you take your own bike, strip and rebuild it learning about all the components as you go. It was fantastic. I took my cyclocross bike, mechanical disc brakes so not adding hydraulics in yet, stripped it to frame only and rebuilt it with new cables, new headset and wheel bearings and a bit of wheel truing added in. Along the way I learnt loads

1. How to do a quick check of the bike within a few minutes and know whether it needs new cables, new headset bearings, new wheel bearings, new cassette and chain and new bottom bracket / bearings
2. Types of bearing on wheels and headsets - cup and cone or sealed bearings and how to replace them
3. Types of bottom bracket and more importantly what I wouldn't buy again (push-fit) now that I understand what to look for
4. Why I am happy to continue with shimano rather than campagnolo - ease of finding and replacing any bits
5. Why components matter and if I build a bike from scratch again I would go for Chris King headset and possibly other bits too
6. That aluminium against steel is a bad idea unless you are checking and re-greasing regularly - shame I didn't know this before my seatpost seized in my single speed - oops
7. Finally what a basic required tool set up is for home mechanics *

So then what - well the cyclocross bike rides better from a gearing perspective than it has since its last service now that I understand how badly it was set up before and I have since got some additional tools as early birthday presents, built the vintage bike from frame up, tinkered and cleaned and got working three vintage bikes (although the rod brakes were a step too far) and just yesterday stripped and serviced my serious road bike with new cassette, new chain, new cables, new brake pads and new bar tape in a morning - just need to wait till some of the ice melts this morning to go and make sure it does all work!!

Even if I hadn't decided to get all the kit and keep tinkering the increased understanding of the components of my bikes is brilliant - I feel like I know when I should be worried about additional noises or not, what to carry around, what I would look for next time when buying, what I would get a mechanic to do and what needs to be done etc. The only problem has been that I have been doing more in the shed (new organised tools seen below) than on the bike - which doesn't bode well for the upcoming events.........!!

*Tool List if your interested;

workstand - now i've got one no idea how i did stuff before

cable cutters

allen key set

chain splitting tool

chain whip

spoke key

tyre levers

cone spanners

pedal spanners

grease gun and teflon based grease

quick chin links

cable ties

cassette tool

pliers

torq wrench

chain wear indicator

and if you are really keen a wheel tuning stand!