Bicycle Servicing Costs

MX5huggy

PasturesNew wrote: »

The trouble I have is that while the right handlebar has 7 distinct gears, labelled.... the left hand one says H ...... L and goes through about 30+ miniscule clicks between the two, without any distinct indication of what's going on, or what to do. If it had said 1-3 on the left and 1-7 on the right, with distinct positions/clicks ... it'd have been easier and the chain wouldn't have kept falling off when I randomly twisted the left one back/forth.

This article on the best bike information site explains why you have 30 clicks, you need to trim the front derailleur. You have GripShift with micro Clicks. http://sheldonbrown.com/front-derailers.html#trim
However it needs adjusting as it should not be pushing the chain totally off. This covers that http://sheldonbrown.com/derailer-adjustment.html

TamA

I think that is quite expensive at just under £50!

I got a new rear wheel bearing and my gears adjusted for £15 in my local bike shop (Mike's Bikes, Haddington, East Lothian).

When I told him that was awfully cheap he said a service was only £20 because it keeps the punters coming.

Try phoning around quieter places.

closed

If it's working, and has no punctures, it doesn't need maintenance. Pump the tyres to the correct pressure, check the nuts aren't falling off, grease anything that needs it, that's about it, unless you are doing 1000's of miles or covering it in mud, it will probably go on forever.

The chain falling off is probably a very minor cable or screw adjustment which should take less than a minute. Turn it upside down, pedal, watch how the gears work, adjust.

valk_scot

Crikey, what a palaver about a bike.....

First if it doesn't fit you SELL IT and get one that does. Having to stop beside a kerb every time makes life on the road dangerous for both you and everyone else. Have you had it fitted to you? Saddle up/down, fore/aft, angle of saddle, height and angle of handlebars?All of that can make a lot of difference. If you do sell it and get another get a woman-specific fit bike.

Don't buy it from Halfords. Just don't. If you want an off the peg type bike and are afraid of bike shops try Decathlon.

Third, learn some basic bike maintenence, like mending punctures, cleaning and lubrication and how to tweak the gears into alignment. Get some basic tools and a puncture repair kit and never go out on the bike without them. Stop being feeble, you can do bike maintenence on the pavement outside your house, a quiet corner of the supermarket car park or the local park. If you can't do basic repairs what happens if you get a puncture or problem ten miles away from home? Walk back? Oh, and carry a pump too. Even if you're really struggling with a mechanical problem chances are another cyclist will stop to offer assistance if you have the tools with you.

Keep the bike in the house. You can get hooks to hang it up on a wall, either flat(tish) to the wall or upright balanced on it's rear wheel. I had five years of carrying my bike on my shoulder up three floors of very tight stairwell and kept it in the hall of my tiny one bedroom flat....propped up against my OH's bike and our tandem, which took two of us to carry upstairs.

If you know your times tables you can work out gears. It's worth sitting down with a book or website and spending half an hour on this. If you're not using your gears properly no wonder you can't cycle up small inclines. A decent range of gears should be able to get the averagely fit person up 1:6 hills, as long as they're not tooooo long!

Also more critiscism of that uberlight bike. By any chance is it a road bike rather than a tourer or hybrid? If so it will be made for fast racing (ie no low hill climbing gears), skinny tyres (lots of punctures on the roads), no carrying capacity (it's dangerous to sling shopping bags over the handlebars) and if it's proprtioned for a man it won't fit you anyway, even with a woman's saddle. Get a woman's fit hybrid/town bike with pannier racks and mudgards. It will be heavier but only by a few pounds and it will be far, FAR more suitable for you. Halfords shouldn't have let you out the door with that bike by the sound of it. A proper bike shop would have tried to help you buy a bike appropriate to your needs.

And you may just get yourself killed on the road due to that loose front wheel btw. It would be worth £47 just to avoid that happening.


Good luck. I'm a middle aged/elderly woman too btw, 5'4" so I know all about bikes not fitting properly and I can still carry a 32lb hybrid up 100 steps if I put the crossbar over my shoulder. And no, I'm not one of these superfit folk either, you'd never take me for the least bit sporty if you saw me in the supermarket. So stop flapping around in that sort of way that gives women cyclists a bad name and get to grips with what you're doing rather than wringing your hands and saying you don't understand these things!!!! :eek:

Dave_C_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

The trouble I have is that while the right handlebar has 7 distinct gears, labelled.... the left hand one says H ...... L and goes through about 30+ miniscule clicks between the two, without any distinct indication of what's going on, or what to do. If it had said 1-3 on the left and 1-7 on the right, with distinct positions/clicks ... it'd have been easier and the chain wouldn't have kept falling off when I randomly twisted the left one back/forth.

Same story again, Enough is enough! Shimano gears should shift like silk and not fall off.
I hate to say it but it sounds as if you are ignoring what I and others have already suggested on this thread! Your bike desperately needs a service and it's painfully obvious that you don't know enough or are unwilling to do it yourself.

You now have a choice:
Either continue as you are doing and getting nowhere - other than heading towards a catastrophic failure. This is not getting the best out of your bike and is leading to an unpleasant riding experience.
Or you can do something about it and get your bike serviced in your Local bike shop. Any local bike shop worth its salt will give you advice on how to use your gears - as Custardy has said it's easier demonstrated than written.
Or trade in your bike for a hybrid with hub gears.

Continual moaning on this forum will not fix anything, your bike will not mend itself. You have to grasp the nettle and do something

Dave

elsien

Referring back to an earlier post about which cogs and gears to use, how do you remember all that???
Just been given a bike, no idea how many gears as I haven't looked that closely yet but I now have visions of myself cycling along oblivious to all hazards as I frantically scan the mse printout taped to the handlebars trying to work out what bit to twiddle next.
And I don't know how to replace the knackered inner tube. Youtube, you reckon?

Norman_Castle

Referring back to an earlier post about which cogs and gears to use, how do you remember all that???

It's simple. If the pedals are hard to push change into a lower gear. If you cannot pedal any faster use a higher gear. The gearchange on the right makes a small difference, on the left a big difference. Alternately use 2 on the left and 5 on the right and forget about changing gears.

PasturesNew

Norman_Castle wrote: »

It's simple. If the pedals are hard to push change into a lower gear. If you cannot pedal any faster use a higher gear. The gearchange on the right makes a small difference, on the left a big difference. Alternately use 2 on the left and 5 on the right and forget about changing gears.

But there is no "2" on the left. It says H ....... L. And everything between those two is about 20-30 microclicks. That's how come I've never been able to start working it out. At many stages the chain doesn't engage at all, so I wiggle the left one a bit more until it clunks and falls into position (or the chain falls off).

Sgt_Pepper_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

But there is no "2" on the left. It says H ....... L. And everything between those two is about 20-30 microclicks. That's how come I've never been able to start working it out. At many stages the chain doesn't engage at all, so I wiggle the left one a bit more until it clunks and falls into position (or the chain falls off).

Being a cheap bike is it not possible that your gear change is only for or set up for two front sprockets?

valk_scot

elsien wrote: »

Referring back to an earlier post about which cogs and gears to use, how do you remember all that???
Just been given a bike, no idea how many gears as I haven't looked that closely yet but I now have visions of myself cycling along oblivious to all hazards as I frantically scan the mse printout taped to the handlebars trying to work out what bit to twiddle next.
And I don't know how to replace the knackered inner tube. Youtube, you reckon?

If your thigh muscles start hurting you're in too high a gear. If your calf muscles start hurting you're in too low a gear. It's better to push slightly too low a gear than too high though, it does less damage to your knees. Most beginners push too high a gear. If you have a faint feeling that your legs are going round a wee bit faster than you'd like your gear is probably right.

That's assuming your bike fits you and is set up correctly for you of course. Most beginners have their saddle set too low for example which is inefficient and can hurt your hips, especially when combined with too high a gear! My best advice is to get your bike serviced and fitted to you at a decent bike shop and ask them to advise you on the correct riding position.