Bicycle Servicing Costs

patman99

I would agree that rapid-fire changers are more accurate and that the OP may benefit from converting the left-hand changer to a rapid-fire.

Me ?, I have no choice but to use a twist-grip changer on the left as I have no thumb on my left hand, so found a rapid-fire impossible to use properly.

leebut

You could get a Halfords 1-year care plan.

All the labour, repairs and fitting of components purchased from Halfords is included.
You'll have to take your bike in to be checked over. They don't want to take on bikes that are past it.

I like to end my rides at a pub.

redux

How about a bit more reading?

Many years ago, I bought Richard's Bicycle Book, by someone called Richard Ballantine, and plenty of other people have as well.

It would give you a very good grounding about history, maintaining it (excellent diagrams), riding it, understanding the gear ratios, and all sorts of other things as well, steeped in his humour and idealism about cycling

A quick search tells me that there have been new editions from time to time, and you can find for example the 1990 "New" edition on eBay for two or three quid upwards. I'm going to buy a copy myself, to compare to the old one. I imagine it will have something about indexed gears, which weren't about in the 1970s, or on my current bike either. There's also a 2001 "21st century" edition, but even secondhand it's priced a bit towards like a collectors item.

Obviously some of the recent technical developments won't be in there, like maybe gears and brake levers together on current bikes, but I think it would give a firm basis of understanding and confidence that you could use to teach yourself more from then on

This website is also very good, and here's a page about evolution of gear systems and a beginner's index page
http://sheldonbrown.com/upgrade-gears.html
http://sheldonbrown.com/beginners/index.html

Norman_Castle

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).

Put the chain on the centre sprocket. Move the high/low dial until it is centred over the chain and not touching it. If it rides ok in this position, mark the dial with tippex.
If the chain is being pushed off the smallest cog the front derailleur needs adjusting.
If the chain is being pushed off the smallest cog the front derailleur needs adjusting.
If the chain is being pushed off the smallest cog the front derailleur needs adjusting.
You could buy a single speed bike.

Wongsky

PasturesNew wrote: »

So, I've got a bike.... I know which end is the front, so can always get on it the right way round ..... but I don't do maintenance. It's got loads of gears (21 Shimano), which I don't know how to use (and when I try to change gears with the left hand side the chain usually drops off after a lot of clunking) - my last bike had a little lever attached to the handlebars and it had 3 gears and I understood that.

As I've had the bike a few years now .... I enquired how much a service would be at a random/local shop and was told it was £47 (plus any parts).

Now - that sounds a LOT to me.

How much do services cost?
What makes a difference to the cost of a service?
How can I find cheaper servicing (without anybody suggesting I do it myself)?

At £47 it's just not going to happen.....

Then if you don't like the price - which is probably around the going rate for what needs doing - then learn to do it yourself.

Bikes, even modern ones with "loads" of gears, really aren't that difficult to do basic servicing - by that I mean cleaning or changing a chain, replacing cables, adjusting brakes, that sort of thing.

Dismantling hubs and building wheels, and some other types of component maintenance, may not be that easily learnt, or may be more daunting - but the easy stuff that people tend to pay people to do - pretty damned easy to learn, so if the price is too much, either learn, or let your bike fall apart.

rxbren

search youtube for how to fix the bike if not take it to a shop and get it sorted
but never take a bike to halfrauds they are useless and will try to sell you crap you dont need go to a proper independant bike shop