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General: How do you learn and teach bike building?

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    I've always liked bikes, working on them with my dad since I was probably 8 or 9 (that's 1982 or thereabouts). But about a year and a half ago, I started getting really itchy to start building them from parts, learning about the pieces that I'd been afraid to deal with.

    The Web has been an invaluable resource, as have a couple of books on the back of the toilet, but the best time has been building with family (my brother and cousin also have the bug) and sharing knowledge with the Pedal People here in Northampton, MA.

    How do you learn? What experience do you have to share with the Velospace community? What do you want to learn about?
    • CommentAuthorcrisone
    • CommentTimeOct 25th 2008
     
    I started riding and building bmx/freestyle bikes when I was a kid, maybe like 10ish yrs old, I remember my first bike, Diamond Back Viper.......so I kind of use what I remember and use my skills on my bike now, plus learn new things on the way.......

    What I want to learn??? I want to learn how to lace my own wheel, seems easy, just wanna try my own.

    Peace.

    Cris.
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    what do mean by "building"? you mean frame building or just assembling bikes?
    I'm just asking because for building and assembling a bike out of already finished parts you just really need a good book and some hands on experience (maybe get into wheelbuilding... lots of fun and easier than most people think).
    If we're talking framebuilding that's a whole different topic which is best learned by an already established frame builder or a good school (UBI in Oregon is pretty good here is their web address:
    http://www.bikeschool.com/)
    hope that helped
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    for wheelbuilding just buy the jobst brandt book and start by taking some old wheels apart (maybe buy some new spokes and nipples... do the calculations for spoke length and afterward check with the old spokes to see if you were right... figuring out the spoke length is the funnest part... just kidding lacing and truing can get to an obsession too... get that dial indicator and get your wheels super true)
    • CommentAuthorcrisone
    • CommentTimeOct 25th 2008
     
    ^ Ok, I mean "assembling", at that age, I didn't think "building" bikes.......
    • CommentAuthorgreg
    • CommentTimeOct 25th 2008
     
    It was something I learned out of cheapness and necessity. Breaking parts, upgrading parts, fixing parts.. after a while you realize its just putzing around with a wrench and some ideas about how it might work.
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    yup learning by doing. I just started to figure after running to the shop twice I could have already bought the tool by now few years later and I had my own shop at home now I am starting to build frames
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    I've gotten to the point myself where the next step is to start building frames. I've built several wheels, which is fun and meditative, and I've been kinda honked off that I can't make my own handlebars.

    Jobst Brandt's book is good, but I've actually found Sheldon Brown's instructions to be easier to remember and understand.

    Greg said, "It was something I learned out of cheapness and necessity. Breaking parts, upgrading parts, fixing parts.. after a while you realize its just putzing around with a wrench and some ideas about how it might work. "

    Yeah, one of the great things about bikes is that you realize, at a certain point, that you've replaced all the parts, and you could start from a pile of stuff you want, and build from there. Modularity and standards are amazing for that kind of thing. It allows for a lot of experiential learning.
    • CommentAuthorRWitt
    • CommentTimeOct 26th 2008 edited
     
    I learned by diving in head first and asking questions. I watched the auction sites for parts I needed and bought the Park Tool Big Blue book of Bicycle Repair. I invested in tools like cone wrenches and the third hand and freewheel removers. I learned how to properly clean old parts and before long I was on my way. Now, I buy any bike I love. If its love at first sight I buy it. If I cannot perform a repair I have the LBS do it.
    • CommentAuthorOtto Rax
    • CommentTimeOct 27th 2008
     
    i don't know about "putzing" around, that seems to cause your mechanic a headache when you fubar a part and expect them to be able to fix it cheap. overtightening can be as detrimental and undertightening. im not saying you need to know torque specs, but a good book is invaluable. Sutherland's is great, much more lay-person than the barnetts guide. leave your park tool book out of it, and ive heard good comments about teh Zinn books. How do you learn? Slowly and properly, how do you teach? Patiently and experientially. Always teach with the proper tools.

    Give a man a bike and he'll ride for a day, teach a man to wrench and he'll ride for a lifetime, teach him to wrench wrong and his lifetime will be a day.
    • CommentAuthorOtto Rax
    • CommentTimeOct 27th 2008
     
    And ask alot of questions.
    • CommentAuthorgreg
    • CommentTimeOct 27th 2008
     
    Oh, I've definitely used Zinn's Art of Road Bike Maintenance and the Bike Bible on occasion. By putzing around I mean not being afraid to take out a bottom bracket the first time, clean it, repack it and throw it back on there because I wanted to save $20 in labor at the LBS - more like exploring ideas with bike repair instead of being scared from doing something.

    On the other hand I don't know hydraulic brakes from a hole in the ground and I make it a point to take my MTBs to the LBS when that stuff needs tinkering with.
    • CommentAuthoramnomad
    • CommentTimeOct 27th 2008
     
    I took the Park Tool School about 10 years ago at a local bike shop. I think it cost around a hundred bucks and we did maybe 5 two hours sessions. They start out with changing tires, then adjusting derailleurs, then repacking bearings, truing wheels. It was worthwhile, since then if I get stuck I rely on Sheldon Brown's articles. From his stuff I've learned building wheels and his method of taking out a stuck fixed cup for a bottom bracket was cool. I think the Park Tool website has good instructions also.
    • CommentAuthorESR
    • CommentTimeOct 27th 2008
     
    having a crappy conversion fixie, riding on it everyday, and something else breaking every week. quickest and best way to learn to fix up a bike
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    Yeah, Greg, that seems to be the way to go: take something apart when it's broken and see if you can fix it. I find that, if I don't know how to do something, I operate on the principle that, if I'm about to force it, I'm about to fuck it up.

    Hydraulic brakes are something that, frankly, make me shrug. I had a bike with them for a while. They were fine, but they really deterred tweaking the bike because of their fussiness.

    Otto, I think asking questions is the single best thing one can do when learning a technical skill.
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    dude I never bring stuff to the shop anymore... they sometimes suck at the shop. freewheel in SF fucked up my bottom bracket shell in an old giant frame to where I had to retapp it... now I got tap sets and all that stuff... really helps.
    I do the same for my car learning by doing... it helps to drive buckets, they make you get dirty and you learn a lot more than watching someone else do it

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