It’s that in-between season here in Colorado. Skiing is still great, but the days are warm and sunny, and my thoughts are turning more toward mountain biking. But before you make that road-trip to Moab, make sure your bike is trail-worthy. If it’s like mine, it’s caked with mud from last November’s ride, the brakes need adjustment, and the wheels are out of true. Even if nothing’s actually broken, spring is a good time to do some simple bike maintenance work. You could take it to the local bike shop. Better yet, you could fix it yourself.
A lot of women mistakenly think there’s some sort of mysterious “guy gene” that confers the gift of mechanical know-how. After all, most mechanics and repairmen are guys. But men aren’t inherently good mechanics, and women aren’t inherently bad ones -- so women have no excuse for not learning how to fix their own gear.
Mechanical ability is nurture, not nature. Little boys grow up with their dads showing them how to fix things, so when they get older they have enough of a grounding in basic how-things-workology to be confident that if they take something apart, they can (probably) put it back together. After taking enough things apart and putting them back together, they’re Certified Experts. Little girls, on the other hand, never even get a chance to start with the easy stuff. So when a grown woman is faced with a snapped derailleur cable, she doesn’t even know where to begin.
So for the aspiring bike mechanic, a few guidelines:
Lubricate. A lot of “broken” stuff can be fixed just by a good squirt of WD-40 in the right place. If you don’t know where the right place is, just put some on all the moving metal parts. This is a good first step to try if your bike is stuck in one gear.
Learn what you’re doing. Bike shops and community centers often give elementary bike-fixing classes. Another way to learn is by buying a book on bicycle repair. My old “Anybody’s Bike Book” has gotten me through a lot, but there are newer, illustrated books which will show you exactly how to adjust brakes and replace cables.
Use the right tools. Tasks which are frustrating or impossible with the wrong tool are trivial with the right tool. If you don’t want to buy a chain breaker or a freewheel remover, see if you can borrow one from a gearhead guy. Some bike shops have tools you can use there.
Organize. Things which disassemble into lots of pieces usually need to be reassembled in the same order. Laying out the bits as you go along helps ensure that you won’t have anything mysteriously left over.
Know when you’re beaten. There’s no shame in taking it to the shop. But once you’ve experienced the feeling of pride from fixing your own bike, you’ll probably never want to take it to the shop again.