Bike Mechanic Crashcourse

[Elwin]

Good evening fellow hubbers. 

Can anyone suggest a place where one can go to for a bike Mechanic course? Just some basics on how to service a bike properly?

[ChrisF]

Where are you ?

[Nakoota]

Jokes aside, YouTube.

The only thing i haven't learnt there yet is a fork and shock service.

[corrie.kuilder]

https://www.torqzoneacademy.com/

[Elwin]

10 hours ago, Nakoota said:

Jokes aside, YouTube.

The only thing i haven't learnt there yet is a fork and shock service.

I have learned a lot from YT, and have fixed quite a few stuff on my bike, but a day spent with a proper mechanic would be nice. 😅

[PregoRoll]

12 hours ago, corrie.kuilder said:

https://www.torqzoneacademy.com/

+1 for Torque Zone Academy. Graeme is a brilliant teacher and would highly recommend everyone see him, even if its just the basics

[Elwin]

1 hour ago, PregoRoll said:

+1 for Torque Zone Academy. Graeme is a brilliant teacher and would highly recommend everyone see him, even if its just the basics

I see this is in Pretoria. Are there any in the cape town area?

[corrie.kuilder]

They also have online workshops (theoretical)

[Kom]

8 minutes ago, Elwin said:

I see this is in Pretoria. Are there any in the cape town area?

Has anyone actually attended the home mechanic course and is it recommended if you can already strip bolts, over tighten headsets and untrue wheels?

[BaGearA]

7 minutes ago, Kom said:

Has anyone actually attended the home mechanic course and is it recommended if you can already strip bolts, over tighten headsets and untrue wheels?

If you can already strip you frame and pu back together and know how to use a torq wrench then this won't give you much more than a piece of paper.

 

I'm working to get a gentleman through the 3 levels but its just so he can have the paper work , he dropping motors and doing some of the most complex mech work already daily its just the informality of it is getting him screwed over.

 

 

Personally I would like to go for the wheel building course cause that's something I'm still not comfortable with , the rest i can do pretty much eyeclosed 

 

 

If you're a decent home mechanic then maybe look into the focused courses on stuff you don't feel confident with , the home mechanic course is for people wanting to start working on their own bikes that don't already have knowledge on how to 

[Kom]

9 minutes ago, BaGearA said:

If you're a decent home mechanic then maybe look into the focused courses on stuff you don't feel confident with , the home mechanic course is for people wanting to start working on their own bikes that don't already have knowledge on how to 

Agreed.

TBH the stuff im not good at is the time consuming maintenance id honestly outsource or in some cases just rather upsell -->

Untrue Wheels - I can replace a spoke, and get a decent bush level of truing using a ziptie, but if a wheel is too far gone needing a rebuild, id rather sell and buy a new one.

Brake Bleeds - Mineral oil, happy to do myself, DOT4, aint no chance i want that on my garage floor or hands - it goes in.

Bottom Brackets - BSA, do it myself, Pressfit, ive stopped doing these because im not doing them often enough to get the tolerance right. Probably a topic for another day, but most of us DIY mechanics are probably doing this critical component incorrectly.

The rest of the bike is YouTube obvious, monkey see monkey do type of activity.

Edited April 15 by Kom

[Shebeen]

"crash" course?

 

I assume this is for your own bikes? I did one years back at a bikeshop, but reckon YT has everything you need to know now. plus put your queries up here on the Tech Q&A section

[dave303e]

Back in the day there was a dirtbike forum(or2) they did 'tech evenings' every now and then... What usually ended up as a bit of a jol, from what I recall they all started with someone learning how to do something/having others come help them fix something.

[splat]

Doing a course (or downloading Youtube) is one thing - having a reasonable collection of tools is another...

[Headshot]

You just do it on the job. Take stuff apart and try put it back together. If you can't you ask someone who can and after breaking things and stripping threads you'll eventually learn what not to do. Just don't start on your Epic 8 S works. Same applies to cars. 😉