Wrench work

[Gene]

Curious on the poll. With shops now offering appointment drop offs I wonder if the at home mechanic work is still happening. For those that do is your setup permanent or temporary area where you can fit it in ad hoc.

For me I trust the guys in the shop.

 

[Steve Vai]

D) All Of The Above.

 

[qclabrat]

D) All Of The Above.

You don't count...

 

[jmanic]

Voted Amateur home mechanic, but reality is somewhere in between.
I can do and do most stuff, but also happy to bring to my local shops if it’s critical and I know they’ll do a better job.
Otherwise I really enjoy the wrenching.


Have a dedicated space and enough tools to be dangerous.

 

[Steve Vai]

You don't count...

Sometimes I try at home and then bring it to a shop, that way I can fix my own mistakes.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

All of the above.

 

[MadisonDan]

I’ll do some very basic stuff myself, but also bring it in for yearly service and anything suspension related.

 

[Jeremy]

I’ll do some very basic stuff myself, but also bring it in for yearly service and anything suspension related.

Can any local shops provide damper service in-house?

The only task I do not undertake personally is dismantling my suspension. However, I have assembled the majority of my bicycles, and they are surprisingly robust.


Edit - Siri rewrote that in a professional manner.

 

[Karate Monkey]

Can any local shops provide damper service in-house?

The only task I do not undertake personally is dismantling my suspension. However, I have assembled the majority of my bicycles, and they are surprisingly robust.


Edit - Siri rewrote that in a professional manner.

Some of them...You have to ask; any shop with shaft clamps and basic seal driving tooling can do dampers without a nitrogen charge...but most suspension shops also have vacuum bleeders and HP nitrogen fills. Those setups are far too expensive to have if they don't have a dedicated employee+steady business (they will usually do regional service for other shops, too, for instance).

 

[Steve Vai]

Some of them...You have to ask; any shop with shaft clamps and basic seal driving tooling can do dampers without a nitrogen charge...but most suspension shops also have vacuum bleeders and HP nitrogen fills. Those setups are far too expensive to have if they don't have a dedicated employee+steady business (they will usually do regional service for other shops, too, for instance).

Forks are relatively easy, we just send them out because of how time consuming they are. Rear shocks are another story, screw those things.

 

[MadisonDan]

Can any local shops provide damper service in-house?

The only task I do not undertake personally is dismantling my suspension. However, I have assembled the majority of my bicycles, and they are surprisingly robust.


Edit - Siri rewrote that in a professional manner.

I mean GearWorks is kind of local, no?

 

[Karate Monkey]

Forks are relatively easy, we just send them out because of how time consuming they are. Rear shocks are another story, screw those things.

I (manually) vacuum bleed all my own hydraulics. If there are provisions for it on the equipment (ie: it's not a fit damper with the dumbest-ever-bleeding system), it makes a frustrating job relatively easy.

You need a vacuum pump (they're like, $20 for a manual one), pressure rated filter cartridge, some tubing, and a manifold to hook up the vacuum and positive pressure (compressor).

Dougal at Shockcraft sells schrader adaptors for the nylon fill pellets on most rear shocks, which allows you to service them without using a nitrogen/needle setup.

On the other hand, sending them out is usually the better option, because the people who actually service their equipment know they need to wait, anyway. Factory service costs more, but the factory servicers usually replace shit for free if there are running changes/warranty stuff .

 

[Cassinonorth]

I built a shop in my basement and don't keep bikes long enough to need suspension rebuilds.

 

[ekuhn]

I do what I can. What I can't I bring to the pros.

 

[TommyF]

Pretty much everything at home, but if I'm lazy I drop it off at LBS. It's a good feeling when you build a relationship with the head mechanic.

 

[shrpshtr325]

The only thing I consistently take in for anymore is press fit bbs and warranty. I do send shocks out and prefer to send forks but forks are plenty easy to do at home

 

[one piece crank]

I do all my own work (no rear shocks, which I would likely send out anyway). I have good LBS relationships, but the times I’ve taken a real tough nut for their opinion, I brought it back home and did it myself.

 

[roc]

I can fix a flat, sometimes. Other than that, its the shop.

 

[ebarker9]

I would take a bike in for something like brake mount facing where it's ridiculous to own the tools to do it if you're not a shop. I've always sent out dampers for service as well, but I think I'm going to start collecting the stuff to do that, mostly because I find it interesting. Other than that, I've done pretty much everything at home.

 

[Santapez]

Everything myself except in the past I've sent out rear Fox shocks. The DVO/Manitou stuff is easy to do myself including bleeds as they take normal fittings and aren't complicated. I have 5 bike shops in town and none do rear shock dampers, they send them out either to the local suspension rebuilder in town or to the factory since Fox/Cane creek/Ohlins are within a half hour. They'll do air can services.



I was actually going to ask my local shops in town if they had brake mount facing tools as that was one thing I wanted to get done and I'm certainly not buying that tool. I'll ask this weekend.