How to make proper use of your bike.
- How to make your bike a more practical form of transport.
- How to keep your bike in good working order.
Please note that whilst the advice given here is given in good faith, it is up to you to ensure you are not doing anything dangerous, whatever the reason. Never taken a spanner to a bike? Then don't grease the front wheel bearing and head off down the nearest steep hill, because it will be you going over the handlebars if you've done it wrong for any reason and as a result the bearing seizes. But that warning aside, working on a bike is mostly very easy, and you can go on courses that will enable you to undertake work safely. It's money well spent. Learning how to work on your bike doesn't mean you have to do every maintenance task, but it sure is more convenient fixing something simple at home than taking your bike to the shop, especially if the problem renders the bike unridable.
Once you have worked up the courage to work on your bike, you'll find there are lots of sources of advice on the net, and you should always look up different sources and compare what people say. One of the very best sources of information, and one that is regarded as authoritative, is the Sheldon Brown website. Sheldon was a mechanic at the Harris Cyclery in Massachusetts. His web pages are considered so invaluable that they have been maintained since his untimely death in 2008.