Maintaining your bike is important

A bike is a machine, and like any machine it has parts that need maintenance. Basic maintenance that you can do at home will save you time, hassle and money in addition to ensuring the longevity of your bike overall.

Before we get in to how to fix things on your bike, it's important to share this video: what parts fit your bike. While aimed at mountain bikes specifically, most of the same suggestions can be applied whether you have a hybrid, road or fat bike. There's also nothing wrong with actually taking your bike (or bike part) to a bike shop and asking a professional what will work, even if you do the work yourself. Don't know what a part is called? You can try the photo search, or talk to a bike mechanic. While some things are difficult to mess up on a bike, chances are high that if you don't know what a part is called, it might not be a good idea to try to fix/replace it yourself. 

YouTube is an excellent source for information on how to do some of your own bike work (though is not a replacement for actual courses to teach you, or professionals to do the work for you), if you want to do some things that are otherwise an expensive hassle at a bike shop. Worth repeating: professional bike mechanics exist for a reason but basic minor maintenance or the changing of things like shift cables can be done at home, saving the mechanics to work on things you can't.

Park Tool makes excellent videos and while many of their tools are not worth the cost (when it would cost as much as having a professional do the job, just have the professional do the job), there are a lot of things you can do without any special tools. Some videos which I've personally used and recommend: 

GCN also has tons of excellent videos, including:

While virtually all of the above videos can be applied to children's bikes, you can also watch this (really basic) video to learn how to do some quick maintenance on a kids' bike: children's bike maintenance.

Professional help

Feeling overwhelmed? Don't want to work on your own bike? Need parts? No problem! Here's a list of local bike shops that have professional bike mechanics with all the tools and expertise to help you out:

Some SportChek locations as well as Decathlon also have bike mechanics in their service shops. Supporting your local bike shop is preferable, but if all you can access/afford is a SportChek or Decathlon, that's better than not getting the work done at all! Ultimately, a bike mechanic is a bike mechanic and the store they work at doesn't change their qualifications. 

Help that comes to you

Not everyone has an auto, or the ability to transport bikes with their auto, so Calgary has a number of options that will come to you.

 

(Last updated Jan 2024. Please advise if links are dead, locations changed or there are other shops you know of!)

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