I had been thinking about going to The Squeaky Wheel Bicycle co-op’s WTF repair clinic for a very long time.
I also wanted to take my youngest kid and her partner so they could learn some bicycle maintenance skills.
Oh. Right. First off I should explain what “WTF” stands for!
Turns out my physiotherapist is a cyclist and highly skilled mechanic. We were chatting about inclusive cycling and they recommended I go.
So. I messed up my registration by somehow finding outdated registration instructions. I have a gift.
Jean, Jerica and I showed up with 3 bicycles in various states of needing love.
The volunteers were welcoming and gracious despite my mix up with registration.
We put Jean’s bike on the stand. Her disc brake was sticking and I had no idea where to start. A quick evaluation and our mechanic mentor showed us that it was simply the cable was not seated properly at the lever. Easy!
Second bike was my road bike, Ethyl, I had been mean to my derailer…again. So we went through how to evaluate the range and alignment. I also learned the names of the screws and their functions. After 10 minutes Ethyl was shifting like a dream.
Finally, I had a bike I want to fix up and gift to a friend. The crank where the pedal screws in was stripped. We did an overall evaluation of the bike. It also needs a new chain and brake pads. Totally things I can do myself.
I had a great afternoon learning more about bicycle maintenance. There were other folks working on bikes and I learned from them too.
I really appreciated having a space to try something and become a bit more autonomous with my bike repair skills.
I will definitely be back to gain more skills and confidence to go beyond replacing an inner tube and keeping my chain clean to actually repairing things.
