Intermediate Bike Maintenance

All participants must be 16+ to attend this course. If the attendee is between 16 and 18 and will not be accompanied by an adult, please contact us before you book.

Our Intermediate course is suitable for those who have already attended our Basic Bike Maintenance course or otherwise know the basics about their bike e.g. can carry out a general check, remove/replace a wheel, repair a puncture and clean and lubricate in the right places. We encourage you to bring your own bike along.

We will be adding more dates soon, so please check back if you can't find a date and time that works for you.

Session content

Brakes

We will provide examples of different brake types and discuss the differences in their mechanisms. The tutor will demonstrate how to remove, replace and align brake pads; how to centre your brakes; how to adjust cable tension; and how to replace cables. You will then have the opportunity to practise some of these tasks on your own bike. For those of you with hydraulic disc brakes, we will look at the similarities and differences to rim brakes, how to adjust and centre your brakes and how to replace pads. We’ll talk through the principles of bleeding hydraulic disc brakes.

Gears

We will then look at how gears work and discuss common problems. The tutor will demonstrate how and where to check for wear and tear including whether the chain/cassette is worn and what condition the cables and housing are in, followed by how to replace the chain, cassette and cables. We will cover how and where to inspect the components for damage, how to set the limit screws, how to correctly set the position of a front mech and how to index your gears by adjusting the cable tension. There will then be the opportunity for you to spend time practising some of these skills on your own bike.

Please note that certain components, including those for electric bikes, hub gears, internal cable routing, and electronic shifting, are beyond the scope of the course / time available, but we will be able to provide an alternative bike to practice the course activities on when required.

There will be a 30 minute break for lunch. Please bring a packed lunch. We encourage you to bring a flask with a hot drink but we can make you one if needed.

Covid-19

Please do not attend if you believe you have symptoms consistent with a respiratory infection.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you can no longer attend (see 'Cancellations' below).

What to expect

This session will take place indoors inside the Leeds Bike Mill workshop.

You will each have your own workstand and set of tools . We will provide nitrile gloves (or barrier cream if you’re unable to wear gloves) and aprons. Handwashing facilities and hand sanitiser are available. You will be on your feet for quite a bit of the day but there are stools available if you prefer to sit down whilst watching demonstrations. There is a toilet.

Access

Our workshop is on the first floor up a flight of stairs. The tutor will offer to carry your bike upstairs however if you have accessibility requirements that mean you would be unable to access a session on the first floor, please contact Leeds Bike Mill to let us know as we do have the option of booking a ground floor space to run a session in. This would need to be arranged in advance so please hold off booking a place until you have spoken to us.

If you use reading glasses we recommend bringing these along as some of the work is very close up and detailed.

There is some limited free car parking directly outside the workshop - let us know if you would like us to lower the barriers so you can use this - or payable parking in nearby streets (parking is free on Sundays and after 6pm weekdays). Check our website for help with directions.