Getting our Hands Dirty at The Bikeroom

Are you mechanically inclined? Do you like tinkering with things and figuring out how they work? Do you know the names of most standard tools? What about your bike; do you tend to say thingy, whatchamacalit and doohicky? Depending on your answers to the above questions, this article might not be for you. However, if you’re like me; someone who has been riding for a while, but has felt both uninspired and perhaps intimidated to learn how to fix her own bike, then you might be able to relate. If not, read on anyway, just for the fun of it.

Learning the principle behind brakes

I’m not completely sure why I was so against learning how to fix my own bike. I’m sure there were a few reasons. For starters, I’m not particularly handy. I’m the kind of person who feels proud when I manage to screw the legs on an Ikea table. Secondly, I never had much reason to. There was always someone around to help, including a bike mechanic at home. Finally, I think I was intimidated. I didn’t want to make a mistake or feel stupid. All of this amounted to me convincing myself that I didn’t even want to learn. In fact, as Team Danger Pony arrived at The Bikeroom for a night of learning the basics with owner/operator Jeff Bryson, I even reiterated that above point telling everyone, “I’m just not interested in learning how it works, I just want to ride.” Fast forward three hours and I was singing a different tune.

Although most of the members of Team Danger Pony had a bit more experience working on bikes than me, the vast majority of us had something to learn. This is where Jeff Bryson comes in. Jeff is a 17-year bike industry veteran and a superb DH racer to boot. He started The Bikeroom, located here on the North Shore, just over a year ago and teaches programs ranging from full bicycle mechanic training courses, to service shop manager training to individual programs focusing on wheel building or brake systems. The Bikeroom also offers bench time for people who already know what they need to do, but need the space and tools to accomplish their task.

An incredibly patient and knowledgeable teacher, Jeff walked us through the principle behind the procedure as opposed to just showing us how to do something. For example, he showed us all the parts of a disc brake and we broke down how it all works before learning how to change our brake pads. Knowing how something works, made it easier for me to understand why we had to do things a certain way.

Some of us had never had hands so dirty

In the end we learned a lot, but time flies when you’re getting educated. In just over 3 hours we managed to learn how to change our brake pads, clean, lube, take off and put back on our chains, and perfect our flat fixes (or in my case, change my first flat). All in all, it was a night well spent, but as is the case with many things in life, we didn’t even know how ignorant we were until we started to learn. As a result, our night at The Bikeroom was the first of many. Team Danger Pony has caught the bug for wrenching and we’ll be back. Like fellow Danger Pony, Cheryl, said, “There’s something very satisfying about fixing something broken on your bike all on your own.  It’s like bonding with your bike, getting to know its deeper side.”

www.bikeroom.ca