Why "Cycle Maintenance for the Mechanically Gifted"?

I'm glad you asked.

First, some background. When it comes to doing any minor work on my bike - changing tyres, fitting cables, fixing punctures - I have (up until very recently) been a disaster area. One notable (and unsuccessful) attempt to fit a new tyre took me the best part of three hours and left me with two lovely blisters, one on each thumb, which effectively reduced my standing in the tree of life from ape to monkey until they healed.

The title of my blog is therefore very much tongue-in-cheek, and is a homage to the Gary Larson cartoon "Midvale School for the Gifted". (Licensing restrictions prevent me from including it here, but I'm sure you're clever enough to find it for yourself. It's rather funny, don't you think?)

So, I think we've established that, at present, I'm a bit useless when it comes to actually doing work on bikes. I do have a goal, though, and I've got bags of motivation, so I'm determined to learn how to do all of this.

I also hope to be able to help out anyone who happens to be in the same situation of wanting to do their own bike maintenance, but not having the skills to do it. You see, I've found that a lot of the instructions in books, on the web, and even in instructional videos, assume slightly more knowledge of how a bike and its parts work than I actually possess. At times, I need things explained in very short words.

For anyone else in this position, here's the good news ... I'm going to do the hard work for you. I'm going to figure out everything that you're not told, and going to put it into as short words as I can manage. When I remember, I'll include photos, too.

Now won't that be lovely?