[decasia]

I was trying to reinstall my rear wheel the other day after removing a bike trailer. I apparently didn't tighten it down enough and the wheel came out of the brackets as soon as I started to ride, causing an instant crash and a lot of bruises.

Things like that make me feel apprehensive about trying to learn more bike maintenance stuff myself. It's almost inevitable to have to patch flat tires though so you're always going to be reinstalling the wheel yourself, but I don't touch the brakes even if it seems like an easy fix.

[ddtaylor]

Regarding the tires. I don't know if it messes with how you ride or anything, but we have the tire slime in all of our tires and we keep a portable Ryobi electric bike pump with us when we go on trails.

Brakes suck. For maintenance I actually enjoy the regular brakes instead of the hydraulic ones. You have to realistically change your break pads every month or two and it's difficult to do with the hydraulic ones by comparison.

[mauvehaus]

What are you doing that you're changing brake pads every couple months?

For non-cyclists: brake pads have a minimum thickness, and usually a wear line molded in (less common on disc brakes). If you've got enough pad material and it isn't glazed or contaminated, it isn't time to change them yet. They can last years. I've got maybe 6,000 miles on the pads on my road bike, and they're fine.

The only normal case for needing to change pads every couple months that I've run across is people riding lift-service downhill. In which case, buy a set of digital calipers and check your rotors regularly, because they have a minimum thickness too.

For reference: I am a bike mechanic, though not a paid one at the moment.

[ddtaylor]

This is my biggest fear when working on my bike. I tighten those with that fear in the back of my head constantly. I have to be careful not to over-tighten them because of this.

[prmoustache]

On the other hand you should learn bike maintenance so you can check and anticipate any failure. Fixing brakes is not rocket science.