Category:Do-It-Yourself

This category collects the articles of the section "Articles about Bicycle Tinkering for Do-It-Yourselfers" of sheldonbrown.com. The list below follows the overview page; entries that link to sheldonbrown.com have not been mirrored yet. All articles in this category are listed automatically at the bottom of the page.

On-Road Wheel Repairs — Getting rolling again

You might decide to reach for your cell phone if you have a damaged wheel. But on the other hand, you might not have to!

Emergency Frame Repairs — Getting rolling again, part II

If you're 1000 miles from nowhere, this information might just be useful!

Fixed-gear on the Cheap! by Tom Deakins — Not sure you'll like fixed gear? Handy?

Convert an old clunker to taste the fixed-gear experience.

Frame Spacing — Make it fit!

Would you like to upgrade the gear system of a beloved older bike? Re-spacing the rear triangle can make this possible, and you can do it yourself!

Forkend Alignment — Avoid hub damage!

Here's how to check and correct alignment in case a forkend got bent somehow, or you have respaced a rear triangle (or front fork).

Refinishing Bicycle Frames — Paint your own frame?

Much preparation for painting can be done in a home workshop. There are several good cost-saving pro refinishing options -- and an ugly but durable paint job in the home workshop also is possible.

Raleigh Interchangeability — Can you put new parts on an old frame?

Nottingham-built Raleigh bikes used a number of unique, proprietary threadings and dimensions, making it difficult, but not impossible, to upgrade them with modern parts. This article covers the pitfalls and strategies for dealing with them.

Make your own 2-speed fixed-gear — A very advanced do-it-yourself project.

It is theoretically possible to convert a Sturmey-Archer AW three-speed hub into a two-speed fixed gear.

The Raleigh Twenty — 1970s folding bikes

The Raleigh Twenty has a stiffer frame than most similar-looking folders of its era, and has good riding characteristics. With upgraded parts, they can perform pretty well for not too much money.

Home Built Tandems — For hard-core tinkerers

This article describes one way of building a tandem by grafting two solos together. The resulting tandem will not have the ride quality nor the reliability of a multi-thousand-dollar tandem from a tandem specialist builder. It will, however, be superior to many "serious" tandems of the 1970's and earlier.

Fixed/Free Mountain Bikes — For fans of strange bikes

If you like strange bikes, you would like my Fixed/free mountain bike. It has a truly weird drive train! It has a "flip-flop" (reversible) hub, which is threaded for a freewheel on one side, and a fixed sprocket on the other. It has a 2-speed freewheel, so, depending on how you look at it, it is a 1-speed, a 2-speed or a 3-speed...

63 Speeds! — For fans of even stranger bikes

Being a firm believer that nothing exceeds like excess, I turned my O.T.B. into a bit of a project bike. When Specialized introduced the Saturne X-22 rim, the first really light, narrow 559 mm (26" mtb size) (unless you count the handmade cut-down Bontragers) I bought a pair of them, a pair of Panaracer 26x 1.5 radial tires, and built her up as a 63 speed machine using a Sturmey-Archer AW 3-speed hub, with a 7 sprocket cluster and triple chainwheel (3 X 7 X 3 = 63!)

My Personal Bikes — For those who can't get enough about strange bikes.

I own far too many bikes, none of which is even vaguely stock. I love them all, and can't bear to part with them.

Home-made Drop Bolts — For tinkerers seeking better braking with long-reach caliper brakes.

A not-very-elegant, but cheap and effective way to improve the braking on bicycles which require long-reach caliper brakes.

Build You Own Cantilever Jig — For brave people with torches

This article describes one way to make a jig to hold cantilever bosses in place while brazing them on to a frame.

Tool Tips — A Blast from the Past!

In the 1980s, I wrote a regular monthly column in Bicycling magazine, on maintenance and repair, particularly focussed on the selection and use of tools. While some of this material is rather dated, much of it isn't. Since some of these articles deal with topics that are not covered in such depth elsewhere in this site, I'm putting them online.

Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Glossary — For all cyclists.

An encyclopedic listing of bicycle lore, technical data and opinions.

Sheldon Brown's Hotlists