Marten Gerritsen -- Dutch builder of exquisite and innovative frames, all-'round nice guy, and one of the most humorous of bicycle writers -- will be holding a series of maintenance and repair workshops at his home/farm/barn/workshop in collaboration with World Cyclist this May and June. He's in Kielwindeweer, in the north/Groningen region, though you can get there from Assen, 132km away.
The course fee is 75 euros, including "tuition, course (only for the beginners course), dinner (at the Chinese met), coffee, tea, plasters and sociability", as he puts it. All tools for the workshop are provided and available for use there. Classes are limited to 16 persons per weekend.
This is a lovely area to tour, and Marten has offered the grounds of his farm and barn for tent-lodging to those who choose to travel to the classes by bike with the intention of camping. More formal lodgings are available nearby. Though some distance away from the UK, it might be a fun trip for those seeking to build their skills toward repair self-sufficiency and I predict a fun time will be had by all. Yes, it would help to know some Dutch.
More details here (via Google's English translation):
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&u=http://www.wereldfietser.nl/&ei=eBzATsGjBIiOiALWw9CrAw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCEQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwereldfietser%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26biw%3D1296%26bih%3D627%26prmd%3DimvnsMarten's firm, m-gineering, has a site here:
http://www.m-gineering.nl/English version here:
http://www.m-gineering.nl/indexg.htmMarten is a SON dynohub specialist. That page is here:
http://www.m-gineering.nl/sindexg.htmHis Next Best Thing (NBT) on-road cassette remover is here:
http://www.m-gineering.nl/shopg.htmInstruction manual for NBT here:
http://www.m-gineering.nl/nbtg.htmHis custom frames here:
http://www.m-gineering.nl/mindexg.htmHis page dedicated to parts failures:
http://www.m-gineering.nl/oopsg.htmMarten has also written the best summary guide I've ever read on touring The Netherlands, available here:
http://www.m-gineering.nl/touringg.htmBest,
Dan.