maintenance books? - Page 2 - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

01-30-2005, 05:51 AM

"greggery peccary" <.@.> wrote in message
news:cthlen$dhk$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> my bike is in pretty bad shape. lost anoter spoke today and it was on the
> rear driveside which made me late (BTW thanks to free range cycles for a
> fast repair!). does anyone have a good book to recommend that will teach
> me
> how to do everything incl. proper trueing & bearing adj?
> -alan
>

did not had a chance to read it, but Park Tool has new book
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ], plus there are some nice advice pages, in addition to
other resources mentioned.

d'amir

01-30-2005, 07:38 AM

NY Rides wrote:
> My experience with many repair books is that they're way over the
> average home mechanic's head. Having run a teen bicycle recycling
> program for many years, I finally checked out Bicycles For Dummies,
> and found it to be the easiest to follow repair guide of all. I used
> it with my group for several years and the kids always found it very
> simple to understand.
>
> Regarding more serious reading, the titles and authorities mentioned
> so far seem to be the most highly regarded among this newsgroup.

Barnett's can be a bit on the technical side, but it's great for those "hard
to find" questions. Zinn's book and most of Sheldon's stuff is geared
toward the actual rider, not the pro wrench, IMO. There are lots of basic
maintenance books out there. Everything from the "....for Dummies" stuff to
little pamplets you can carry in a seat pack. I found they rarely go beyond
how to change a flat or how to fix a rubbing brake. If that's all you want,
then that's fine. If you want to get into anything beyond basic user
maintenance you need something a bit more comprehensive than the "dummy"
level stuff. I've found that anyone with the slightest mechanical aptitude
can make use of the info in Zinn's book. I have the MTB version, but I've
heard similar comments on the road version.

Tom

01-30-2005, 07:38 AM

NY Rides wrote:
> My experience with many repair books is that they're way over the
> average home mechanic's head. Having run a teen bicycle recycling
> program for many years, I finally checked out Bicycles For Dummies,
> and found it to be the easiest to follow repair guide of all. I used
> it with my group for several years and the kids always found it very
> simple to understand.
>
> Regarding more serious reading, the titles and authorities mentioned
> so far seem to be the most highly regarded among this newsgroup.

Barnett's can be a bit on the technical side, but it's great for those "hard
to find" questions. Zinn's book and most of Sheldon's stuff is geared
toward the actual rider, not the pro wrench, IMO. There are lots of basic
maintenance books out there. Everything from the "....for Dummies" stuff to
little pamplets you can carry in a seat pack. I found they rarely go beyond
how to change a flat or how to fix a rubbing brake. If that's all you want,
then that's fine. If you want to get into anything beyond basic user
maintenance you need something a bit more comprehensive than the "dummy"
level stuff. I've found that anyone with the slightest mechanical aptitude
can make use of the info in Zinn's book. I have the MTB version, but I've
heard similar comments on the road version.

Tom