mountain bike building book

lordmerchant

Im looking to try to learn myself to build up a bike for a fun project, its not gonna be anything great just an old saracen frame with a load of deore kit, I'm doing mainly for the learning experience, I was wondering if anybody can reccomend me a good good BOOK that can teach me everything (or most thing) I nned to know, cheers

ian_worby

i used to have the haynes bike book

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bicycle-Haynes- ... 709&sr=8-1

which was fine for me.

But i imagine this:

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/ProductDe ... oryID/180/

is the kind of thing you want

nicklouse

parktools sheldon brown and save the money, also the info that comes with new parts.

Andy B

Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance

Park tools Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair

Also Sheldon Brown's website & Park tool website

toasty

If you take it one step at a time and use the websites it's really not that bad.

Some bits, like the headset, would require an expensive tool to fit, hence it might be better getting the local bike shop to fit a couple of bits. Fitting forks, wheels, finishing kit, gearing (although bottom bracket is another risky onet), brakes are all the kind of bits you can do at home with a few cheap tools.

Each bit should only take 15 minutes research tops.

Chaka Ping

I'm not very mechanically adept, but I've built up a couple of bikes using a nice supplement that came with WMB last year and the odd peek at component manuals (horrible) or the net when I'm really stuck.

I did exactly what Toasty suggested too, got the LBS to fit the headset and BB both times.

I had a look at that Haynes book in Halfords the other day and it looked pretty decent, thought I might buy it with some vouchers I've had hanging around for a while - but do others here consider it to be any cop?

lordmerchant

I just ordered the haynes 5th edition from amazon, hopefully armed with that and a mechanically minded father will get tnrough, but the general consensus is to get bottom bracket and cranks fitted @ the LBS?

nicklouse

depends on the tools you have and what bb ......

have you looked at the how toos on park for all the different bb's? do you think you can fit your bb?

caw35slr

I built-up my first MTB with no bicycle-building experience using Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance (available from Amazon) and the documentation that came with the my new components (my build happened to be all Shimano and all of those documents are available online).

The only jobs I asked my LBS to do were:

- facing (needs expensive tools and looked hard)
- fitting the headset and crown race (I'd probably attempt this myself now)

I did my own BB - for an LX Hollowtech II crankset, so I had the LBS face the BB shell and chase the threads, after which I took much care and used the specific tool.

The rest is quite straightforward if you can read and digest a technical document and can wield tools with a degree of competence (i.e. no bodging!). Reading Zinn's chapter on tools will tell you what that means. It'll also tell you what tools you'll need. If you order the correct parts (do your research on BB sizes, front mech sizes/ types, cage lengths and tools) then they usually fit together in a very satisfying way.

As Nick said, check the How To pages on the Park site and see if those processes sound like something you'd be comfortable taking on. You can ask your LBS to do as much or as little as required.

Me, I'd striongly recommend taking on as much as you can. Not only will you enjoy doing it, you'll love riding it. Also, if you've built your own and something does go wrong on the trail, the chances are you'll know how to fix it (and you might be carrying the right tools and spares to do so). If you ride in a group you'll find you have to buy less beer. :-)

Enjoy!

delcol

i built up my sc heckler my self i to used zinn as a guide all though i hd built bikes in the past from my bmx days all be it years ago..

lucky for me my brother has a park tool kit with all the tools needed,.. allthough the shop did fit the headset for me,..
i have replaced my headset on my hardtail its easy with the cup press.
setting the star nut is easy with the right tool to as is cutting the steerer tube..
bottom braket instalation to is easy with the correct tool..
a work satd makes life easier to...

i must state and state again it can be done at home easily WTIH THE CORRECT TOOLS if you dont have them then i would use the lbs to do the job for you as you could ruin your expensive frame and it would not be covered by warrenty.